Tech / General Engine Is your car making a strange sound or won't start? Thinking of adding power with a new combination? Need other technical information or engine specific advice? Don't see another board for your problem? Post it here!

Battery corrosion - WTF

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 09-08-2002, 04:48 PM
  #1  
Member

Thread Starter
 
Viking's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Budd Lake NJ, USA
Posts: 206
Likes: 0
Received 14 Likes on 3 Posts
Car: / 89 IROC /
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Battery corrosion - WTF

Does anyone know what exactly causes that powdery residue to form on the postive battery terminal? I clean mine with a wire brush but after a few months it keeps coming back.
Old 09-08-2002, 04:51 PM
  #2  
Supreme Member

iTrader: (2)
 
dimented24x7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Moorestown, NJ
Posts: 9,962
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
Car: 88 Camaro SC
Engine: SFI'd 350
Transmission: TKO 500
Axle/Gears: 9-bolt w/ 3.23's
sounds like the battery is overcharging and teh acid is spewing out. My s-10 does it all the time. I beleive the powder is lead sulfide off the top of my head. Check the voltage out of the alternator. Shouldnt be more then 14.5 volts.
Old 09-08-2002, 05:08 PM
  #3  
Member

Thread Starter
 
Viking's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Budd Lake NJ, USA
Posts: 206
Likes: 0
Received 14 Likes on 3 Posts
Car: / 89 IROC /
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Hummm, that might make sense, I will check the alternator, I also have a car stereo capicitor wired directly to the battery, maybe this "cap" is going bad? The fuse block where the cap is wired into near the battery also have this powerdy corrosion....
Old 09-08-2002, 06:50 PM
  #4  
Supreme Member
 
RB83L69's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Loveland, OH, US
Posts: 18,457
Likes: 0
Received 15 Likes on 15 Posts
Car: 4
Engine: 6
Transmission: 5
It's because it's positively charged.

I used to be in the telephone business, I was the engineer for a company that made the stuff that goes in the central office, that routs calls. I learned that a hundred years ago, they discovered that if the system battery was positive with respect to ground, the metal that the junderground cables was made out of would be eaten by the natural chemical reactions in the soil, but that if the battery was negative, the metal would be unharmed, but instead the metallic compounds in the soil would accrete onto the cable. Some of those cables are still in use, a hundred years later. All of the cables that had positive battery have long since had to be replaced; and of course they've since switched over to negative battery in COs. That's why your phone lines have -48V on them instead of + whatever.

Keep some kind of grease on it, that minimizes the ability of the oxygen in the air to attack it.
Old 09-08-2002, 06:57 PM
  #5  
Member

Thread Starter
 
Viking's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Budd Lake NJ, USA
Posts: 206
Likes: 0
Received 14 Likes on 3 Posts
Car: / 89 IROC /
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Thanks for the advise. I have sprayed everything with WD-40, but if you reccomend I have a tub of bearing grease I can coat the connections with if you thing that it would not interfere with the flow of electrons!
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Falcon50
DFI and ECM
81
08-22-2020 03:26 PM
3rd gen money
Electronics
6
10-11-2019 09:57 PM
RS Reaper
Electronics
4
10-17-2018 07:52 PM
drumstixer
Body
5
09-29-2015 03:02 PM



Quick Reply: Battery corrosion - WTF



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:47 AM.