Battery terminal Blues

[vigman]

Well guys..I did a BAD THING.. I ignored my battery terminals for to long.
The 88's been in dry dock for a bit.. but I fired it up last week.. and went for a cruise.. the next day I took it to work to get it washed... when I got to my car ( around 6:30 ) I jumped in... turned the key... CLICK.. nada...
I popped the hood and the GREEN DEATH had totally consumed my positive terminal.. I was able to wiggle it a bit to get the under hood lights to come on again.. back inside turned the key.. CLICK....

So using my remote starter ( part of the alarm ) I was able to push the cable and get her to crank & light... I made it home without incident.. and she fired up fine 2X in the driveway ( of course it will...thats where all the tools are!)

The next day I got some baking soda to remove the green death ( went through ALOT ) I disassembled EVERYTHING.. I noticed after cleaning the entire quarter size contact point.. it was at a weird angle.. i pushed on it.. POP off it came.

The local auto parts store had NO replacement cables, nor cheepo lugs..

So I had to go to Pepboys and get one of those bolt on terminal ends.

Cutting the "0" gauge wire was no fun.. but I was able to get it all back together in semi decent shape.

So here's what I found.. if you let the corosion go for too long the green death gets into the spaces between the strands of wire making the repair yet more fun.

So word to the wise.. check you battery terminals MONTHLY.. or suffer my fate.

Vig~

 

[vee93]

Vigman, been there-suffered through that. So, now that you've got everything all cleaned up, spray some of CRC's Technician Grade Battery Terminal Protector (or a good equivalent) on both battery cable connections to deter this problem--ESPECIALLY if your Vette's gonna be "dry docked" at long intervals.

 

[LannyL81]

Just last night I took the body panel off to further inspect my new purchase (96 CE LT4) and found the positive terminal all caked-up. It still started...somehow. Okay, remove battery and clean....negative side comes off, no problem.....positive side bolt head....rounded off pretty good. Finally get it off with visegrips. Find battery terminal leaking and the inside of positive cable full of corrosion. Do not think that I will be able to clean this one up. Ordered new cable today....not going to be much fun replacing that cable..but afterwards will not have to worry about it.

LannyL81