While working on an unrelated item, I noticed how nasty my batteries were looking. I took them both out, washed them down and shined up the tops so they looked like new. Then, I took a terminal tool and cleaned the posts on the left. I then took a wire wheel and drill to all the metal battery related surfaces I could find. I even shined up the nuts that hold the cables on the right side battery. I cut the wires clean off, re stripped them and put them back into the terminal ends. IT'S AMAZING WHAT DIFFERENCE this made in the starting and charging systems. The truck sounds like its cranking over twice as fast and the dash lights don't even dim down when I start engage the starter. WOW.

It's no secret that a good clean connection is best. I just never believed that a good, solid connection could degrade over time. I used to believe all that crap they sold was a scam.... kind of like the motor oil myths. I'll tell you what, if you haven't given your batteries and cables some love recently, I highly recommend you do!

 

ON the to do list.

 

on mine aswell ... now that i sit and think about it should almost be done as maintence to insure the best service from our elect side

 

good idea.these things require so much juice to start.you convinced me to do this every oil change.keeping everything clean this often should only take a couple mins,while waiting for that last quart of oil to drain in.

 

Sounds like a good idea
This will most likely be the first time these batteries have been cleaned since they where fist put in

 

I have found "Liquid Electric Tape" is a great thing to put on new cables to seal the ends.

When batteries are new, they have good seals around the posts.
But over time those seals start letting hydrogen sulfide gas escape, which is what is causing all the corrosion in and on the cable connections at the batteries.

Seal the hydrogen sulfide out of the cable, no corrosion inside the cable.

I have also thought about cleaning the battery case around the posts real good, the use liquid tape around the post to case joint and see if I could keep the gas away from the post terminals completely, but I have not tried that yet.

 

Permatex high tack works real well too. Cleans up with acetone.

 

man,i thought my truck was turning over just fine.
until i checked my cables.
should have expected corrosion.
so i cut back into them good to put ends on,and tried that.
oh boy.she spins some fast now!
now,i kept cutting back to see the green is pretty deep into the cables-all of them.
so im going to replace them all now,rather than get stranded latter.
going to replace with some larger gauge while im at it.

 

When you replace them, use something to seal the insulation to the connectors and keep the fumes out of the cable.

 

yeah.i forgot to say thank you for that "Liquid Electric Tape" tip Dave.
I will be sure to do this.

i didn't see this stuff at autozone while i was there.
Napa probably has this?

 

Autozone probably has it, I think mine came from Advance Auto.