How to Clean and Prevent Battery Terminal Corrosion

John Baker|Mar 27, 2017 10:46 AM

We’ve all been there before. You turn the key on your car and…nothing. Not even the tell-tale clicking sound of the starter solenoid.

Your first reaction is to pound the steering wheel and curse the darkness. But it should probably be to grab a battery terminal cleaning brush and pop the hood. In many cases, cleaning the white, flaky deposits from the battery terminals is all you need to restore the flow of electricity and summon your car back to life.

What is that flaky stuff, anyway?

A battery is just one big chemical reaction, and the white, scaly deposits on the posts are simply one of the byproducts. A typical car battery is made up of individual cells, with each housing alternating plates of lead and lead coated with lead dioxide submerged in a sulfuric acid solution. This causes a chemical reaction that releases electrons, providing the juice that spins the starter motor, powers the radio and keeps the lights on, among other functions.

Sometimes, especially on cheap batteries, the seal around the post allows sulfate in the battery to escape and react with lead in the post, producing white, flaky deposits. If bad enough, they’ll interfere with the battery connections and prevent the flow of electricity, leaving you stranded.

How to clean battery-terminal deposits

Fortunately, this is one of the easiest areas of your vehicle to maintain. Just make sure to wear safety glasses and protective gloves since sulfuric acid can be dangerous.

Water and baking soda is a tried-and-true cleaning method. Mix them to create a concoction the consistency of pancake batter and smear it on the terminals. The mixture will slowly eat away the deposits. Although it works, it’s a mess. I remember my dad performing this trick on my sister’s Ford Pinto back in the 1980s. Incidentally, my dad rarely swore, but my vocabulary expanded a little every time he had to work on that “rolling piece of…”.

I’ll let your imagination fill in the blanks.

I’ve heard you can accomplish the same effect using Coca-Cola. But why waste a good can of sugary goodness when you can use a battery terminal cleaning brush. I have about three of them scattered around the basement and garage. One reason I like them is because they’re like me – cheap, but effective.

How to prevent corrosion

I like preventing battery-terminal deposits even better than cleaning them. Battery-terminal grease can be applied to the terminals to help prevent corrosion. It’s available at any auto parts store and usually comes in a little ketchup-like packet.

Another great option is AMSOIL Heavy-Duty Metal Protector. A great seller here in Sioux Falls!!
It creates a protective coating on terminals that wards off corrosion. Plus, you can use it as vehicle undercoating to guard against rust.

Whatever your method, pop the hood periodically and give the battery terminals a good cleaning. Living where sub-zero cold is common, I clean my battery terminals every fall regardless how they look to ensure I’m not met with that a dead engine when I turn the key on a cold morning.

Why Motor Oil Deteriorates

Like just about everything else, motor oil has a lifespan. Even the best oils eventually require you to change them. Historically, many motorists like the convenience of changing oil with the seasons, visiting the quick lube or pulling the ramps out of their garage each spring and fall.

Motor oil can deteriorate by becoming contaminated, the additives depleting over time or both.

How oil becomes contaminated

Base oils are the backbone of the finished lubricant that ends up in your engine. They can be conventional, synthetic or a combination thereof. They’re responsible for lubricating components, which reduces friction and protects against wear.

Base oils can lose their effectiveness over time due to a few different factors.

Oxidation – The interaction between oxygen molecules and motor oil molecules naturally leads to chemical breakdown. Just as oxygen causes a cut apple to brown or exposed metal to rust, it breaks down base oils and reduces motor oil’s effectiveness. Oxidation can lead to increased oil viscosity, which negatively affects energy efficiency. It also causes the formation of harmful deposits and sludge.

High heat – Today’s engines run hotter than ever before, with temperatures up to 235°F, and even higher if towing or hauling. The rate of oxidation for oil doubles for every 18°F increase in temperature.

Moisture – Your vehicle is also subjected to temperature swings, even when it is parked in the garage. Those temperature swings cause condensation to form inside your engine, leading to water contamination. Leaving a vehicle parked for extended periods or taking short trips that don’t allow the engine to fully warm up allow water to remain in the oil rather than evaporating and exiting through the tailpipe. Water can lead to formation of sludge.

Viscosity loss – A lubricant’s viscosity is its most important property. Viscosity has a direct bearing on wear protection, and your engine is designed to operate best using a motor oil of a specific viscosity (e.g. 5W-30). The intense pressure the oil bears as it’s squeezed between moving parts, like the piston ring/cylinder wall interface, can tear apart, or shear, its molecular structure, leading to viscosity loss. Suddenly, the 5W-30 motor oil your engine was designed to use is now essentially a 5W-20 oil, and wear protection may be compromised.

Fuel dilution – Fuel can wash past the piston rings and contaminate the motor oil, causing it to lose viscosity. Frequent short trips that don’t allow the oil to reach normal operating temperature can be especially problematic because the fuel won’t volatilize and exit through the PCV system. Excessive fuel dilution leads to sludge and varnish, requiring the oil to be changed more often.

Additive are designed to deplete

Additives are added to base oils to reduce destructive processes and enhance beneficial properties. For example, antioxidant additives help slow the rate of oxidation. Detergency additives help prevent deposits and sludge while cleaning pre-existing deposits. Anti-wear additives are added to some lubricants to form a sacrificial barrier on metal components and help prevent wear.

Since they’re sacrificial in nature, additive depletion is one of the primary reasons motor oil loses its effectiveness and must be changed.

Though all motor oils eventually deteriorate, synthetic oils last longer than conventional oils and deliver improved protection against wear and deposits. They’re formulated with base oils that are more resilient to oxidation and heat, while their additives also typically offer improved performance.

In fact, AMSOIL Signature Series Synthetic Motor Oil performs so well you can go up to 25,000 miles/one year between oil changes (15,000 miles/one year in severe service) if you want, saving money.

Category: Maintenance