How to Clean Off the Residue on a Car Battery

A clean battery won't just help your engine bay look a little less ratty, it can also help to prevent an aggravating and time-consuming breakdown. The key concept here is to neutralize the crystallized acid residue on the top of the battery and then to remove it using conventional methods. Whether you choose to remove the battery or not, always remember that you're working around high-amperage electricity, explosive hydrogen gas and 40 pounds worth of lead and acid. Watch your hands and don't smoke while working on the battery.

Instructions

1

Fill your coffee cup with hot water, dump the water into your sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Fill the coffee cup halfway with baking soda and add it to your boiling water, thus creating a two-to-one mixture of water and baking soda. You don't actually have to boil the water to mix the two, but it'll help the baking soda to dissolve more completely.

2

Allow the mixture about ten minutes to cool down a bit, and then pour some of it over your positive and negative battery terminals. Within moments, the baking soda mixture will react with the acid crystals and neutralize them; you'll know the reaction is complete when the terminals stop bubbling.

3

Sprinkle enough baking soda on and around the battery terminals to soak up the remaining water and make a paste. The acid is already neutralized, but this extra baking soda and its subsequent paste makes an excellent abrasive mixture to remove stuck-on deposits.

4

Scrub the area around your battery terminals with a stiff-bristled toothbrush. Spread the paste around the top of your battery and use the toothbrush to scrub it free of residue. You can also use a brass-bristled brush, but it's probably going to scratch the plastic on the top of your battery and it won't do much more than the toothbrush.

5

Wrap an old towel around your battery and pour some water over one side of your battery, but avoid allowing water to stand between the two terminals. It's unlikely, but the water could end up bridging your terminals and short the battery. Just rinse down one side, dry it with a towel and rinse the other side afterward. The towel you wrapped around the base of your battery will help to keep water from spilling all over your engine compartment.