I was doing some maintenance on my Rodeo(radiator flush and hose replacement) and I removed the battery to get at the resevoir tank. The positive connection was covered in blueish white powder. I know it is corrosion, but what causes this? Is there an underlying problem, or is this normal? I am assuming this isn't normal. I cleaned it up and the battery is new, but why is it doing this?


Marc


PS
GO SABRES

Are you using those corrosion preventative felt rings?
Been using them for years and I never seem to get much (if any) corrosion on my terminals.

I may need to try them

walmart or any auto parts store sells them.

If you have a battery that doesnt seal real well the terminals will start corroding. The felt rings along with some terminal protectant will stop it.

Mine was corroding too (just the negative one) so I got the felt rings and some spray type terminal protectant (sprays red junk) and I'm not impressed. I cant find what I used on my mitsu, it never happened after applying that stuff. This red stuff washed off the first time I cleaned my engine and the negative is corroding again.

Usually just the felt rings will do the job, not sure whats up with this battery. The other stuff I used was in a tube and you wipe it on. Might have just been dielectric grease.

I use Super Blue on the terminals. Just a light coating seems to last a long time and I get NO corrosion.

Wow, speaking of battery maintenance...I just got done with it. I ran a few tests and everything seemed normal. My positive terminal had some corrosion so after cleaning the terminals I put on the felt washers. I've used them for years on my Honda's and never had corrosion. Looks like the previous owner of my Rodeo used the red protectant crap. I got rid of all that stuff. Unfortunately, the bolt that attaches the clamp to the terminal snapped b/c someone over tigtened it.

I put the washers on today and cleaned the cables up a bit. There is still some on the positive cable, but I need something better to get at it other than sandpaper. It's still better than it was though. Hopefully this does the tick.

A little baking soda in water and pour it over where its corroded. Baking soda is alkaline so will neutralize and wash away the acid thats on the cable. It will get where no tools can. Just rinse everything thouroughly with clean water when you're done. A bottle of coke also works well but makes things sticky.

I have to do my negative cable again. All the red garbage washed off and its corroding again. Cheap battery (remanufatured interstat brand that came with the rodeo) must leak quite a bit around that post.

At least I have new battery condoms on mine now though. Dont have to worry about welding the dipstick to the battery now. Those were a pain to get on, couldnt find the right ones for the terminals I have.