Battery vents leaking?

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After asking about the A/C on my beater and chri142's reply how much R-134a newer cars have, I popped the hood on the Camry to compare capacity. To be honest I never looked. BTW the Sable is 2#, 2 ounces. Camry 1.2#.
I DID see this when the hood was open.


Looks like the vents are leaking? The battery is OEM so it's 5 years old now.
 
That not bad. Take a damp rag and wipe the top off. All batteries vent while charging. Do not overfill when battery requires water. I use an old fleet enema bottle which is ideal for filling car batteries. Use only distilled water.
 
Classic Johnson Controls-clean it off with water/baking soda mix, rinse thoroughly, put felt washers under the clamps, & spray everything with CRC Battery Protectant.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Classic Johnson Controls-clean it off with water/baking soda mix, rinse thoroughly, put felt washers under the clamps, & spray everything with CRC Battery Protectant.


OK, thanks. I never had a battery do that. Always been East Penns.
I have the CRC but the not the pads. Now do I need to use a memory saver when I remove the terminals?
Trip to Oreillys coming up.
 
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That looks better than the one on the 2012 Camry here. I did clean, lube and put the felt washers on but the top is still dirty and there's some corrosion around the battery tie down strap. I use the NOCO stuff at walmart for $4 which includes the washers and a small bottle of protectant.
 
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Classic Johnson Controls-clean it off with water/baking soda mix, rinse thoroughly, put felt washers under the clamps, & spray everything with CRC Battery Protectant.


OK, thanks. I never had a battery do that. Always been East Penns.
I have the CRC but the not the pads. Now do I need to use a memory saver when I remove the terminals?
Trip to Oreillys coming up.
I would use a battery saver to retain all your settings, etc.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Classic Johnson Controls-clean it off with water/baking soda mix, rinse thoroughly, put felt washers under the clamps, & spray everything with CRC Battery Protectant.


OK, thanks. I never had a battery do that. Always been East Penns.
I have the CRC but the not the pads. Now do I need to use a memory saver when I remove the terminals?
Trip to Oreillys coming up.
I would use a battery saver to retain all your settings, etc.


Been looking at several savers. They have a 9V one.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
My cheap advance auto battery does that in our matrix.


Same with the 1.5 year-old Advance "Gold" in my 2010 Vibe. I just cleaned it with baking soda (again) and installed felt washers. The clock had to be reset, but I think the radio station presets were preserved. The OEM battery didn't leak that way.

The Vibe has a group 35 battery with vent caps, as in the original post. A year later, the group 78 in my pickup died. The Advance battery was a maintenance-free style, just like the NAPA that it replaced.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Classic Johnson Controls-clean it off with water/baking soda mix, rinse thoroughly, put felt washers under the clamps, & spray everything with CRC Battery Protectant.


Are Duralast Golds built by JC? My battery seems fairly leaky. I got a new battery tiedown with a new battery about 3ish, maybe slightly more years ago, it almost immediately began [censored] battery acid all over the aluminum tiedown and dissolving it. It seems to have slowed down for now.
 
We've been fortunate to not have this happen, but it's a sign of a mild overcharge and no big deal. Just clean it up and keep going. I'd ensure there is dielectric grease on the metal to plastic interfaces at the terminals, and consider some pledge or equivalent on the rest.
 
Are the 2 plastic caps in the middle closed properly ?
Try pushing the plastic down until it locks on securely.
 
If the battery is 5 years old, you've done very well. Given the uber high temperatures in the Midwest for the last bunch of years, the phenomenon you observe is normal. The battery electrolyte is cooking out of the vents. The water will still boil at 212degF, which is well below under hood temps in the middle of summer with the A/C on. The boiling water will carry some of the sulfuric acid with it. Because it's much heavier than water, it mostly drops on the battery. Nothing to be done about it. Baking soda and water will neutralize the acid. I favor lithium grease for terminals, because lithium is a base. When you disconnect the terminals, have a memory saver that plugs onto the OBD II port. Remove the NEGATIVE FIRST. When removing the positive terminal, protect it from grounding, it it live from the memory saver. Installation is the reverse.
 
Originally Posted By: 2cool
If the battery is 5 years old, you've done very well. Given the uber high temperatures in the Midwest for the last bunch of years, the phenomenon you observe is normal. The battery electrolyte is cooking out of the vents. The water will still boil at 212degF, which is well below under hood temps in the middle of summer with the A/C on. The boiling water will carry some of the sulfuric acid with it. Because it's much heavier than water, it mostly drops on the battery. Nothing to be done about it. Baking soda and water will neutralize the acid. I favor lithium grease for terminals, because lithium is a base. When you disconnect the terminals, have a memory saver that plugs onto the OBD II port. Remove the NEGATIVE FIRST. When removing the positive terminal, protect it from grounding, it it live from the memory saver. Installation is the reverse.


Lived here all my life , not noticed this before. Yeah we get hot then gets very cold.
I never used a memory saver so that is a good point, it will be live. I just changed a the batteries.

Whats a good OBD II saver? I think I can use the Sable as the power source if the cord is long enough.
 
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