BATTERY TERMINAL CORROSION

[soonercruiser]

(This thread is a continuation of the last thread "2004-pt-gt-stalls-p0340-code")
Now, I'm not a certified mechanic. But, I do have some experience with battery terminal corrosion in the past, and on one of my two Cruisers!
* The soonercruiser is a 5-speed, manual tranny, NA. It is coming up on 2 years of ownership, and for some reason, I have never had a drop of problem with corrosion on the battery terminals.
** But, about a year ago, I bought a slightly used Black HO Turbo automatic tranny Vert; tan top & leather interior; The Black Sheep I call it. Ever since I picked it up last November it has had a problem with corrosive buildup on the left terminal as you look at it (negative I think). Common sense says pop it off, clean well, use a felt washer, and spray with corrosion protectant. So, I have done this time, after time, after time.....
- What I did notice is, that the connector itself is unusual, in that it consists of two thin copper rings with rolled edges. This is much different that any connector that I have seen on any PT; the large thick lead prong. Did Pedro just pull parts from the wrong box when they put mine together? My service rep agreed with me at the last oil & filter change....and ordered the correct part. They will have to braze it into place....when I get there the next time. They also checked the battery to be sure that the battery casing wasn't cracked near the terminal itself, i.e. leaking acid.
- Is this a design flaw; or just an assembly mistake?
- Will it make a difference? I'll let you know later.
***One correction - a mistake you should not make!!! I did have a problem with soonercruiser's left terminal corroding one time early on! I ignored it! One day I heard a pop, and the car stopped running! There must have been a loose wire to that lead connector, as the battery arced to the wire, burning the wire off of the engine harness!! This could have been a very costly mistake (engine harness is over $1,200; parts alone). I got to hand it to my dealer - there was just enough wire to stretch and braze the wires back to the connector - no problem since!
DON'T IGNORE BATTERY TERMINAL CORROSION!!

[ron2004gt]

Originally Posted by soonercruiser

(
** But, about a year ago, I bought a slightly used Black HO Turbo automatic tranny Vert; tan top & leather interior; The Black Sheep I call it. Ever since I picked it up last November it has had a problem with corrosive buildup on the left terminal as you look at it (negative I think). Common sense says pop it off, clean well, use a felt washer, and spray with corrosion protectant. So, I have done this time, after time, after time.....
- What I did notice is, that the connector itself is unusual, in that it consists of two thin copper rings with rolled edges. This is much different that any connector that I have seen on any PT; the large thick lead prong.

Our 2004 PT GT has the unusual connector too ... with two think copper rings
so it must be that certain production runs got this connector and they like to
corrode. So you braised a standard lead connector on the battery cable to solve the problem?

[slartyblarfast]

Having not seen what your talking about I'm not real sure. It is VERY common for the negative cable end to corrode. Why? I don't know. Once it starts it only gets worse. The battery cable harness is available seperately and is not that expensive and not that hard to replace.

[soonercruiser]

Not sure if they ordered/got just the connector, or the whole cable harness. I will see when I get there.

[CREWZIN]

It's not only the PT's that have that problem.

I'm with the Sheriff's office and drive a Ford Crown Vic Interceptor. Yesterday the Power supply to the in-car computer started making a high pitch squeel when the motor was not running. Took it to the shop that works on computers and they said when the car's battery wasn't putting out enough amps that noise would happen. When the engine was running the amps would go up and stop the squeel. Took it over to maintenance to check the battery and what we found was the Negative battery terminal (with the thick double rings on the cable like your talking about) was covered with corrosion, I mean you couldn't even see the cable end till it was cleaned.

We're told to check the car and engine for fluids and such before we go out but both cables had these large plastic covers (red on + and black on -) that hid the corrosion from site until it got so bad that the corrosion affected the output of the battery.

[Hooligan]

My 2008 has a heavy battery clamp on the positive side, but there are two cables bolted to a bracket on the clamp leading to ????. Can't really see where both of them go.

[Cal Cruzer]

Really heavy corrosion that returns soon after cleaning is usually a sign that the terminal is leaking gasses and the battery should be replaced.

[Franksredpt]

My n/a '02 corrodes badly. About a year and a half after I got it, I noticed the battery terminals were corroding. Figured it was the battery so I replaced it. Well, its still doing it. I can clean it off and it comes right back. Those little felt rings don't help a bit.

[MadMax]

Normally I'm a lurker here, but to toss in my two cents, I'm one of those nuts who has identical model PT Cruisers. Both '03 GT's. Blue is his, grey/green is hers Mileage is 57K and 76K respectively.

It's nice to have the same car, because you can compare/contrast and if you fix something on one, you know how to do it on the other now. They seem to have similar, though not always identical problems. The blue one needed a water pump for example, but the green is okay so far.

Both had corroded negative battery terminals... I have to assume the copper-plated terminal is factory (probably weight savings over lead), because both have 'em. I cleaned the one on my wife's car and neutralized it with a mix of water, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Just dunked the whole thing in a container and kept freshening the mixture until it stopped reacting. (Don't try this at home kids!) Then smeared it with dialectric grease and used a washer.

My car had the same problem, but the battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore (even on a charger.) I replaced it and cleaned the terminal the same way. Returning the battery for the core, I saw it leaked acid around the negative terminal. A hair-line crack in the plastic was the cause. No amount of little felts is going to stop that!

If you still have an OEM battery, I'd suspect that and swap it out. The factory usually uses the cheapest parts it can (front rotors anyone?!? ), so it's conceivable this flaw happens with many OEM batteries.

BTW, a third cause could be the heat in the engine bay. Even with the heat shield, those batteries are roasted daily... It could be the heat's forcing the batteries to out-gas past weak points at the terminal or even (conceivably) making them crack over time.

Take care - Laszlo

[soonercruiser]

DEALER SERVICE UPDATE ON CORRODED BATTERY TERMINALS !!

Just got back from the dealership, dealing with the terminal corrosion, and the trim behind the rag top popping off. The trim piece was placed on order.

**They replaced the pos (+) battery terminal clamp. The original was copper...the new one (silver) looks like lead or Zinc. When I went to check out, the bill was for $68! I reminded the service manager that he promise to see if it could be covered under warranty. When he went back and punched in the service code (08901201), it came up "covered"!!
Cost me nothing!!! Now, I will continue to watch for the + terminal corrosion and report back prn; I noted to him that if the problem continues, I will replace the battery with an Interstate battery. (Happy with my dealer!!! You bet!) Below is link to pic of replacement......
Image of Replacement + battery terminal. - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting