Bad Battery + Negative Battery Terminal Corrosion

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ShiningArcanine

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After being concerned that my 1995 Toyota Avalon's battery was bad (it is about 7 years old), I took it to AutoZone today to have it tested. The negative battery terminal is corroded. The guy at AutoZone charged it and then tested it after the tester said to do that and the tester indicated that it is bad. My relatives and I have always used Interstate batteries in our cars, so rather than buy AutoZone's battery, I asked him to reinstall the old battery, so I could take it some place where I could get an Interstate battery. Unfortunately, the car is now no longer capable of starting on its own and needs to be jump started in order to start.

My first thought after learning about the corroded negative battery terminal was to go to the Toyota dealership and have them take care of it, but after doing a google search, I learned that Toyota's battery terminal/cable design is prone to this sort of an issue, so I am not sure if I should rely on the dealership's OEM parts or someone else's aftermarket parts. I love my car and I intend to continue driving it for the rest of my life, so I want whatever I have done to it to permanently resolve the battery terminal corrosion and not just workaround it for a few years. I also want to get a new Interstate battery for my car, which is available from neither AutoZone nor any Toyota dealership (as far as I know), so I will need to get it from an interstate battery reseller and either have them install it or have the dealership install it when I bring my car to them. As a consequence, I am not sure what my options are. Would someone here advise me on what I can do?
 
Interstate batteries and Autozone Duralast are essentially the same battery - both made by Johnson Controls. I'd just go with a Duralast Gold.

As for the corrosion, purchase a battery terminal wire brush thingy. Brush off the corrosion as best you can with the brush, and wash it off with a mixture of baking soda and water (kind of messy, but that's what they'll do at the dealer). Dry it all off with paper towels, and when you install the new battery, use the felt pads on the battery terminals.

You should be good to go then!
 
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What you have is a leaky post/terminal on your battery. It's very common and not really a defect specific to any one mfgr. Despite what most people tell you, all the major makes of battery are much the same. The climate you live in, and the charging system of your car are the biggest factors in battery life. Interstate are no better than Exide, although they may make a few models that are better. My late friend owned a battery wholesale business for over 25 years. He would test each battery that came in by putting low pressure into each cell then looking at the electolite in the cell beside. If the fluid in the next cell moved then there was a hole or crack in the battery case. These batteries would work fine, but had a shortened life span. About 5% of the bateries had defective cases and were sent back to mfgr for credit. Most shops will never take the time to do this test, and retailers would not even know what I am talking about.
 
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From personal experience, you can distort a battery case enough to cause the terminal seals to leak by tightening the hold down clamp too much. On Toyotas, the bolt on the hold down clamp near the airbox - just cinch that one down by hand using a socket and an extension. If you crank it down really hard with a ratchet, you can permanently damage the battery.

Don't ask how I know this!
 
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My battery happened to go bad at an Autozone about 2 yrs. ago, and I purchased a Duralast battery from them. I changed it out, along with some felt pads, and battery grease on the terminals. I've had no problems at all with the Duralast.
 
Just get the vehicle jumpstarted, take it back to Autozone and buy a new battery. Sounds like they were courteous enough to you, reward them by giving the business.
 
f the battery terminals are not sealed properly acid fumes can leak through and cause corrosion. Noco makes a kit they carry it at Walmart P/N MC101, it costs a little under $3. It contains two felt washers that fit over the terminals,they provide a barrier against acid fumes that seep through improperly sealed batteries. The kit also contains a spray on corrosion inhibitor that protects the cable connectors. You can learn more at their website http://www.noco-usa.com/pdf/Noco-Catalog-Chemicals.pdf It's a preventative maintenance for people that never look under the hood.
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Just get the vehicle jumpstarted, take it back to Autozone and buy a new battery. Sounds like they were courteous enough to you, reward them by giving the business.


Yep, take it back to az and get the Duralast Gold. Use the anti-corrosion pads and grease the terminal after it's tightened, you'll be good to go for 7 more years :)
 
If you are buying a new battery you don't need the anti-corrosion pads/grease unless you have a wet terminal on the new battery. If you do, take it back and get it replaced, corrosion is not a normal condition for a new battery
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Just get the vehicle jumpstarted, take it back to Autozone and buy a new battery. Sounds like they were courteous enough to you, reward them by giving the business.



EXACTLY, seems kind of unfair to use them for free diagnosis, then turn around and give your business to somebody else- this is the reason so many stores have stopped offering free service to potential customers.Reward them for their efforts.....they have EARNED your business
 
Originally Posted By: qship1996
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Just get the vehicle jumpstarted, take it back to Autozone and buy a new battery. Sounds like they were courteous enough to you, reward them by giving the business.



EXACTLY, seems kind of unfair to use them for free diagnosis, then turn around and give your business to somebody else- this is the reason so many stores have stopped offering free service to potential customers.Reward them for their efforts.....they have EARNED your business


If they sold Interstate batteries, I would have brought one, but they did not carry them. The guy there did not give me any reason I should purchase Duralast batteries over Interstate batteries. Free battery testing or not, I see no reason why I should purchase a brand of battery that has done nothing to earn my loyalty.
 
Did he give you any reason NOT to purchase one of their batteries? How can they have the opportunity to earn your loyality if you are unwilling to give them the chance. They offered you a free service that many garages would have charged for. IMO that should be a start in developing loyality.
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Did he give you any reason NOT to purchase one of their batteries? How can they have the opportunity to earn your loyality if you are unwilling to give them the chance. They offered you a free service that many garages would have charged for. IMO that should be a start in developing loyality.


Quite frankly, I expect that I would save money on my purchase with the Duralast battery and after what Drew99GT said regarding the Duralast and Interstate batteries being made by the same company, I did some internet research on the topic to find out if they were indeed the same. Consumer Reports confirms that they are made by the same company, Johnson Controls, however, Consumer Reports also states that Johnson Controls makes the batteries to their customer's specifications. In addition, despite using a relative scale, Consumer Reports' testing shows wide variation in quality across different brands of batteries that are all manufactured by Johnson Controls.

As far as my background in statistics (I am a double major) can aid me in this matter and the information I have available to me goes, I am led to make two conclusions. One, there is no reason to suggest that Interstate batteries to have changed in quality from 7 years ago and two, the batteries Johnson Controls makes for other companies are not made according to the same quality control standards.

While saving a few dollars by buying a rebranded battery from AutoZone would be nice, I have no evidence to that conclusively indicates that the relationship between the duralast batteries and interstate batteries is indeed one involving rebranding (i.e. same manufacturer, same specifications for quality control, different color plastic and labels) as opposed to one only involving the same manufacturer (i.e. same manufacturer, different specifications for quality control, different color plastic and labels).

Of course, this is quite different from what you are saying, which is that I should buy anything without regard to its quality simply because the store selling it was nice to me, which would be inappropriate. Loyalty to a store and loyalty to the products they sell are two separate things and they are not transitive. I will probably revisit the store to buy things for my car in the future, but that will be when they carry the things I use in my car.
 
Well then you should have patronized a store/shop that sells the brand of battery you are stuck on and PAID for their testing and diagnosis if they did not offer it for free......not fair to "use" on shop/store for their free testing and then turn around and purchase from another.......one day when you graduate and establish yourself in business, you will understand this principle when potential clients/customers "use" you.....
 
To the Original Poster:
Some people just don't get it.
Nobody said that you should buy a battery without regard to it's quality.
If you want an Interstate battery, just go buy it.
If Autozone has such inferior batteries that you would never consider putting one in your precious Toyota, why would you consider the invalid opinion of their untrained help?
I'm not sure what your background in statistics (and your double major) have to do with anything. However the Bachelors and Masters degree I have tell me that If I need a battery and I go in Autozone and ask their opinion, I'm probably going to drive out with an Autozone battery if mine is defective. If I truly desire another make of battery, I will go to a business that deals in that type of battery. I'm not going to waste a person's time that is offering me a service and tell him that his product is not good enough to put in my car. How arrogant.
Why do you need input from other people if you have all the answers?
It's a car battery, not a career decision.
 
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Originally Posted By: qship1996
Well then you should have patronized a store/shop that sells the brand of battery you are stuck on and PAID for their testing and diagnosis if they did not offer it for free......not fair to "use" on shop/store for their free testing and then turn around and purchase from another.......one day when you graduate and establish yourself in business, you will understand this principle when potential clients/customers "use" you.....


I think that possibly would have already been considered when they decided to start offering such a service. It would be unrealistic to expect a 100% hit rate in terms of bad batteries discovered becoming sales.
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
To the Original Poster:
Some people just don't get it.
Nobody said that you should buy a battery without regard to it's quality.
If you want an Interstate battery, just go buy it.
If Autozone has such inferior batteries that you would never consider putting one in your precious Toyota, why would you consider the invalid opinion of their untrained help?
I'm not sure what your background in statistics (and your double major) have to do with anything. However the Bachelors and Masters degree I have tell me that If I need a battery and I go in Autozone and ask their opinion, I'm probably going to drive out with an Autozone battery if mine is defective. If I truly desire another make of battery, I will go to a business that deals in that type of battery. I'm not going to waste a person's time that is offering me a service and tell him that his product is not good enough to put in my car. How arrogant.
Why do you need input from other people if you have all the answers?
It's a car battery, not a career decision.


I wanted advice on what I could do regarding my current situation and people were kind enough to provide it. You and qship1996 decided to provide criticism which was outside of that scope of my query and I replied to it. I did need input, but not the kind you provided. I believe that answers your question.

Against my better judgment, I will add one last tibbit, which is that AutoZone is a store that I expect to be honest and they have met my expectations. I cannot say that about many other stores. While many other stores that focus solely on profit without regard for reputation will likely go out of business, AutoZone's focus on reputation before profit will likely keep them in business decades from now (or at least the branch location I visited). It is the Google approach to doing things and it works well. This is because their reputation will ensure that when a better choice is not clear, AutoZone will become the default choice for a great many people, myself likely included.
 
Q Ship and I did not provide the validation you desired.
Go buy your Interstate battery.
Have a nice holiday.
 
For what it's worth, the EverStart (Wal-Mart's store brand) batteries sold in the Wal-Mart near me cost about $10 less than the DuraLast Gold batteries from AutoZone, yet carry the same 3 year free replacement warranty. They're also made by Johnson Controls, but are manufactured in Mexico.

The DuraLast Gold, EverStart, and the Toyota OEM battery in my Camry (also a Johnson Controls battery, but made in the US in 2006) all appear to be externally identical. I can't imagine there's much of a quality difference -- the EverStarts and DuraLasts both rank quite highly at Consumer Reports (with the Group 24S EverStart earning 78 points, while the highest-rated battery in its category got 83).

If you were simply looking for a battery and didn't need testing done, I'd say go for the EverStart simply based on price and the fact that it's likely identical to other, more-expensive Johnson Controls batteries. However, since you did use the services of AutoZone to test your battery, I'd say go with them -- might as well reward good customer service, and it's likely closer than the nearby Wal-Mart.

That said, I'm curious why all the Johnson Controls batteries I see these days are made in Mexico. No doubt because of low labor and transportation costs (shipping heavy batteries a shorter distance by land, rather than from China by sea makes sense). I wonder if one can still find US-made ones and, if so, where?
 
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