What is the cause? Any way to prevent?

It looks like a snow cone factory on my positive battery terminal...

 

An imperfect seal around the post allows acid to leach to the terminal. Cleaning it off with baking soda and water then greasing it will slow it down.

 

argh, the positive terminal is literally melded on, i cant get it off. sprayed some of the corrosion removal stuff from pep boys which cleaned it up a bit, but its seriously stuck on. i havent been able to even budge it and not the doggone thing is getting stripped to. what now?

side posts stink!

 

if you can get the bolt out and cable off.. replace the cable.. and buy the upgraded side post connections... they go from the stupid 8mm to a like 5/16 or 9/16 so its alot harder to strip those... and also replacing the cables and laying a nice thin layer of grease on the connector will help prevent/slow the corrosion.

Corrosion starts due to a loose connection... it jumps between the cable and the battery over time... and starts corrosion. its also a nice spot for a small leak in power. instead of seeing 12.0-12.5 volts while the car is off your battery would only put out 11.5-11.75 but if you test the batter at the terminals it still says 12.0

anyway. just get some new cables and that upgrade kit... if you want a picture i can show you its basically just a bigger bolt and it has another nut on it so you can attach your stereo or whatever you need to without taking the terminals out.

 

I soaked it in some WD40 overnight and was able to turn the whole thing off the battery. The terminal post and cable are still corroded togethor but at least I can get it off the battery now.

Where do you get this upgraded post? I havent seen it in the parts store, just the replacement one. Would be great to have larger than 8mm yeah. If you have a link or photo that would be great..

How do you feel about the side to top post conversion? They have the posts you screw into the side, then use the top post type cable.

thanks...

 

well i just had an issue with mine... had to fix a wire so i disconnected the cables... and putting them back on the stupid threads striped... so not sure if it was my fault of the cheap parts... but gonna get a new set and try again...

i bought an optima battery.. and love it.. you can use side post or top post... probably gonna switch to the top post when i have more time.. just need it running to take it to the exhaust shop tomorrow... but yeah.. they should have them at the parts store.. my dad brought the ones i have home from his work.. but i'm pretty sure i've seen them at checkers in the battery isle.

 

Autozone and places like that sell a gel to put on them,and also those small round fuzzy disks for the posts on the battery itself,to keep it from happening,or at least slow it down.

 

found the upgrade posts at pep boys... man, what a difference. i actually had to cut off the old terminal and crimp on a new one, but its working for now until i get a new cable. i like that solution better than converting to side posts, i didnt care for the design of those connectors anyway.

thanks for the info!