White powder on battery

Ask for help with doing something on your car here.

White powder on battery

Postby wixy » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:23 am

I've noticed a white powder on my battery, see photo below:

Image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Is my battery stuffed? What should I do?
wixy
 
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:46 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: White powder on battery

Postby tangcla » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:25 am

Stop fapping on your engine bay. :P
www.tangcla.com - photography

Canon 5D Mark III x2 | 16-35mm f/2.8L | 24-70mm f/2.8L IS | 70-200mm f/2.8L IS
100mm f/2.8L IS macro | 200mm f/2.0L IS | 580EX-II x2 | 430EX-II | PocketWizard TT1/TT5
User avatar
tangcla
 
Posts: 7409
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:47 pm
Location: Melbourne, VIC
Car: B6 Audi S4 (4.2L V8)
Real name: Clarence
Profile URL: http://www.tangcla.com

Re: White powder on battery

Postby libsti » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:27 am

start snorting it, that will fix you and your battery
User avatar
libsti
 
Posts: 990
Joined: Sat May 12, 2007 7:44 pm
Location: chipping norton

Re: White powder on battery

Postby jp928 » Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:50 am

Battery acid vapour corroding the hold down bracket. Remove all the damaged bits, wash in warm water, scrubb with wire brush, dry off, paint with anti rust stuff is good, and/or smear of vaseline or light grease. Check the battery poles also - any signs of similar corrosion, clean off, smear of vaseline. If its allowed to grow, the corrosion can wick down the multiple wires in the heavy leads and slowly reduce their current capacity until one day it wont start.
jp 08 gtb 6mt wagon
jp928
 
Posts: 981
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:27 am
Location: Melbourne
Car: 08 gtb 6mt wagon

Re: White powder on battery

Postby 3rspecb » Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:03 am

jp928 wrote:Battery acid vapour corroding the hold down bracket. Remove all the damaged bits, wash in warm water, scrubb with wire brush, dry off, paint with anti rust stuff is good, and/or smear of vaseline or light grease. Check the battery poles also - any signs of similar corrosion, clean off, smear of vaseline. If its allowed to grow, the corrosion can wick down the multiple wires in the heavy leads and slowly reduce their current capacity until one day it wont start.
jp 08 gtb 6mt wagon



+1, done this 2yrs ago and it hasn't reappeared. Along with spraying the bracket with anti rust (black) paint, I also sprayed the bracket with Battery corrosion inhibitor.
MY06 3rspecb manual sedan, Urban Grey- Shockworks Coilovers '- Gone

MY17 SSv Redline, manual sedan, White.
3rspecb
 
Posts: 1342
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:59 pm
Location: Melbourne
Car: MY17 SSv Redline
Real name: G

Re: White powder on battery

Postby Ric » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:44 pm

This may indicate your battery has been gassing, which would be caused by the alternator voltage output being too high.
See if you can get it checked. It should be about 13.8 volts with the en ngine running. If it goes over 14.5V when you rev the engine, you have a problem.
User avatar
Ric
Site Admin
 
Posts: 6479
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:08 pm
Location: Melbourne
Car: OLD: MY06 3RB Wagon NEW: MY21 Outbck
Real name: Ric
Profile URL: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12

Re: White powder on battery

Postby wixy » Sun Feb 06, 2011 5:55 pm

Thanks guys, I cleaned it up and painted it, smeared with vasoline and so far no more white powder.

Ric wrote:This may indicate your battery has been gassing, which would be caused by the alternator voltage output being too high.
See if you can get it checked. It should be about 13.8 volts with the en ngine running. If it goes over 14.5V when you rev the engine, you have a problem.


Thanks, only just saw this post. I hooked a multimeter up to the battery today with the following results:

- Engine cold and not running: ~12.5v
- Engine running: ~14.4v
- Revving engine to 3,000rpm: ~14.45 - 14.49v
- Turned engine off: ~13.04v

Is it possible to determine any potential fault from the above?
wixy
 
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:46 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: White powder on battery

Postby jp928 » Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:57 pm

If you checked Volts just after starting it, I think the 14.4V is ok.....it should come down after a while and stabilize around 13.8V. The fact that it wont bust through 14.5V at revs means the regulator is OK, IMHO. Has it needed any water recently? If not, should be OK. Just keep an eye on water for a bit, but corrosion on the poles is not that uncommon.
Years ago I had a problem where I had to keep adding water to one cell - something wrong inside was boiling the acid and driving the water off.

jp 08 gtb 6mt wagon
jp928
 
Posts: 981
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:27 am
Location: Melbourne
Car: 08 gtb 6mt wagon


Return to How do I?

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests