In article
>,
Old Wolf > wrote:

> Question : what is the proper way to clean battery
> terminals and leads that aren't making a good
> connection?
>
> Last week, after charging my battery when it was
> flat, I noticed a lot of that bluish-white salt stuff
> built up in the negative battery lead. I cleaned it
> off and reattached the lead, and then as I was
> doing up the nut with the spanner, I got a massive
> spark discharge and burning bits of stuff flew off.
> I take this to mean that the lead is not making a
> good connection to the terminal, and the spanner
> caused a connection when it must have come
> into contact with the terminal properly.

Hmmm I bet you were putting the positive terminal back on, and your
wrench touched something grounded. You could have had a battery
explosion... glad your ok. Look at your wrench; on the end opposite to
the end you were using, you'll probably find a burn mark. Another burn
mark will be on the car where the wrench touched.

You really should always take the negative cable off first when
disconnecting a battery. When reconnecting, the negative goes on last.
That way if your wrench touches something with ground potential, your
safe. (However, if you wrench should simultaneously touch both battery
terminals/posts you'll still get the big arc. Even though possible this
is a little more difficult to do by accident as most wrenches aren't
that long.)

Google a little, you'll find a good bit about this. There is also a
'safe' order to connect and disconnect jumper cables... again Google
away.

Auto parts stores have special battery terminal brushes... they're cheap
and work great. You can also submerge the cable end/s in a mixture of
baking soda water and the corrosion salts will boil away. The baking
soda method doesn't work well if the terminals are oily or greasy. Keep
the baking soda mixture out of the battery.

Once you get the terminals clean and installed, giving then a good
coating of heavy grease will prevent further corrosion. Be sure to pack
it in well under the terminal. (Acids don't attack grease)

Erik