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Is my car safe to jump? Terminals are corroded
Not sure if it's safe to Jump, terminals are very corroded.
Discussion
Get a pitcher full of hot water with a few tablespoons of baking soda mixed in. Pour it over the battery and terminals. Let it work for a few minutes. Refill the pitcher with hot water and then rinse the battery off... It will look nearly new.
When you say hot water, how hot is hot?
Like it will melt my finger? Or just the hottest water from the tap?
Hottest tap water.
Thx
Literally did this yesterday and used cold water, worked fine
Hot just works faster
But don't let it get up under the battery's vent caps. Getting baking soda in there will add free ions to the electrolyte in the battery, meaning it quietly goes dead whenever you're not looking at it, forever thereafter.
Wouldn’t covering both terminals in water cause a short and possibly fuck you up?
No. Water is not a good conductor. Done this dozens of times.
Distilled water is not a good conductor.
Tap water, water with minerals, salts, etc becomes a conductor.
But this application isn't keeping water in place to be an issue. Gravity is our friend.
Steel brush and or water with a little baking soda are common ways to clean up the corrosion.
Get a little dielectric grease for the terminals once they are clean. Cheap at Wal-Mart or any old store. This specialized grease, often silicone-based, is designed to seal out moisture and contaminants while ensuring good electrical contact. It's non-conductive, meaning it won't interfere with the flow of electricity, but it helps prevent corrosion and keeps the terminals clean.
But adding baking soda which is conductive doesn’t make it safer….
12 volts wont travel through anything thats not a good conductor
Your body has more conductivity... you can touch both terminals and not get zapped.
For real? I've always been so scared of accidentally touching them both as I was always taught that they'd fry your hands
Hands, no, but your ratchet is a completely different story.
Sounds like you speak from experience. Type of experience that makes you stop and think for a second before you move on. 😂
I haven't done that one yet. Not sure if i want to
Nah, 12V isn't enough to even notice.
The danger usually comes from conductive objects touching the terminals, people dropping spanners on them etc.
I've heard of people severely burning their wrists by shorting the battery with their watch. No electrocution danger though. Purely a fire or burn hazard from any metal object that shorts it will get very hot very quickly.
Also there can be lead present in the battery including the terminals, so it can be a good idea to avoid touching them with your bare hands too often. Lead's really not great for your health.
Unless you are sweaty or otherwise more conductive than average, I've gotten little jolts once in awhile, nothing dangerous by any means, just enough to let me know I'm completing a circuit.
Even then it usually has to be something like my forearm hitting the positive terminal while I'm touching ground with the same hand.
Buddy 12 volts aint shit. You can bridge the terminals with your hand and wont get shocked (not that I recommend you try).
Water aint gonna conduct if your hand, with its nerve pathways and such, wont.
Edit: dont care if this edit gets me permanently banned from here.
Dont care if im wrong factually, or not. Homeboy below me decided to be an ass and call me a troll by pointing out the word Troll in my username, and I did the same, and got temp banned for it. Mods on here muted me when I asked if they'd temp ban him for doing the exact same thing I did, and I got no reply.
Maybe theyre playing favorites or they don't want to enforce rules consistently. Either way, FYI for whom it may concern.
Glad to see TROLL in your name.
There are AMPS to consider more than volts... But follow instructions and don't be stupid. Do NOT HOLD BOTH TERMINALS OR SPAN THEM ... EVER.
[removed]
Removed for being derogatory, purposely inflammatory, demeaning, or being argumentative just for the sake of arguing.
I mean - don't do this without disconnecting the positive and negative leads at least. Pretty fucking easy to be safe about it and do it right. Otherwise yeah this is no issue.
No need. Zero danger. Done this dozens of times.
Sometimes the corrosion is what’s getting in the way of the battery working properly. I had a situation where I thought my battery was dead cus it wouldn’t start, but the corrosion was just breaking the connection. Cleaned the connectors and had no issue after.
Most likely problem is that the corrosion is in the way of the connection. Pour boiling water with baking soda mixed in over both terminals, then remove the cables, clean again, and re-install. THEN start thinking about a jump if it is still dead
you’re fine, if you are worried about the corrosion just pour really hot water on the terminals, it’ll dissolve away (completely safe practice done at shops regularly)
And baking soda
Shops should use backing soda too so the acid is neutralized.
It's kinda dangerous honestly, it's hard to get a connection and easy to cause a spark.
As someone who's had a battery explode in his face, I would definitely be careful here. In fact, I would NOT ground on the battery for this one.
Take the battery out to do it
I would clean them first.
Very unlikely...BUT.... batteries can explode if a) they are leaking hydrogen gas and b) there is a spark from a loose/funky connection.
Play it safe. clean 'em up!
1) go grab your toothbrush 2) scrub that crap off, takes about a minute 3) wash your hands 4) buy a new toothbrush, be honest, that other one was getting old
Auto part stores sell bottles of spray battery corrosion cleaners. I imagine it would be fine to jump but I imagine cleaning off that battery will help fix problems with it
I’d be more concerned if the suspension could handle it.
Agreed, check the struts and bushings then you can take it off some sweet ramps.
Battery is from... September 2017.
She's done.
Wouldn’t take long or much work at all to make it fully safe and be comfortable jumping. Literally just gotta clean all that crap off and you should be good. Might consider checking the battery at autozone and getting a small cheap packet of grease for your terminals while you’re there if the battery still has life in it. Couple bucks well spent
Maybe jump it and I’d take it to an independent shop to replace the battery. 2017 shelf sticker.
If you are stranded with no way to take the cables off and at least clean some of it off.,,then yes safe to jump lol.
Pretty sure that sticker says 09/17 on it.
If so, don't bother cleaning, just replace the battery. It's 8 years old and needs a jump. It's probably on its way out.
Good catch.
It looks like the sides of the battery are bulging, I think that battery is toast. Find replacement at your earliest convenience.
Pouring baking soda and water on the outside will clean it off only that, THE OUTSIDE! You must remove the cable ends off the postsand clean off where the connection happens. This is why people who dont know how to correctly repair or service a car dont ever fix it right! Once you clean the cable ends and posts properly you need to apply dielectric grease around the base of the battery posts because what the corrosion is from is the batt. Acid seeping around the plastic batt case and the post and it collects. Clean them the correct way and apply preven results to fight the corrosion. Sorry so long but people dont need to be ill informed on how to repair. Tim , retired 30+ yr veteran GM bumper to bumper tech! 7 ase's and over 900 GM certs.
That will probably not explode.
Battery has been neglected for so long, why clean it up now? That corrosion has already made its way into the positive and negative cables. If you place a new battery in there and you don’t routinely clean off any signs of corrosion, it’s just going to get borked up just like the one in there now. Battery corrosion cleanup is the responsibility of the owner/driver. Once a month would keep things nice and clean. The battery in your car now probably hasn’t been cleaned for years. You can easily buy a spray cleaner and a protector to avoid future corrosion. This is basic maintenance, and there are thousands of videos on internet on how to do this. And no, the battery will not explode due to a spark or liquid cleaning. About the only thing that will explode a battery is a runaway alternator that is overcharging battery over an extended period of time, superheating the battery and boiling the battery acid. Good luck and please show your electrical system some love.
As mentioned in here some household common items can clean that up much more for you!
Remove the negative cable terminal, clean it, set aside. Remover positive cable terminal, clean it, out it back on, then put the negative terminal back on. Make sure they're both properly tightened. See if it starts. If it doesn't, then jump it.
If it doesn't hold a charge after that, you probably need a new battery.
ETA: Do you have a terminal cleaner? It's a brush set (with a cover cap) one for the battery posts, and one for the cable ends. https://youtube.com/shorts/5CJhegu9nCk?si=h-ahR4K4vFjbCMpU
I use baking sofa & warm water to clean the terminals & posts, I find that dissolves the corrosion well.
Soda, the auto-correction on this phone has a mind of its own, sorry about the auto typo.
Go get your battery recall done.
Also, before you do, slowly pour some hot water over the battery to melt that corrosion.
That may be why you have to jump it.
That would be a symptom of why it needs a jump
Un-corrode them. Baking soda and warm water does a nice, efficient clean.
Clean your terminals and you may find you don't need a jump after all
In a pinch you can always pour some Dr pepper on the terminals to clean them.
That’s probably why you need a jump…
Just clean them
Complete side note - it might be worth looking into if your vehicle has a battery recall still open. A lot of those rav4s had a recall where they changed to a newer style of battery hold down to prevent a potential fire from the hold down arcing to the positive terminal, and it looks like your vehicle has the older style still.
Clean them with a brush and baking soda.
If you are in a pinch, buy a 1 liter coke-a-cola (the brand), and a 1 liter water. Pour a little coke on the battery terminals and most of the crud will melt away. Use a paper towel to try and clean off the battery, but don't get any of that crap on your skin or clothes. Use small amounts of coke and paper towels to get it fairly clean. Sop up the coke with more paper towels. Then rise off the coke with the water. Its not great, but better than nothing if you are stuck.
Or find an auto parts store and get the right stuff, including gloves and a wrench to take the cables off, clean them, and put them back on tight.
You need a good ramp and a dirt bike.
Holy shit that's bad, but yeah it's probably safe, it's gonna be difficult to get a good connection tho, I would clean it
That's likely why it won't start and needs a boost. Clean up the terminals and check cable ends for corrosion, and it'll likely start. You need to look things over once in a while to spot possible problems, and rectify them before they progress to this point. Good luck!!
Jump, sure. But if your battery terminals and the down clamp looks this bad then your car needs serious attention.
if you jump it properly, red on positive black on ground/bare metal on your car and not the negative terminal, red on + black - for donor car, then you effectively remove the chances of the battery exploding when jumping, its rare but batteries do do that.
also clean the terminals, you wont get a good jump connection otherwise.
Stick the kettle on.
And pour it all over.
Coca-Cola will remove that if you don't have baking soda.
That looks like dried lithium grease under the corrosion so may not be too bad
Two litter of cola to sip and pour the rest on those teminals. ( coke a cola brand , Then got some how water with baking soda mixed in and fresh water to rinse it .
Lick it
Pour a can of coke on them and they will be good as new
Replace the dang battery, please. It's done.
Baking soda and water, wire brush, clean off terminal and cable connectors first, then jump it.
Why don’t you just clean the terminals?
Oh wow look at that a AAA battery, hmm...
They're known to sulfate and have excessive corrosion, they should only be considered a temporary battery because they're freaking garbage.
The battery can explode so be careful, honestly you should just have it towed to a shop. Probably will need new cable ends too.
This one seems to have had a long life, date sticker looks like it says '17
Pre-covid batteries were of considerably better quality.
Across the board.
Even the vehicle manufacturer's batteries only last 3-4 years.
Yeah that's pretty impressive, the AAA batteries are known (by us mechanics) to be kinda crappy and have a tendency to get corrosion more often than other brands.
Battery should've been replaced already, probably years ago, before the corrosion got this bad and ruined the cable ends.
OP doesn't strike me as someone who maintains their vehicle well... or at all.
In my experience, AAA batteries stand out for routinely being of poor quality.
I usually tell customers that they should think of them more as a "get-me-hone" battery than as an actual replacement battery.
Exactly, when you see thousands of vehicles per year, you end up seeing patterns others might not.
That probably explains the downvotes.
That's exactly why I commented (the undeserved downvotes).
This battery may have lasted a long time, but I see dozens of batteries a week, and a lot of those are AAA's.
And of those AAAs, a lot of them are really busted-ass AAA batteries.
What do you think of “Interstate” batteries?
My six year old one from Costco (which I hear may be a distinct than the ones directly from Interstate) is starting to show it's age, but it still functions and tested good in April.
Other than that I have no specific opinion. Maintaining them matters (see my pic above).
Pour Diet Coke on the terminals then jump it.
Baking soda and water mix, no diet coke, yes it works, but thats also how you get rats.
Oh crap. That's not good. Guess I'll remove that from my mental catalog.
Some here have suggested using baking soda to neutralize the potassium hydroxide. While it can work, you shouldn’t be near the fumes when you do it. Vinegar is a much better alternative to neutralize the potassium hydroxide.
It’s probably not starting because the terminals are corroded. Can stop it from getting good contact. Happens to me. Clean the terminals, like everyone said, (you can even use a wire brush) and try again
Probably fine but why not just clean them off?
Last thing you want to discover is the corrosion was the only thing holding the terminals and posts there in the first place.
Seen it happen before, to my amazement.
Seen it many times, might be why they need a jump
Only once?
😂
Less likely for the corrosion to need to hold it together if you don't let the corrosion build up and eat the terminals in the first place.
Well, yeah, of course. Not saying corrosion is good, just saying leave it until you can conveniently replace the battery and fix the cables if needed.
Especially if the battery is dead already
Ye, takes 10 seconds with a steel wire brush