Ever Clean/Refresh Battery Terminals and Make Things Worse?

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dibbons

dibbons

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This is not the first time my good intentions did not work in my favor. That fluffy battery acid corrosion was taking over the engine compartment of my '96 Dodge Dakota 3.9 liter (OBD-II) pick-up truck that has been in the family since new and currently is my daily driver. Just had the oil changed yesterday.

Spent the last 24 hours breaking down the battery hold downs, battery tray, battery terminals, and battery (a black one). Brought out my Costco size bag of baking soda, mixed up batches of warm water and b/soda and soaked the **** out of everything. Made sure to take everything apart (remove nuts from battery bolts, remove bolts from terminals, etc.) Next day put everything back together. Turn the key, heard a click for about a micro-second, then no dome light, no horn, no nothing.

Brought over another battery I recently had re-charged (a red one) and some jumper cables. Same thing, one quick click and then everything goes dead again.

Remove the black battery and install the red (jumper) battery. (Now without jumper cables) The second battery now installed starts the engine but it wants to die when I let off the accelerator.

Took the battery terminals off. I did not have a batt terminal cleaner brush, so I scraped some lead off the terminals and posts with an awl and a screwdriver until I could see a lot of fresh, shiny areas showing through.

Turn the key again with the red battery, wham, starts up and seems normal. I drive twenty minutes out of town for dinner. After dinner, wham, starts right up and I drove home another twenty minutes and park in the driveway.

Five minutes later return to pull the vehicle inside the yard, hear that micro-click again and everything goes dead. Jump start it with a the original battery (the black one) that failed the first time things went dead. The engine starts but it acts again like it wants to die at idle (like earlier). I drive it five meters ahead into the back yard and call it a day (night).

Not looking for any advice at this time, just sharing what happens when you try to clean up something and it backfires on you. (foto is not my battery- a similar looking internet file foto).

batte.jpg
 
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I think you have something other than battery terminals going on. I would check the other end of the battery's ground cable, the other end of the positive cable, the neutral safety switch, the engine to frame ground wire, the starter relay and the starter itself.
 
That's not a bad idea to check around, but that is not taking into consideration I had absolutely no electrical problem before I decided to "clean" things up.

I think the first thing I will try tomorrow is whipping out my dremel tool and making sure all threads, posts, and terminals are shiny clean. If that does not cure the virus, I will be looking much deeper into things.
 
No, that's classic battery terminals not making contact. Look closely at the posts and the cable ends. They "wear" grooves in them as time goes by. Also, if that battery is causing corrosion, it's about at the end of its life span. That's not normal. Replace it. It's time.
 
Cables can corrode away internally. I had a cable on the old 86 Ranger looked great from outside, would run headlights and would not crank the engine.

I've told you guys and told you guys ----------you need to learn some troubleshooting/ multimeter/ even test lamp skills------------ I don't mean this as a "lecture" but chasing VOLTAGE DROP in a wire/ harness will often pretty quickly get you "to" the problem

In a case like this..............."Rig" a way to read the meter and run the starter. If this means a remote start button (remove the start relay, jumper across the contacts, etc)

Clamp meter to block with clip for ground

Stab into positive post. Operate starter, read voltage. If over 10.5 it is elsewhere

Stab into negative post, run starter. If you read ANY over a few tenths of one volt you have a big drop there

If positive is quite low, "chase" it down the path. Where is your next point? Does it lead to the relay box? Pop the cover, read it there. Clamp / clip down on the starter. Very low, I bet. "It's in the cable"

SOMETIMES for your own "enjoyment" you can do stuff like STAB INTO THE INSULATION of the cable if you "think" it's bad.......it will quickly confirm you are on the right "path."

You need a post/ clamp cleaner to "get down" to native material. If the terminals are in really bad shape, a wire brush will NOT get them clean. People like Lisle used to make a "scraping" cleaner, but you had to be careful..........you could "machine" it oversize!!!

s-l225.jpg
 
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dibbons said:
This is not the first time my good intentions did not work in my favor. That fluffy battery acid corrosion was taking over the engine compartment of my '96 Dodge Dakota 3.9 liter (OBD-II) pick-up truck that has been in the family since new and currently is my daily driver. Just had the oil changed yesterday.

Spent the last 24 hours breaking down the battery hold downs, battery tray, battery terminals, and battery (a black one). Brought out my Costco size bag of baking soda, mixed up batches of warm water and b/soda and soaked the **** out of everything. Made sure to take everything apart (remove nuts from battery bolts, remove bolts from terminals, etc.) Next day put everything back together. Turn the key, heard a click for about a micro-second, then no dome light, no horn, no nothing.

Brought over another battery I recently had re-charged (a red one) and some jumper cables. Same thing, one quick click and then everything goes dead again.

Remove the black battery and install the red (jumper) battery. (Now without jumper cables) The second battery now installed starts the engine but it wants to die when I let off the accelerator.

Took the battery terminals off. I did not have a batt terminal cleaner brush, so I scraped some lead off the terminals and posts with an awl and a screwdriver until I could see a lot of fresh, shiny areas showing through.

Turn the key again with the red battery, wham, starts up and seems normal. I drive twenty minutes out of town for dinner. After dinner, wham, starts right up and I drove home another twenty minutes and park in the driveway.

Five minutes later return to pull the vehicle inside the yard, hear that micro-click again and everything goes dead. Jump start it with a the original battery (the black one) that failed the first time things went dead. The engine starts but it acts again like it wants to die at idle (like earlier). I drive it five meters ahead into the back yard and call it a day (night).

Not looking for any advice at this time, just sharing what happens when you try to clean up something and it backfires on you. (foto is not my battery- a similar looking internet file foto).

View attachment 1715265341
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Nasty looking stuff. Often corroded metal needs replaced. Any resistance through corroded connections can cause issues.
 
Every time I turn around on this vehicle, the corrosion has taken over again. RRR is probably onto something, the older a battery becomes, the more it spits out this messy corrosion (don't know the physics behind it). The first year a battery is installed there never seems to be a like problem. Going to consider Optima from here on out. I also prefer the construction of NOS cable when it comes time to replacement (expensive though).
 
dibbons said:
Every time I turn around on this vehicle, the corrosion has taken over again. RRR is probably onto something, the older a battery becomes, the more it spits out this messy corrosion (don't know the physics behind it). The first year a battery is installed there never seems to be a like problem. Going to consider Optima from here on out. I also prefer the construction of NOS cable when it comes time to replacement (expensive though).
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I can tell you exactly what it is. It's called gassing. no, not when you eat one too many tacos, but in a battery's last part of life, it produces excess hydrogen gas. That's called gassing. That's what causes corrosion. Often times, people think it's normal and just "go about" their business cleaning terminals every month or so, when the problem all along is the battery.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I can tell you exactly what it is. It's called gassing. no, not when you eat one too many tacos, but in a battery's last part of life, it produces excess hydrogen gas. That's called gassing. That's what causes corrosion. Often times, people think it's normal and just "go about" their business cleaning terminals every month or so, when the problem all along is the battery.
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And Don't forget overcharging. I had a loosely grounded voltage regulator that caused my alternator to overcharge. (17 volts). It boiled the battery and blew out some light bulbs. Leanna from Phoenix Specialty Coatings wondered what the hell had happened to the drivers side valve cover when she sand blasted it for the 3'rd time and the coating wouldn't stick. Badconnections can cause damage.
 
Speaking of lost voltmeters, @67Dart273 , Del, I don't know if I told you, but I FOUND the Fluke meter you posted the link to that I bought off Ebay. It was in a portable toolbox I had that I had gone to help a friend diagnose an electrical problem with. LOL
 
RustyRatRod said:
Speaking of lost voltmeters, @67Dart273 , Del, I don't know if I told you, but I FOUND the Fluke meter you posted the link to that I bought off Ebay. It was in a portable toolbox I had that I had gone to help a friend diagnose an electrical problem with. LOL
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Been there!
 
RustyRatRod said:
Speaking of lost voltmeters, @67Dart273 , Del, I don't know if I told you, but I FOUND the Fluke meter you posted the link to that I bought off Ebay. It was in a portable toolbox I had that I had gone to help a friend diagnose an electrical problem with. LOL
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I just bought TWO MORE Flukes, 73 III's. Off C/L for 35 apiece. The outsides have seen "some use" but the insides are clean as a whistle.

I "think" I have 6 now of various types
 
dibbons said:
I'll bet that excessive gassing is probably the reason that, at times, they end up exploding during a battery jump attempt.
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HOW TO JUMP a battery:

Hook up all connections except the GROUND cable on the "good" battery. DO NOT hook the ground to the battery, as it may spark. Rather, make that LAST connection on the engine block/ alternator bracket/ etc AWAY from the battery

NEVER boost a frozen battery!!
 
Gassing can be a bad battery, a harness "drop" problem causing overcharging, or something else in the charging system. Your "VR" is inside / integrated with the engine computer.
 
Gassing is also caused by deep discharge/recharge.
Like running accessories with engine off.
Bad battery gassing,easily identified by a voltage test. Perfect new battery is 13.2 volts. Anything less than 12 its junk or about to be.
Ever had a battery explode? Its violent. Plastic shrapnel and acid.

the root cause here is the angry pixies had built their nest across the top of the battery and you destroyed it. They are now refusing to cooperate..

Im leaning towards a pooched battery cable.
Have seen the green stuff eat away the copper at the lug inside the insulation.
 
If you soaked the terminals themselves (meaning dipped the ends and submerged them) there's a good chance all the corrosion that exists under the insulation is now getting worse. Best to just mechanically clean the terminals IMO. Soak the hard parts, not the wiring parts.
 
Looks like a battery is in your immediate future. Buy a terminal brush as well so you can clean the posts up correctly before reinstalling the cables. Inspect the cables as well and replace them if any question of them being any good or not. Hell, most parts stored replace batteries for free around me.
 
I just bought a battery for a daily I bought three days before it puked on me , first test 3.7 volts at the bulkhead jumper posts { concealed battery in fender } second test battery after removal 4.8 volts . New battery 12.69 volts even after full charge overnight with the maintainer , thinking my meter might be reading low but the again it's a wally world battery so who knows eh , I just know I check it every couple of days and leave it a little longer between plugging in the maintainer but so far it seems fairly consistant 12.36-12.4 when I get home from a drive and 12.69 in the morning if I plug it in .
 
I just checked both the red and black batteries I have been swapping back and forth and both read 12.6 volts on my digital meter. I paid for the red battery to be charged not too long ago and it was stored in the garage for about a month or so.
 
Shined everything up with a mini-sanding drum on the Dremel tool. Battery voltage is reading 12.7 at rest and 13.8 at idle. Vehicle started twice in a row without a hitch. We will see ...
 
Not sure on 96 but on my 98 Dakota 3.9 the positive cable went into the fuse box, where there it joined another cable, this connection corroded on my Dakota. I could start it park it and 15 minutes later wouldn't start.
 
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