Cure For Battery Terminal Corrosion

[bronsin]

My daughter drives her 2012 Camry ~40k miles a year and has unbelievably bad battery terminal corrosion. My wife drives her 05 Camry ~12k miles a year and has pretty bad BTC.

I drive my 09 Yaris Hatch 5k miles a year and have almost none.

You can PREVENT BTC by coating the terminals with a thick layer of wheel bearing grease.

My daughters car had corrosion all over the battery, all over a nearby computer, and all over the nearby fusebox. The terminals had to be replaced as did the hold downs by the delaer (shes rich! :eek:)

Now a year later her terminals are good and clean of corrosion with a good coating to wheel bearing grease on them! :headbang:

[ex-x-fire]

My '10 yaris hasn't had an issue with it, there's a '09 tundra that comes in to the shop that has is bad every time.

[Mikastef]

I think it depends a lot on the weather and the region you live in. Driving the Yaris for five years now and battery corrosion never occurred.
I think you may need to use battery corrosion protection spray regularly.

[Bluevitz-rs]

Battery corrosion is only caused by the battery leaking acid. Splurge and and install an AGM battery and never worry about it again.

[bronsin]

Battery corrosion is only caused by the battery leaking acid. Splurge and and install an AGM battery and never worry about it again.


Interesting I didn't know that.

But wheel bearing grease is free and prevents the corrosion whereas an AGM battery is $$$.

My observation is the more you drive the more corrosion. Which might now be wrong! Theres no grease on the terminals of my Yaris battery (5k mile/year) and no corrosion after 6 years...

[bronsin]

I think it depends a lot on the weather and the region you live in. Driving the Yaris for five years now and battery corrosion never occurred.
I think you may need to use battery corrosion protection spray regularly.

Tried that and it helped a little. But it still came back. One good application of WBG and it never comes back...

[Bluevitz-rs]

Yeah it caused by the car's charging system overcharging the battery constantly and causes the battery to vent excess hydrogen buildup. This also caries acid with evaporating water.

Best thing is to just hose it off once a month if she drives that much.

[bronsin]

Yeah it caused by the car's charging system overcharging the battery constantly and causes the battery to vent excess hydrogen buildup. This also caries acid with evaporating water.

Best thing is to just hose it off once a month if she drives that much.

Ah so we're both right!

[kcty]

If it's rather minor, and only on the terminals, I just scrub it down with baking soda and water, let it dry, and then give it a nice coating of wheel bearing grease. Usually does the trick. However, if it is all over the place, or the above procedure doesn't stop it, you should replace the battery. My wife's Suzuki SX4 had a real problem with this. So bad that it ate through the positive lead that connected to the post connector and left her stranded. Because of the rubber cap over the lead, I hadn't noticed the corrosion. I replaced the connector and it was fine for a while, but started to build up again. Everything I tried failed until I replaced the battery. After that, I cleaned the terminals, and haven't had the issue since. So, I would replace the battery.

I drive my Yaris far more than she does (230,000 miles on it) and have never had an issue with corrosion.

[sheekeebut]

A Google suggestion is petroleum jelly, for its hydrophobic and electrical (insulating) properties. Slimy stuff, though.

I put it on the wife's car, which had the white corrosion caked on the positive terminal. Wire brush, reconnected, wiped on a smooth layer. 6 months later, not a trace of corrosion.

[Lux]

https://media.wuerth.com/stmedia/shop/800px/1456059.jpg

Würth #0890104
It's what the professionals use.
Petroleum-based lubricants, like Vaseline and heavy-duty bearing grease, may have a tendency to:

migrate in very hot weather (inherent weakness of low melting points)
water out or gunk out
interfere with conductivity after repeated handling... it's messy.
The Würth spray congeals in 10 seconds and is chemical- and corrosion-resistant.
Vaseline releases flammable vapours. I would not advise it.

[bronsin]

https://media.wuerth.com/stmedia/shop/800px/1456059.jpg

Würth #0890104
It's what the professionals use.
Petroleum-based lubricants, like Vaseline and heavy-duty bearing grease, may have a tendency to:

migrate in very hot weather (inherent weakness of low melting points)
water out or gunk out
interfere with conductivity after repeated handling... it's messy.
The Würth spray congeals in 10 seconds and is chemical- and corrosion-resistant.
Vaseline releases flammable vapours. I would not advise it.

No problems using WBG since ~1970 and excellent results!

Commercial spray on cures havnt lasted more than a year or so for me.

[esse10]

Regular tooth brush and use Baking soda & water will clear that off pretty good just put the wify's tooth brush back before she finds out. LOL :tongue:

[sheekeebut]

Vaseline releases flammable vapours. I would not advise it.

:eek: Cleaning terminal now. Hopefully no damage has already been done.

[shepd]

There won't be any damage done. Vaseline has been used for years by cheap-asses without trouble, although yes, I suppose there could be a small chance of danger (to you, not your battery).

[Bluevitz-rs]

Well, the battery itself releases flammable vapours when charging so where do you draw the line?

[sheekeebut]

Well then, now that I've established myself as a paranoid cheapass, I should just shut my trap and clean off this greasy mess.

[Bluevitz-rs]

LOL

[Lux]

Well then, now that I've established myself as a paranoid cheapass, I should just shut my trap and clean off this greasy mess.

Haha... don't stress about it too much. Hydrogen gas released by the battery is ventilated. Hydrogen gas is less dense than air, so it will rise up to the bonnet and rapidly disperse. This is a problem more specific to vehicles whose batteries are in confined spaces, such as Mercedes-Benz.

Vaseline, when impregnated into a fabric medium (such as a cotton pad), is highly flammable. Its low melting point of only 37° C allows it to migrate in hot weather. This is an issue for vehicles whose batteries in the engine compartment are enveloped by a thermal insulator that can absorb the runoff. Not a concern for the Yaris, specifically, for its absence of such an insulator.

The melting point for most lithium-based bearing greases is up to 120° C, depending on the formulation.

[nookandcrannycar]

My daughter drives her 2012 Camry ~40k miles a year and has unbelievably bad battery terminal corrosion. My wife drives her 05 Camry ~12k miles a year and has pretty bad BTC.

I drive my 09 Yaris Hatch 5k miles a year and have almost none.

You can PREVENT BTC by coating the terminals with a thick layer of wheel bearing grease.

My daughters car had corrosion all over the battery, all over a nearby computer, and all over the nearby fusebox. The terminals had to be replaced as did the hold downs by the delaer (shes rich! :eek:)

Now a year later her terminals are good and clean of corrosion with a good coating to wheel bearing grease on them! :headbang:

I thought her husband bought her a Toyota SUV to replace the Camry (re 'winter safety' ?). Different daughter, or just kept the Camry and the SUV ?

[bronsin]

Youre right he did. :smile:

But that was some time after the corrosion issue was repaired by the dealer. :headbang:

Don't worry Im not making any of this up! :laugh:

[Gogogordy]

We've had 3 Tundras in our family along with several Toyotas, Scions and the Tundras ALL suffered from inordinate hold-down and terminal corrosion repeatedly. The other Toyotoa problems, not so much.

As others have mentioned, battery cleanliness is paramount in helping stave off this problem, but also not over-filling the battery to avoid corrosion caused by excessive off-gassing is helpful.

In the case of the Tundras being more prone to this than our other Toyota products, since its been all 3 of them which have had this problem Im convinced the grounding system in these trucks is different enough than their cars (weak or poor grounding) that despite best efforts terminal corrosion on Tundras is not preventable.

[nookandcrannycar]

Youre right he did. :smile:

Don't worry Im not making any of this up! :laugh:

:laugh: I know. Just trying to keep up :biggrin:.