On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:42:45 -0800, Oren 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?
- What is the best & also easiest/fastest way to do it?

Thanks

Loosen and remove the cables, wet the battery (water hose) and then
apply baking soda. Scrub gingerly with a tooth brush or such.

Clean the terminals and the cable ends, apply some grease and then
tighten the cables back on. Rise all the acid below the battery,
rinsing any acid under the battery and off the metal frame, etc.

In the olden days a copper penny was placed on top of a car battery.
The copper attracted the "crud". Back then you could just change the
penny out. Seriously!

So why can't we do that now?