On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:28 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

mm wrote:
On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:54:29 -0400, blueman wrote:

Perhaps not technically home repair but my car is like an extension of
my home...

Anyway, I noticed that there is a lot of "crud" (grainy white/green
stuff - looks like dried toothpaste) on the positive (red) terminal of
my car battery.

Car otherwise works & looks fine.

Question:
- Is it important to clean the crud off?

Yes, if there's enough I believe it conducts electricity and will
slowly drain your battery. Or maybe even quickly at some point.

- What is the best & also easiest/fastest way to do it?

I pour 5 or 10 heaping tablespoon's worth, I'm guessing, of baking
soda from the box on to the top of the battery and then pour water,
usually warm water from a tea-kettle, on top of that, slowly to not
wash it off before it neutralizes the acid. When it stops bubbling,
it's done, and I wash the rest off with the rest of the tea-kettle.

HR Bob's is the correct method but you asked for easiest/fastest, and
as far as I know, mine works just as well. Maybe the other method is
meant for shops which will keep a bottle of solution around to do more
than one car.

Thanks

That is a good first step, if you have baking soda around, and reduces
the chances of trashing your favorite shirt. But you STILL need to take
the connections loose and clean the terminals. And one step I forgot in

Oh yeah, I forgot to say something about that. Probably because I
haven't needed to do that for a long time. I think those red and
green felt washers must be responsible. I haven't had much in the way
of dirty batteries since I started using those.

But the OP can get a good terminal brush at an autoparts store, with
one brush to clean inside the terminal and another brush to clean the
outside of the post, all in one convenient tool.

previous post- lots of fancy stereos don't just lose the station
settings when battery is removed- they lock themselves down in
anti-theft mode, and can only be unlocked with the special code. Check
your owner's manual to be sure. If you don't have the magic number,
they sell a 9v battery thing that plugs into cigarette lighter to keep
the radio alive.

Very good idea. My friend got the code from the dealer, even though
she bought her car used from somewhere else.