how to stop battery terminal oxidation?
 

i keep cleaning it, even using sandpaper on it, and still it comes back every week, i know those little green pads dont work, how the hell can i get did of it for good? only happens on the neg terminal.

Coat the terminals in grease.

Dielectric grease

Usually when the battery terminals start corroding that often its a sign that the battery is coming to the end of its life. I's start looking for a new battery soon.

is that true?

but its only 18 months old

Get a battery terminal cleaner, use it, then coat them in vaseline

clean the terminals with a wire brush as mentioned, or if you don't have one, mix some warm water and baking powder and clean with that. once you get all the oxidation off, apply a layer of dielectric grease to the terminals.

Hey AscendantMax

I'v been using baking soda on my terminals which kills the corosion. how well does the baking powder work.

Buy a sealed battery and this wont happen anymore. I will never use another battery that isn't sealed. My battery corrded like insane, and the corrosion went all down into the tray and onto the frame. Put in a sealed battery, scraped and painted the corrosion and it's no longer a problem.

Dielectric grease will help your current situation though.

no pun intended! ;)

Also, some people say to use dielectric grease, while others say just vaseline. Is there any advantage/disadvantage with one over the other? Would vaseline more or less be good enough?

Di-Electric grease is the optimal thing to use. I have never heard of vas.


James

man, i have the same problem i just dont know why i never asked, now i know.

my last battery had a small leak causing oxidation and crap all over the terminal. I had a "strong" tested battery, but it had a leak and caused my car to not start sometimes it was so bad. take a multimeter with the ground on the batterys ground and move the positive stick from your multimeter around the battery (not touching the battery) this will tell you if you have a leak, a small voltage pick up will indicate it.

im rocking a red top now

sounds intresting, never thought to test it that way, but what i did was find my recipt for the battery and the warranty was for 18 months full replacement and pro-rated at 1.50 per month thereafter...so i went and piked up a brand new battery for $4.50!

4.50, thats pretty nice. what brand battery do you have?

http://www.duracell.com/images/shared/logo_1.jpg

:gotme:

Vaseline will work
 

Vaseline is the perfect solution, cheap (you probably already have some) and works very well.

Ah, Vaseline:buttshex:

You can also buy that "crap in a can" to spray on after you clean the terminals, works good.. just a lil messy if you don't spray carefully.

The Haynes manual says to use vaseline.

And if the Haynes manual told you to drive off a cliff... JK :jester:
I just bought a small pouch of the dielectric tuneup grease from Murrays. Just a few bucks.

jason my manual says that you are supposed to go to the junkyard and buy me that bumper.....:hide:

Oh ok Gregg, I'll get right on it. :lol:

vaseline is best, you can use it for many other purposes too :naughty:

seems to work pretty well...seems to neutralize any acid in the area.

don't forget to mix some baking soda and water and wash down the area around the battery every 6 months or so.


your car will thank you in the long hall :) (well, and you will too :))

White lube engine assembly grease works well,,,,,,,,,, or you can try the old trick, super glue two pennys on the top of the battery the copper is suppose to do something for it.????????????????