Some of you may have never had this problem.... But I've been fighting battery corrosion for 6 months or more. Finally, today, the corrosion won a round. I could crank, but not maintain 10.5 volts to operate the PCM. Cranking was slow, but I had been having that for a while, never completely understood why. I kept thinking it was my batteries because I could put them on charge for a few hours and then I could crank it long enough start. For a while, I was just about ready to go buy $80 worth of Rotella T6 5W-40 to help cranking and starting. Thought it was my starter for a while, but I've had other starters go out and know that it's pretty much they work, or they don't, not much in the middle.

Today, cranking was WAY slower, and I had the batts on a maintainer all night. (bought new charger, crap HF charger quit). So I disconnected the positive cable from the drivers batt and took volt reading from the batts, 13.0 and 12.8. Batts were FULLY charged still!!!

This afternoon I stopped in at AZ and picked up a neat little battery maintenance kit for $9 and two sets (4) of battery bolt/nut pairs. The kit contained a aerosol battery corrosion neutralizer, a post/connector wire brush tool, two felt washers, and a small aerosol can of corrosion inhibitor.

After getting the corroded bolts/nuts out of the cable ends, I sprayed everything with the corrosion neutralizer. Foamed up, so it even worked in 15* weather. Wiped everything down, then dried everything. Took the wire brush tool and vigorously cleaned the posts and cable ends. Sprayed it all with the corrosion neutralizer again, and wiped, dried them all again. I then put the new bolts/nuts on and cinched it tight. My last step was spraying each connection with the corrosion inhibitor (red paint like stuff).

It took me about an hour to do all this, but worth the effort for sure. I got in the truck and noticed IMMEDIATELY that the interior lights were way brighter!

I clicked the key over to run, waited on the WTS light to turn off, and in two quick revs, it was started!!! I haven't had that quick of a start all winter from DEAD cold.

I recommend that anyone with a slow cranking problem or slow starting try cleaning the battery terminals. It probably saved me a bunch of money and time. $13 bucks and an hours time. Awesome....


Just had to share. It like having a new truck, instead of an old one that seems like it's on it's last leg....

P.S. May have just been the excitement of the quick start, but the engine seemed to run better, with more power, and quieter. I'm thinking that I was not getting battery voltage to the PCM and it was affecting injection timing or maybe the amount of power the IDM could provide.

 

good info ........

 

I've cleaned mine for years with the standard post/terminal brushes after topping off the cells with distilled water. A good soaking of baking soda (make sure the cell caps are on!) followed by a very thorough rinse of the battery, tray, and any place underneath I can reach with the water hose. Black paint on the terminals (black makes the truck faster) before install on the top and bottom and using a mask after the terminals are tight keeps the air out.

The secret is removing air from the corrosion triangle.

 

I have posted many times that those cheap, stupid felt washers really do help to prevent corrosion. The red spray (almost an aerosol grease) helps a bunch also.

 

My fix definitely works, as I got up this morning 12* outside, truck cranked over and never even romped or nothin! (no block heater either)

Sweeet!

 

I learned many years ago to put the felt washers on a new battery and spray with the red grease and I never have a problem with corrosion. When the red stuff starts to dry up I treat it again, if you do this you will never have corrosion. This is especially important on boats. In the wintertime I also put an overnight 10 amp charge on the truck every few weeks to maintain the batteries and once a month or so in the summertime. You get another year or two out of the batteries as well.

 

Typically, corrosion occurs more often when a battery is working towards the end of it's life, assuming no other items are at fault. Poor, dirty and corroded connections and inadequate or cheaply made components are also a large contributing factor as well as alternator performance.

Complete and thorough cleaning and inspection is the first step that should be performed before troubleshooting battery/charging/starting problems.

The red spray i use is gasket sealer which is also recomended to seal battery connections.

 

No fancy grease in a spray can for me. Plain old can of axle grease has worked for the last 30 years for me. Be sure the other end of the cables are clean and tight too.

 

Normal axle grease works great also, but the red spray stuff is just easier and cleaner.

 

I use motorcycle chain lube in a spray can since I already have it laying around. I also use FluidFilm and Amsoil chain lube to undercoat and stop the rust from the salted roads.

 

Anything that stops the oxidation will work.