battery corrosion problems

Just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with excessive corrosion on the battery cables. I went to start my wife's 2001 PT to get it out of the garage the other day and it just clicked. Looked at the battery and there was all sorts of corrosion on the leads. Started scraping it off and it was wet too. We live in the desert, so no chance of going through a rain storm or anything recently. It was so bad that it had eaten almost completely through the bolt that clamps the lead onto the battery post. Bolt just snapped as soon as I put a wrench on it.

Now I'm wondering how far into the battery leads this corrosion goes. If I clean it all out, am I just wasting my time because later on down the road it's going to quit again due to corrosion underneath the plastic wire coating?

How expensive are the wiring harnesses and how much of a pain is it to replace?

And what's a good way to get the corrosion off because I'm not going to be able to scrape it off? Baking soda and water? Or is there a better way? Thanks in advance.

Im not sure what caused that, but baking soda and water is a good way to get it off, just pour it on and let it sit for a little while.

coca- cola and water is also a cheap fix to get the terminals cleaned. just pour coca cola right onto the terminals then rinse it off with water. i would put some grease or terminal anti corosive on there also. we do it for our military trucks so i dont see why we couldnt do it on a pov

being only four years old, the corrosion should not have went to far down the cable. All the above is a great cure, baking soda rinse, clean with a wire battery brush, and definitly put grease on the terminals
Wayne