Excessive Battery Acid ruined me tonight.

[svgllmnt]

Tonight I found myself going to start my car, when, oh hey, it wouldn't start. I touched every light fixture to make sure I didn't leave something on and that definitely wasn't the case. I opened the hood to prepare my car for a jump when I came to find a shit-ton (yes, a shit ton) of battery acid built up on top of the positive terminal.

I recently had the oil changed about a month and a half ago, and besides them suggesting I get a new battery SOON, they didn't mention anything about the battery acid or potential corrosion. Jerks.

SO, my roommate came out to help me clean off the acid and hopefully jump-start my car. While cleaning, we noticed the terminals were incredibly loose, and not only that, completely destroyed.

Any advisement would be much appreciated, I have to a. call the place where I purchased the piece of crap duralast battery (autozone) in the morning regarding my 2 year warranty and b. figure out what the hell I need to do so I can get my car back up and running again.

This is normal right? Right as you hit the 5 year mark with your car all hell has to break loose on a night when everything is closed because of a holiday right?

[swidd]

wow wtf, how old was the battery? Less than two years?

[svgllmnt]

I replaced it around August 09.

[.Kevin.]

You bought it at Autozone isn't that like the crappiest play in the US where the ricers hang?

[Klink10]

Loose terminals and moisture. If the battery is no good replace. Clean the cable ends and neutralize with Coca Cola. Determine how much damage to the cables and replace if necessary. Coat the terminals with a thin layer of dialectric (sp?) grease and tighten. Periodic check for tightness and moisture build up. If you keep it outside the water will get on it so you have to keep them dry or do your best at it. Everytime I wash mine I have to go in and dry the water off the motor with alot of effort paid to electric components. Had that issue though not to that degree. I saw where my neg terminal was doing a slight color change and found my screw in batt. terminal was loose. Problem solved. My advice anyway.

[mazilla]

Originally Posted by .Kevin.

You bought it at Autozone isn't that like the crappiest play in the US where the ricers hang?

wut?

[.Kevin.]

Originally Posted by mazilla

wut?

Autozone is like the crappiest place in the USA for auto parts and ricers hang out there I thought.

Did I mispell my statement or what.

[mazilla]

Originally Posted by .Kevin.

Autozone is like the crappiest place in the USA for auto parts and ricers hang out there I thought.

Did I mispell my statement or what.

It's just another average auto parts store...I've never heard of it having a rep as a hangout for ricers. I don't think anybody really hangs out at auto parts stores(at least not anywhere I've ever lived), but they do have half an isle of garbage dress up parts for random cars.

[svgllmnt]

Regardless, the people who changed my oil didn't mention possible corrosion, if this sort of thing was building up, why didn't they offer to charge me to clean it off? Also, autozone, pep boys, etc. They're all the same - they sell discounted things I need for my car. It works, except of course in this case.

[rl67pinoy]

i noticed some corrosion on the (+) on my batt.couple weeks ago, not as bad as yours.... i got it cleaned and sprayed with anti-corrosion . usually the battery will last 2-3 years depends on where you live. only advice to you is keep your eye on your equipment and prevent they from breaking instead of waiting for them to break.

[nemelek]

That's the worst I have ever seen. I always change my own oil and give everything a quick look over while the hood is up. Usually in the fall I'll clean the termanals myself.

[svgllmnt]

Thanks for the advice. At least I'll know what to do in the future.

Southern California has had more rain in the last 6 months than we had in the last two years combined; I didn't realize that was something I had to look out for.

[Hershey]

That's a first for me . Hope you have better days ahead . Will check our terminals .

[RedRide]

Originally Posted by .Kevin.

You bought it at Autozone isn't that like the crappiest play in the US where the ricers hang?

Actually, the" Duralast" battery from Auto zone is made by "Johnson Controls", the same company that makes Optima batteries.
The Duralast is supposed to be a very good budget battery.

Having said that, it's the worst case of battery corrosion I have ever seen. The question that begs to be asked is how did the owner let it progress so far? The corosion did not develope overnight.
One should open the hood at least weekly to see whats going on under there!

Battery corrosion occurs because there is no complete seal betwen the case and the posts. So, I suspect that the battery was defective from the start and I would go back to Autozone for a warranty adjustment. There was probably a less than acceptable post seal in that particular battery.

BTW, Optima batteries are completely sealed and do not experiences any sort of corrosion problems.

[.Kevin.]

Ah I understand, not american so I just figured I'd ask.

My rule is open the hood once a week dust it off and usually if anythings wrong I'll notice right off the bat.

[YarisSedan]

Thats why I always spray the battery terminals with that anti corossive paint that prevents that from ever happening.

[svgllmnt]

Having never run in to something like this before, I wouldn't have even thought to check it out. But what really irritates me and I'm not placing blame on anyone but myself, is that I had an oil change about a month ago and they people who changed the oil had to have seen what was going on there right?

[svgllmnt]

by the way, this is what it looked like this morning.

My friend suggested I clean everything off with baking soda when I get home, I just wanted to take better pictures during the day so when I go in to autozone I can show them what happened.