r/Cartalk • u/Paint_God104 • 2d ago

Safety Question What is happening

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Think my battery died and when I popped the case open this is what I saw. Can I still jump it?

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u/No-Interview7958 2d ago

The blue fuzz is acidic corrosion from the battery leaking. Time for a new one

10

u/planespotterhvn 2d ago

Nope bears no relation to battery condition.

1

u/No-Interview7958 2d ago

Lol they literally said their battery died

2

u/HurricaneDane 2d ago

That corrosive scaling is typically caused by a bad connection. It builds up over time and increases resistance in the circuit until it is too great to start the vehicle. It may seem like the battery has died, but if you clean the terminals and test it, you might find that your battery is still in great shape.

Dissolve a bunch of baking soda in some water and brush it on the posts and terminals. Wipe clean and make sure your terminals have a nice tight connection on your posts so this doesn't happen again.

5

u/planespotterhvn 2d ago

They did not test it. They just looked at it. Blue corrosion is no reason to reject a battery. It's the copper terminal that is corroding blue not the lead of the terminal post. It's just a minor leak of battery acid...so what?

1

u/Vivid_Consequence_74 2d ago

I agree it’s not a big deal and where I worked we would have just sprayed it to get the corrosion off then taken the battery out and charged it.