2007 Mustang, Bad battery?

Question

Does the appearance of corrosion point to a larger problem with the battery? There's neverbeen a corrosion issue before this and now, it's ridiculous. Could this point to the necessity to replace the batterry and not simply clean the corrosion?

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Thank you both. The battery is 2 years old, the corrosion is on the positive terminal only, and there appears to be no leakage from the battery itself. Oh and there is no rust.

Aside from cleaning the corrosion, what causes the battery connector to go? In other words, did the bad connection cause the corrosion or did the corrosion cause the damage to the connection?

Thanks in advance,

Sandy

Answer 1

Not necessarily an issue with the battery, but the corrosion does need to be cleaned off or the health of the battery will suffer. Use a baking soda and water mixture with a scrub brush, followed by a liberal water bath. Once cleaned up, then put some high pressure grease on both of the posts to keep it from returning any time soon.

Something to consider in all of this is the age of the battery. If the battery is the original battery or is upwards of 5+ years old, consider its life expectancy about expired. If the battery appears to be working fine, you'll probably want to think about changing it out in the near future.

Answer 2

Depends on what you mean by 'corrosion'. If there is acid on the outside of the battery, it should be retired and replaced. If it's just rust, then the battery is fine, but you should remove the rust and add electrical contact lubricant to prevent more in the future.

Answer 3

For battery terminals - a petroleum based grease is so much more effective than an "ordinary" grease high temp or pressure etc. Vaseline is good - easy to get hold of if you have small kids....