Car battery - Nasty corrosion (pics included)

[icelt]

Already have this posted at NASIOC.org, but never know one/some of you GTP guys might know best. I'm fairly certain there are some serious car peeps around these parts .

My car - '02 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon, no significant AM mod's.

So today after finding that my car would not start I enlisted the help of a neighbor for a jump. It didn't work out so well . Photographs follow:

Melted Jumper Cables :

Offending Battery now who would let it get this bad :

JIC - I started off connecting the neg lead to my chassis. Then I connected the pos & neg leads to the jump battery and finally the pos to my battery. As soon as I connected the pos to my battery there was a little sparking, but it didn't seem excessive at all in my experience. However very shortly thereafter, maybe 10 secs, the insulation began to smoke. So after a few seconds of internalized "WTF " we removed the clamps and gave up on the jump .

The battery is a good 3 years old and I know it is my bad for ignoring the post corrosion issue for this long. I won't name names, but a local dealership installed the battery and apparently didn't use a dialectic paste/spray like they should have and I never returned to have them address it.

Regardless of how I got here my main focus now, what is the best course of action? I don't know if I can get the corroded clamp off with the tools I have therefore I'm a little leery of trying to replace the battery myself. Especially if the short that melted the jumper cables is not directly associated with the battery.

How likely is the short associated with the corrosion I ignored?

I've checked all the interior elec's I can and everything that you would expect to run off elec power still seems functional (all gauge lights, interior light, windows, clock, access lights). The only thing that doesn't respond at all is the radio/cd player, but I'm hoping that is simply because the battery is so low on charge. I also checked the water levels in the battery and they seem fine.

Lastly, money is a little tight for me right now. I would love to handle this myself to save on towing charges etc, but I am also reasonable enough to admit when something is over my head. This is where I hope the experienced feedback from the community can help direct me a little.

Thanks in advance as always.

 

[Perfect Balance]

You connected it wrong. Pos/neg go on your battery, and then the pos goes on their battery, and the negative on their engine block somewhere.

Edit: Wait never mind, read that wrong, I thought your car was the battery "donor" car.

You might have a huge short on your end, most likely in the cables leading to the starter, or anything leading up to the fuse box, anything past that would probably blow a fuse before it got any further.

Then again maybe the cables themselves are bad, and were shorting together?

 

[Nicksfix]

Looks to me like you had a ground problem,or you inadvertantly crossed up on the cables.

 

[icelt]

You connected it wrong. Pos/neg go on your battery, and then the pos goes on their battery, and the negative on their engine block somewhere.

Edit: Wait never mind, read that wrong, I thought your car was the battery "donor" car.

In case, I'm pretty sure the corrosion on your battery had something to do it it. As much resistance as that would cause, 600 amps need to go somewhere.

Ok, was researching JIC. Anyway just to confirm with a diagram this is how I attached the jumpers cables:

 

[icelt]

Ok, so just to organize the issues raised:

1 - jumper cables shorting. These cables are effectively new and I have only used them once. Well they were new, now they are kinda shot .

2 - resistance from cable corrosion. Interesting. So maybe the path of least resistance, thanks to the heavy amounts of corrosion, ended up being the small amount of moisture you can see spanning the pos & neg terminals. Obviously there must be some conductive path there as corrosion is occurring on the battery clamp.

So would a thorough cleaning of the pos terminal and cable potentially fix things? And where might I find good instructions on doing such maintenance?

 

[Famine]

Ok, was researching JIC. Anyway just to confirm with a diagram this is how I attached the jumpers cables:

JIC - I started off connecting the neg lead to my chassis. Then I connected the pos & neg leads to the jump battery and finally the pos to my battery. As soon as I connected the pos to my battery there was a little sparking, but it didn't seem excessive at all in my experience.

Doing it wrong.

1. Red jump lead to recipient battery +ve
2. Red jump lead to donor battery +ve
3. Black jump lead to donor battery -ve
4. Black jump lead to recipient car anywhere metal (it's all earthed)

You also have to make sure the jumper leads will withstand the current draw - trying to jump a Scooby from, say, a Suzuki Swift battery, with leads designed for the Swift, will end with melted leads and a dead Swift.

I'd also say your battery is goosed - there's sulphuric acid all over the place - and attempting to remove it sooner rather than later will give you a better chance of success.

 

[Jay.]

You also have to make sure the jumper leads will withstand the current draw - trying to jump a Scooby from, say, a Suzuki Swift battery, with leads designed for the Swift, will end with melted leads and a dead Swift.

I'd also say your battery is goosed - there's sulphuric acid all over the place - and attempting to remove it sooner rather than later will give you a better chance of success.

Good point.
This could be your only problem. Could have just been a knackered battery to start with.

 

[opelgt1969]

It looks to me that your jumper cables might not be high quality (what gauge is the wire) also appears that the insulation on the clamps might have come into contact with the battery hold-down bracket (positive clamp) and your "short" started there. With car batteries being crammed into cars the way they are these days I try to lay something over the battery, just be careful doing this as you could create a fire hazard. Use large DRY towel dry cardboard.

 

[addictions]

Judging by the jump leads they would of melted anyway trying to start something like a scooby which need a fair few AMP's, They perhaps would be ok for a really small car.
I would of poured hot water out of a kettle on the corrosion 1st of all then cleaned up the terminals.
The battery could well of been knackered, But personally I think the main Issue would of been the terminal contact. The + on a Scooby had 2 contact points the cable bolts to the clamp then the clamp to the + post on the battery. With the corrosion on both of them the power would have a really tough job to to make a good circuit.

 

[eSZee]

You also have to make sure the jumper leads will withstand the current draw - trying to jump a Scooby from, say, a Suzuki Swift battery, with leads designed for the Swift, will end with melted leads and a dead Swift.

Not sure I agree with that. I've had plenty of people pull out $10 wal mart special jumper cables, 14-16ga inner core when asking me to jump start their cars, ranging from corollas to super duty dualies. The cables never melted. They were useless since they couldn't carry enough current for the bigger cars. When I worked at a dealership, sometimes we would take the the various jumper cables people had in their trunk and we would see if they could jump start whatever random car we had sitting in the lot. The crap cables almost never work.
I'm also going to disagree with your steps to jump the car. You connect the power to the dead battery first, recipient, then to the live, donor. Then you connect the black jumper to the good battery and then black jumper to recipient chassis/engine/ground.
Looking at the picture it looks like he grounded the power cable somewhere or there is a short. Whoever was hooking up the cables wasn't careful enough.

 

[Famine]

Not sure I agree with that. I've had plenty of people pull out $10 wal mart special jumper cables, 14-16ga inner core when asking me to jump start their cars, ranging from corollas to super duty dualies. The cables never melted. They were useless since they couldn't carry enough current for the bigger cars. When I worked at a dealership, sometimes we would take the the various jumper cables people had in their trunk and we would see if they could jump start whatever random car we had sitting in the lot. The crap cables almost never work.

I've seen cables meant for a Fiesta melt when trying to jump a Vectra.

I'm also going to disagree with your steps to jump the car. You connect the power to the dead battery first, recipient, then to the live, donor. Then you connect the black jumper to the good battery and then black jumper to recipient chassis/engine/ground.

 

[eSZee]

Your first step said to connect the power lead to the live battery first, picture shows dead battery first.

 

[Famine]

Ah, sorry, I read "disagree" and nothing else. Yes, I mistyped originally. Fail.

 

[eSZee]

Interesting.

So today after finding that my car would not start I enlisted the help of a neighbor for a jump. It didn't work out so well . Photographs follow:

Melted Jumper Cables :

The good car, one getting the jump from, was not running at the time you were connecting the jumper cables, was it?
If the cables were not shorted, the battery certainly was. It happens.

 

[icelt]

Doing it wrong.

1. Red jump lead to recipient battery +ve
2. Red jump lead to donor battery +ve
3. Black jump lead to donor battery -ve
4. Black jump lead to recipient car anywhere metal (it's all earthed)

You also have to make sure the jumper leads will withstand the current draw - trying to jump a Scooby from, say, a Suzuki Swift battery, with leads designed for the Swift, will end with melted leads and a dead Swift.

I'd also say your battery is goosed - there's sulphuric acid all over the place - and attempting to remove it sooner rather than later will give you a better chance of success.

The cables were connected correctly, but I do admit I did not connect them in the proper order.

It looks to me that your jumper cables might not be high quality (what gauge is the wire) also appears that the insulation on the clamps might have come into contact with the battery hold-down bracket (positive clamp) and your "short" started there. With car batteries being crammed into cars the way they are these days I try to lay something over the battery, just be careful doing this as you could create a fire hazard. Use large DRY towel dry cardboard.

I agree, they are not especially high quality jumper cables. However I have used these exact same cables prior to jump this same vehicle. To my recollection each clamp was only touching the car where it was supposed to.

The good car, one getting the jump from, was not running at the time you were connecting the jumper cables, was it?
If the cables were not shorted, the battery certainly was. It happens.

Correct. The donor car's engine was off when the cables were attached.

So it seems clear that my first order of business is to clean off the corrosion from the terminal and lead as best I can. Then I can attempt another jump and see how things go.

Thanks for the feedback 👍 and I'll report back with the results.

 

[eight6er]

it could be the jump leads are not up to the job, i've had that problem before with leads melting and it went away when i got new jump leads. sorry if it's mentioned above.

 

[eSZee]

So it seems clear that my first order of business is to clean off the corrosion from the terminal and lead as best I can. Then I can attempt another jump and see how things go.

Thanks for the feedback 👍 and I'll report back with the results.

If the cables weren't shorted, the battery had/has and internal short. I think it's time for a new one. It looks like the battery itself is melted around the + post, or is it not?

 

[BlacqueJacques]

Ok, so just to organize the issues raised:

So would a thorough cleaning of the pos terminal and cable potentially fix things? And where might I find good instructions on doing such maintenance?

So if clean the batter posts wouldn't fix things you just leave the corroded mess as is?

 

[Punknoodle]

So it seems clear that my first order of business is to clean off the corrosion from the terminal and lead as best I can. Then I can attempt another jump and see how things go.

No, it's time for a new battery and looks like the connections on the positive and negative leads will need attention, in the form of new lugs and clamps. If you are not confident and know what you are doing then you should take it to an auto electrician.

As for jumping cars, I use my split surge protected leads on anything with an ECU. You connect the leads to both vehicles individually, and the lights on the connectors will glow to indicate correct connection, then you join them together.

I am just hoping for your sake you havn't goosed your ECU.

EDIT: Just looked at your negative lead again, looks alright, but when the new battery gets connected you will definatly need some paste on both terminals. I will say again though - your positive lead can't just be cleaned up - it's far too corroded for that. It will need repaired.

 

[icelt]

No, it's time for a new battery and looks like the connections on the positive and negative leads will need attention, in the form of new lugs and clamps. If you are not confident and know what you are doing then you should take it to an auto electrician.

Yep, the more I think about it the more I agree this is the best solution at this point.

 

[icelt]

Welp probably not much of a surprise, but you guys pretty much called it. I present to you one Subey-Rex positive battery lug after 2+ years of neglected corrosion:



Top Side

Bottom Side

Basically had to use 9/10 a box of Baking Soda cleaning it. So... next phase, get the entire lead back to the starter replaced. Should be super cheap . I sure earned this unanticipated expense .

 

[eSZee]

If you want, you can go to autozone and pick up a battery post terminal, clean the end of your stock wire, crimp it to the new post terminal and you're good. It looks like you lost less than an inch of the stock cable so it might be your cheapest alternative.

 

[icelt]

If you want, you can go to autozone and pick up a battery post terminal, clean the end of your stock wire, crimp it to the new post terminal and you're good. It looks like you lost less than an inch of the stock cable so it might be your cheapest alternative.

Actually as I examined the cable further, the corrosion had progressed several inches from the lug.

Soooo... after more research and internal deliberations I've decided to send it to the nearest Subbie dealer. It's is costing me about $250 more than if I did it myself, so I'm not jazzed about that, however it will be done by tomorrow. In addition as this is my only ride I won't be forced to inconvenience my friends anymore than I already have.

Just for fun, here's the related parts diagram:

 

[icelt]

Before:

After:

Hmmm... seems a minor-ish improvement

So it was the battery that shorted somehow. Also no fried ECU or anything. Everything's just peachy again .

 

[buickgnx88]

Did you spray paint the battery?

 

[icelt]

Did you spray paint the battery?

That was the dealerships doing.