sorry for the long post! here it goes my story! Tonight on my way home, i got to the car and went to start it. all my dash lights and everything lit up fine like normal and then i turned it to try to start it. right before i even got the key turned, all my lights flicked off, dome dash everything. it seemed as if the battery died. car wouldnt start. very very waited a couple seconds tried again, battery seemed like it had very little juice, not enough to start of course.

I got out of the car checked the terminals for good connection. fine. i wuz at my girlfriends house, got her out and tried to jump my car. car had good connection with hers, still wouldnt start. i let it sit for about 15 min or so and still wouldnt start. very fed up at this point, got her to rev it up real good while i tried to turn it over, fired up after a couple tries. stayed running good. let it set for a while to charge up. left her house drove home, on my way home, i was just praying car wouldnt die on me while driving. luckily it didnt, very very thankful pulled into the driveway messed with it a little bit to see if something was really wrong. turned off my lights, (11:00 at night) tried to turn them back on, car just died.

stopped the car tried to start it again. nothing! it was dead. Now at this point im thinking its the stupid A$$ battery. got out of the car got my wrenches, took off my + terminal. acid was all over the inside of the plug from the car not the battery. just some was on the + battery terminal. brushed it away with a shop towel. the corrosion was all in the + plug where the red rubber plug was at on the insde surrounding the bolt that screws into the batter. didnt have any wire brushes small enuff to get that crap out, took my exacto knife to scrape some of it out. got most of it out and wiped it off as good as i can. plugged the terminal back up with it mostly clean of corrosion, tightened the plug up real good, got in the car, dome light was bright chime was going when i had the key in the ignition, turned the car on, dash lights bright dome light still shining, closed the door started the car, fired right up. weird! oh yeah i forgot to say, the alternator is fine it is charging and everything so thats whate led me to the battery in the first place. let it run for a couple min shut it off. turned it back on lights and all were fine. started it back up started fine. turned my lights on and off, turned ac on and off and turned radio on and off, car didnt die. stayed running good seemed like it was charging good. revved it up a little stayed fine. turened it off. need opinons suggestions. has this ever happened any of you all with any of your cars. is it true that the corrosion on the terminal/and or plug cause a bad connection for the car not start? i hope its not my battery alternator or bad ground or bad wire! thanks i hope its fine tomorrow.

 

hey guys any asnwers to this?

 

my daddy always said to keep those terminals as clean as possible so you get the best contact and current flow that you can. that being said, the short answer to your question is yes i believe massive amounts of corrosion will prevent car from starting. as far as the spilled acid, thats not good, id hope you cleaned that all very well and it would make me wonder about the overall health of the battery to begin with, cuz i dont like things that spill corrosive substances on my car. damn seagulls! hope this helps.

CR

 

If you have corrosion, that can make the connection poor and keep the car from starting. Connections should always be clean and tight. Now, if you actually have acid leaking from the battery terminal (happened to me), the only thing you can do is replace the battery. If you let it continue to leak, it will eat through the paint on anything it touches and cause severe rust that will be hard to get rid of. The acid is like cancer. You have to completely get rid of it and repaint any exposed metal.

 

Check the threads on the terminal bolts also. If they are worn or corroded, do yourself a favor and replace them. Theyre only like $3 at auto zone. Also get yourself some of that battery terminal grease and put some on the terminals to prevent corrosion in the future.

 

When a battery is no good. It is no good. Duh. When a battery is completely drawn down, the only way you can charge it up is to put it on a charger. Can't drive around and charge it.

My guess is you just need a new battery, especially if all your connections are good.

Allowing a battery to be completely discharged is death for batteries. So even if it was connections and not the battery initially, the battery is probably shot.JMHO