Cleaning the battery terminals of your vehicle is a much required maintenance chore, but many owners find it as an endearing task that can get messy and take away a lot of time. But not many of them know that by simply keeping the battery terminal clean you can save your car from being stalled anytime, when you’re least expecting it.
So here we are to get you some useful tips and easy steps gathered from the experts of the Gloucester City Buick GMC dealer service center, on how to clean the battery terminals of your vehicle without allowing any battery residue mess with the connection points and affect the overall performance of your vehicle.
Locating the Battery and Uncover the Terminals
You need to start with locating the battery of your vehicle which might be different from one model to another. Once you’ve pooped up the hood, you can find the huge rectangular box with several round caps, which are known as battery terminals.
You need to see, if these rubber caps are covered and encircled with a white powder like thing, which is the battery residue, that spills out when the car moves, and when the battery gets hot. These sediments must be cleared off with a rug, dipped in a cleaner. But always so this with putting on a pair of work gloves and safety glasses.
Why Disconnecting is Necessary
You need the clamps to uncover the lids of the terminals. But before you fasten them to the terminals, the battery must be disconnected. If you find excessive corrosion on the battery surface to disconnect the battery use a pair of metal pliers. While cleaning up the battery, avoid touching any metal objects, like the frame of the to reduce the risk of a short circuit on the battery.
Choosing the Right Cleaner
To clean the battery terminals, the market will offer you two kinds of cleaner. Among the two, baking soda is the most common one and the other is a chemical solution. You need to mix two tablespoons of baking soda with equal amount of water in a clean container. Now keep stirring the ingredients to make a paste, and then use an old toothbrush to apply the same paste on each of the terminal caps. Do not panic, as it sizzles as that is how it works. Allow a couple of minutes for the solution to work on the sediments. Now take the help of a wire brush to brush off the remaining residue.
Finishing the Process
Now to remove the paste and finish the cleaning process, take a spray bottle filled with clean water to moisten the paste. Next use a rag to take off the now soft paste and repeat the process, till they are totally clean. Now allow some time to dry up each of the terminals. Lastly, spray some battery terminal protector solution to prevent them from future probabilities of corrosion, added one of the mechanics of the Gloucester City Buick GMC dealership service center.
Winding it Up
Maintaining the battery terminals will directly result into sound working condition of your car battery prolonging its lifespan. But if you stay in hot weather, these sessions of terminal cleaning of the car batteries will to be done in frequent intervals.
