Should I clean car battery terminals? and if so how?

[blueman]

Well my tester also measures charging voltage and it seemed ok...

Interestingly, I took one of the cars into Advanced Auto Parts today and they had some "fancy" (proprietary they claimed) computerized battery tester that supposedly does all types of things that a standard 100A load doesn't test. And that battery tested just fine - it measured a voltage of 12.79v and a CCA of 574 (vs. rated 582). I was surprised because I was almost sure that they would have "rigged" the test to sell more batteries so that just about any 4 year old battery would test bad. But the guy was nice, helpful, and surprisingly honest....

While the screen and printout were pretty cool, not sure I believe it does all that more. Also, not clear to me how you can measure CCA at all accurately when the ambient temperature is not 0F but I assume it does some type of temperature adjustment since the screen and printout had a temperature measurement on it (though since it said 73F, it seemed like maybe it was the room temperature of 73F where the machine was stored and not the outside temperature which was in the low 40s - though maybe there was a temperature probe in the battery connection and that was the under the hood temperature).

But in any case, if the store selling batteries tells me my battery is good, it seems like it probably is.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'v eheard 13.8 volts. That sounds high.

[Stormin Mormon]

And sometimes the car won't run as well for a while after disconnecting the battery.

Not many people center post.

For me, that's about 5 seconds, but the manual makes it sound like it could take an hour to get back to normal.

[aemeijers]

Magic smoke, and car no worky. (Magic smoke is what makes all electrical devices work- you let out the smoke, and the device doesn't work any more.) Dead short across the battery fried the fusible link in the feed cable, like it is supposed to. A little blacksmithing on battery tray, a new hold-down clamp (the old tall kind, not the modern low clips) from the junkyard, a new fusible link segment and some compression connectors, and it all came back to life. This was a pre-electronic-everything car, mind you. Hate to think what it would do to a modern rolling computer.

[mm]

I used to say that too, but too many people told me it should be higher. So I'm not sure anymore.

Here I only center posted because you topposted.

[Nate Nagel]

13.8 is a minimum for a running "12V" car

nate

[Phisherman]

Yes. Use a wire brush. Cover the vent holes and cover the entire battery case and terminals with a baking soda paste using a toothbrush. Rinse. Cover both terminals with a thin layer of Vaseline. Repeat yearly. Check the water level and make sure the terminal clamps are tight.

[chaniarts]

the computer can lose it's settings for engine control, and goes back to the default. on some cars, it could take driving around for 10-20 miles before it's running the way it was after losing power.

regards, charlie

[Lisa BB.]

My husband has a gizmo that looks like a giant thimble. Inside are wire brushes. The thimble goes on top of the terminal and all you have to do is spin it around while the brushes do the work.

[mm]

Yeah, that's called a battery post brush. It usually or often comes with a battery terminal brush (which is sort of the opposite of what you describe) as part of it, but not always.

It's also good if you are a giant and need to do some sewing.

[Lisa BB.]

mm wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I remember seeing a short/small brush, so that could be part of the set. I wonder if a giant doing sewing would get stabbed. LOL.

Years ago, my first car was a VW beetle. It would never start and I had to keep push starting it. Well, duh, it was the dirty battery post. I never thought of it cuz I was a young kid and the battery was under the rear seat.

My BF and I drove from Buffalo to Newark, NJ while it was on the fritz. I had a big decal on the side of the car that said 'Cuda. I thought that was so funny. I had the rear bumper tied up with clothesline, up at the rear vents.

We saw the Statue of Liberty from NJ in a real bad section of the city. It was near docks, i think. We didn't want to turn off the car. Geesh, we were lucky to get out of there, alive. Everyone was staring at us. og!

[Roger Shoaf]

After working at the auto department of a Montgomery Wards store that sold Exide batteries, I have never purchased Exide since.

Johnson Controls makes batteries also, and those are a good choice but the best battery on the market IMHO is the Optima, those suckers are really tough and tent to last far longer than their warrantee.

[what-goes-here]

This all sounds fine and dandy, but batteries contain acid. Doesn't that acid burn on your balls if they sink?

[Phisherman]

The "crud" is actually a salt which can be washed off with water. If left on the battery terminals it will begine to attack the teminal clamps/terminals.

[notbob]

Do you know who makes Delco batteries? Those were always pretty good.

nb

[krw]

Interstate does a much better job than anyone else of keeping their inventory charged and rotated. You do pay a bit for a better battery, though.

[dpb]

notbob wrote: ...

As far as I know, ACDelco still manufactures...

may have more poop...

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