Mikepier wrote:
On Mar 21, 10:54 pm, 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

Its a good idea to prevent future problems. Just remove from the
battery terminal, clean with a wire brush, then put some grease, or
some battery terminal coating on it and your good to go.
If crud is growing, you definitely wanna clean it. It can make the
battery last longer (due to less current leakage), and more importantly,
it can save you from being stranded in cold weather or if you leave the
lights on for a couple of hours.

For the wire brush part, stop by your local auto parts house, and buy a
battery terminal brush, especially if you have a top post battery. The
brush only costs 2-3 bucks, and makes it a lot easier. It snaps apart,
and has a bottle-brush looking side to clean inside the connector, and a
cylindrical brush to clean the post. It'll be on the shelf right next to
the goop to put on the terminals after you clean them to slow down them
getting gunked up again.

Important note- wear old work gloves and an old shirt when you mess with
car batteries. Even the dried crud on top can still eat through fabric
the next time it goes through the washer. Try to do the cleaning dry,
and brush yourself off well when done.

--
aem sends...