HELP Car wont Start.......sucks

So as most of you know I have been getting an excessive amount of corrosion on my positive battery cable....I mean it looked like a wooley Green Mammoth on there. Ive cleaned it twice in the last month and it takes amost no time for it to come back. A couple of months ago my Alternator went out (Positive cable was horribly corroded at the time).

After cleaning it about 3 weeks ago I put anti corrosive spray and a red pad under the cable.....and the corrosion still came back. Car started fine...didnt seem to notive any trouble starting...then all of a sudden after work yesterday the car was dead. Turned the key and click click and some other fun noises happened...car kinda tried to turn over but nothing. Radio works interior lights work...just not enough to start the car. Jerry ended up jump starting me and walla the car started.

So I got home and got to work on cleaning the terminal cable....I literally had to use a blade to cut off the corrosion....saw that the actual copper cable has broken...but still looks like it has a good enough connection. Started the car and drove it for a little bit last night and shut her down. I cleaned that damn thing till it was shining copper!! and what happens this morning....car is dead again. It tried to turn over for a second but no cigar.

1)what is causing the corrosion? (something grounding? terminal leaking gas?)
2)why after cleaning it will it not take a charge? (bad cell maybe?)
3) what battery should i go with to replace it?
4) Any suggestions?

Have to figure this out...or no cruise for me

Man... Did Jeff drive by? LOL!

Yep... I suspect the battery just needs to be replaced. When mine goes, I'll be getting an Optima and moving it to the trunk.

Or. you have a short or something not grounding exactly right which is pulling current intermittently.

I'd suspect the Batt. Especially since there has been so many problems with them... I think what you are seeing is a combination of out gassing, and terminal exposure. It is normal... however in your case, it seems to be excessive. Which would leave me to suspect you have a loose cap or a small crack around the post(s). Either of which will accelerate the process do to the increase of fumes.

What Optima battery? Got a Link good sir?

yap what Paul said. the battery is leaking the sufric acid and it causing the terminals to corrode. make sure you clean the area up really good with baking soda and water , then flush the area out really good. hate to see you car get chewed up by the batterie acid.

i think the red tops Optima batteries are better than the yellows . not cheap.

make sure the cables connecting to the terminals ends are not loose or nasty. resistance kills amp and steals it when you try to turn over your engine. all the bells and whistels might work inside the car but i just go "click click click click " when trying to star her up.

Grabber07' wrote:What Optima battery? Got a Link good sir?

G O O G L E

I agree with getting the yellow top Optima - I've had several of them in different vehicles over the years and been very pleased with them. They're not cheap, but in my experience I get more miles/years out of them than any other battery I've used, so I think the overall cost is probably the same or cheaper than other batteries. Plus, they're truly maintenance-free (sealed, so you couldn't add water to them if you wanted to). Install it with some anti-corrosive spray and maybe also a titch of Vaseline. (On the battery terminals.)

$200 for a battery seems an awful lot!

hell you can even mount them side ways or upside down. it has gel in it, not the liquid stuff.


(please not body say hair gel.)

Went with the Diehard Gold battery with the 3 year warranty. Only thing is...not my black battery sock wont fit over the bigger batter. Its an eye sore

Jarrod..... your clown picture scares me. it reminds me of "IT" and "Killer Clowns from Outer Space." i never liked them since i was a kid because of them movies.

Well the car started this morning and seems to be running fine. I was watching my Volt meter on my Pioneer AVIC D3...its directly conected into my PCM and monitors speed, Volts, and much more.

The Volt meter reads right around 14.0 on startup and anywere from 13.4-13.8 while driving...its this normal? or should it be higher? Im wanting to make sure its not the alternator.

13.4-13.8 is normal with a good battery in the vehicle. If reading goes below 12.8 or so while driving at a consistent speed then that would indicate an alternator problem. If reading goes below 12.0 while driving, then your engine's about to quit due to not enough juice getting to the coils. (Happened to me once in my old Chevy pickup.)

yah... what he said.

Thanks for the info David

they all float down here.............

BEEP BEEP RICHIE!!!

Car runs good now!! BUT I will keep my eye on the corrosion..if its still corroding there is an underlying issue that needs to be addressed.

And address it I will, i mean bryan will, i mean you will if you have too.

Grabber07' wrote:So as most of you know I have been getting an excessive amount of corrosion on my positive battery cable....I mean it looked like a wooley Green Mammoth on there. Ive cleaned it twice in the last month and it takes amost no time for it to come back. A couple of months ago my Alternator went out (Positive cable was horribly corroded at the time).

After cleaning it about 3 weeks ago I put anti corrosive spray and a red pad under the cable.....and the corrosion still came back. Car started fine...didnt seem to notive any trouble starting...then all of a sudden after work yesterday the car was dead. Turned the key and click click and some other fun noises happened...car kinda tried to turn over but nothing. Radio works interior lights work...just not enough to start the car. Jerry ended up jump starting me and walla the car started.

So I got home and got to work on cleaning the terminal cable....I literally had to use a blade to cut off the corrosion....saw that the actual copper cable has broken...but still looks like it has a good enough connection. Started the car and drove it for a little bit last night and shut her down. I cleaned that damn thing till it was shining copper!! and what happens this morning....car is dead again. It tried to turn over for a second but no cigar.

1)what is causing the corrosion? (something grounding? terminal leaking gas?)
2)why after cleaning it will it not take a charge? (bad cell maybe?)
3) what battery should i go with to replace it?
4) Any suggestions?

Have to figure this out...or no cruise for me

Jarrod, if you need it I have the battery out of the SHO sitting on the work bench in the garage. It needs charged but is an almost new battery. It is the same configureation I beleive as the battery in your car. As far as the corrosion I would look for a bad or weak ground on the amp or stereo.

hey jarrod,

when you changed out batteries did you happen to also look at the battery cables. after so much corrosion they can also have issues getting all that corrosion up in past the plastic covering. i've cut mine back in the past on other cars and it had gotten in more than an inch from the terminal. might want to consider replacing the cables also with some quality aftermarket ones. you could even get the bling bling gold plating hahahahahahahahahaha j/k really please don't although it is a great conductor

Yeah bob I know what you mean. Yes there was some corrosion crawling up the terminal. I tried to clean the the best I can....Car seems to be doing alright now that the new batter is in place. I will watch the terminals and see if the corrosion comes back. If so I need to find the source

Well Looks like the corrosion is coming back! I just cant figure it out...what the hell is causing it to grow? and grow so fast? Its a brand new battery...purchased a few days ago and theres already corrosion on the post.

There has to be something going on.....any ideas guys? I do have an aftermarket Stereo...an amp in the trunk powering a subwoofer. Could it be a ground? I dunno... This sucks

I don't know. It is strange. I have some corosion starting on my Neg terminal. Yours is on the Pos side. Very wierd.

Clean the terminal real good (use my garage if you need to) and then un hook the amp and sub for a few days and by un hook i mean take the power cable off of it. Run it for a little bit that way and see if the corrosion comes back. I bet it doesnt. Where is the amp actually grounded to? Just a wire screwed to sheet metal or is it going some where more substantial like a fram mounted bracket of some kind? While your digging around make sure your stereo is using either the factory ground or something healthy as well.

Ok.. i did some reading online and from what I can tell you may just need to do some major clean up on the terminal and post and then clean it all with baking soda and water. then put some vasaline or dialectric silicone on it when you put it back together. Search google for "Battery Corrosion causes" and you will find lots of stories like yours. Now i think yours is excessive and is coming back way to fast so I still think the amp or something is speeding things up but you can slow them back down with some help from chemicals..