I went out to my car, just the other day, to go home after work and my car wouldn’t start. Naturally I suspected it was the battery. So I yanked it out of the car and took it over to the service department and told them what was going on. They tested the battery and told me that the battery is fully charged and not the culprit. So I thought to myself, “What could be causing my car to not start if it isn’t the battery?” Alternator is good, starter is good. Then, my guy looks at the battery posts and asks me if I noticed any corrosion on the terminals when I took the battery out. There was my “a-ha” moment. My battery terminals and connectors were so corroded that they couldn’t get a proper connection to start the car!
If you have ever had this happen to you, you know that it’s frustrating finding out that your car won’t start because of corrosion. After you’ve determined that’s the problem, here’s run down of what you need to do to get your car back in running order
1. Disconnect the terminals
Using a wrench, loosen the bolts that secure the wires to the terminals to the posts on your battery.
2. Clean off the terminals
Using a wire brush (most auto stores even carry a wire brush that specifically designed for this) and scrub all the gunky white powdery stuff off of the terminals and inside the round connectors that attach to the battery. Don’t strike or hit the battery with anything to try to get the build-up to break off, you run the risk of causing a spark.
3. Apply petroleum jelly or grease to the terminals.
This will slow down the corrosion process and hopefully you’ll never have to do this again!
4. Reattach the connectors to the terminals.
Using the wrench you used to remove them, tighten the bolts to make sure your connectors are tight and have a good connection with the terminal.
5. Start your car up!
Have you ever had to deal with corrosion on your car’s battery?
