Clean Car Battery Connections

Car Batteries are a critical element of your car which allow you to start your engine everyday and provide the electricity for your car.

So maintaining it in good condition is very critical, no one want to start the day with a battery failure.

Part of this maintenance is cleaning you car battery connection, to avoid corrosion around them potentially causing leakage and reducing your battery life.  

As your battery heats and cools with your motor, hydrogen gasses are released from the battery through the vents in the battery. (fig.3) These gasses mix with other particulates around the battery. That mixing produces corrosion which forms on electrical connections

Before going further the first step is to do a visual check of your battery to make sure that there nothing obvious to fix first:

- Crack and leaks on your battery 
- State of your cables and connections 

Something that you can remove yourself but there is a few rules to respect:

You will have to disconnect the battery completely , never touch metal to metal, keep metal tools away from the Positive of the battery, wear PPE like safety goggles, work gloves, and appropiate clothing as you might come into contact with sulfuric acid.

With newer car you might want to Check your owner's manual to confirm that your vehicle doesn't have a special procedure for disconnecting the battery.
As you might want to avoid loosing you car setting for this reason you might want to connect another 12V power source.

Cleaning process:

- If the corrosion is minimal you can use a wire brush to remove the corrosion. 

- If more coorosion is present the battery need to be disconnected by removing the rubber or plastic covers that protect the area where the battery cables connect to the battery terminals.Remove the clamp from the positive terminal and then the negative terminal.

- Use a product to clean the connection either you get a spay bottle or you make some using baking soda and water. 
  For this combine 2-3 tablespoons of baking soda and 2-3 tablespoons of water. Aplly the mixture onto your car connection.Let it do it's work the baking soda will dissolve the corrosion quickly and allow you to remove it easily give it a gentle rince and dry the area with a rag.
Once corrosion is removed, clean the battery terminals and cables that attach at the battery with a wire brush or toothbrush with the baking soda mixture applied to it.
  * Avoid putting caustic sauda inside your car * 

- Reconnect the battery: Reconnect the clamp from the negative terminal and then the positive terminal. 

- To prevent the corrosion add grease onto the connectors and reposition the cover to protect the clamp.

Having trouble with your car battery? Check our other articles: How to test your car battery in less than 30 seconds.