On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:09:33 GMT, Mitch Mitch@... wrote:

I went to start my Explorer the other day, and the battery was dead
from sitting so long.

I put a battery charger on it, but I'm not getting anything...zero
amps on the charger.

I've sanded all the corrosion from both contact points, down to shiny
bare metal...still nothing.

Contact points? Do you mean the battery posts, and the inside of the
battery cables, where they connect to the battery posts?

(I was thinking maybe you meant where the charger clamped on, and I
don't usually clean that part, I just wiggle the clamps until the
ammeter shows current. But the battery posts get dirtier and can
totally block the current. Sometimes, if the battery seems dead or
almost dead, after trying to start the car for a while, you can touch
the battery cables at the posts and one will be hot. The hot one is
dirty, inside.

You should clean these. A wire brush is better than sandpaper,
although if you used sandpaper this time, you could just use your
finger to brush off any abrasive left behind.

I also have a battery tender, so I put that on. It has an LED to
indicate charging...it's not lit.

Does this mean the battery is done for?

I sort of think the opposite. Even a bad battery will accept current
through it. That makes me think there is so much dirt between the
battery cable and the battery post that no current ccan get through.

It won't look that much different.

Oh, yeah, also clean t he whole think with baking soda and warm water.
The book says to make a paste with water, but I'm lazy so I pour
baking soda on the battery's top, especially by the posts, and then I
slowly pour warm water over it until it stops bubbling. Then I use the
rest of the water to wash everything off the battery. It doesn't
matter what it lands on below.

And for a dollar, get a set of felt washers, red and green, and put
them under the battery cables as the instructions say, adn they will
probably make cleaing unnecessary for years.

Please let me know.

BTW, you should still be able to jump the car from a good car. If you
have cables with a lot of wire in them** even without a battery, but
with cheap cables even the deadest battery will usually hold enough so
after 3 to 8 minutes, if the charging car is still connected, you can
start the car. But not true if the battery posts are so dirty nothing
gets into the battery.

plus to plus, negative to negative.


**Sometimes very thick cables have very little copper inside.