Car battery leaching blue powder

Your battery is weeping sulfuric acid. When the water portion evaporates, what's left are the blue/green chemicals. This powder does conduct electricity and is highly corrosive to metal ... namely your Positive battery clamp. It's probably about time to replace the cheap stamped metal clamp with either a new Toyota part or an aftermarket cast lead clamp. I replaced mine with a cast lead one from Pep Boys. If you elect to clean the clamp, you will need a "battery post cleaner" (conical wire brush tool) and a tablespoon of baking soda to neutralize the dried acid.

After you get the battery post and clamps cleaned up or replaced, spray the posts with either battery post protector available at auto parts stores or lithium grease. The acid is probably weeping where the post protudes from the plastic case. The other thing that may help is those felt "washers" that slip over the post before installing the battery clamp. The felt is treated with some kind of chemical and acts to keep the acid under control.

A battery in my Trooper II started leaking around the pos. battery post. I did a double check and the post was loose. I got a new battery, pro-rated out of it. I see the new battery has a build up of that powder on the neg post. They just don't build them like they used to.

It is quite rare for the negative post to accumulate these deposits. In any case, make a point to not twist the battery post while you are removing the clamp from the post and/or while you are turning the clamp nut. These things DO NOT need to be torqued tight by a gorilla.

Good point. That's maybe what happened on the first battery, I used too much twisting force.

Ah ... well then, every DIY'r should have a:

1) An inexpensive battery clamp puller. $10 2) A decent battery post cleaner tool (has two conical wire brushes, one for posts, one for clamp). 3) A battery clamp spreader tool.

NEVER use a hammer to install, never use channel locks to remove, never use a pry bar to lift off .... a battery clamp.

Water pumps

Got one of them

Big screwdriver, with a large blade.

That's why you call us DIYers and Shadetree mechanics, LOL.

BZZZZT! Sorry, no. If anything, loosen and remove the bolt on the terminal clamp and spread it gently with a big flat blade screwdriver, as in step 3 below. But the right tool is cheap enough, just go buy one.

Again, the right tool is cheap enough, don't mess around.

Hey, if you didn't abuse the battery posts like that, you wouldn't have the problem of loose leaky posts in the first place. And loose posts rapidly turn into bad batteries, because lead has very bad fatigue strength - the post flexing with the car going over bumps will crack the internal cell connection strap and go open.

Oh, and to the original subject - neutralize those blue deposits (probably some sort of copper salts from the battery acid) and any acid droplets that might have escaped and settled on the fender or inside of the hood with some good old baking soda and water and a light scrubbing. Should be done to a car every 6 months or so, even if you don't think it needs it.

Then you add the anti-corrosion felt washers to the battery posts, and the protective sprays.

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Try reversing the cables. See if the problem follows the clamp or the battery post.

(just kidding)

I appreciate all your tips. My procedure to remove a post connection is to first loosen the bolt/nut with a wrench. Then I spread the clamp with a wide blade screwdriver, then I try to remove the connection by hand, but sometimes they are tight..., and here may be my mistake, I use a pair of waterpumps to loosen the post clamp. Most of the time they come right off with no force needed, but rarely a little torque is needed.

I do have a little bit of electrical training, but I know you like to jerk chains Philip, so LOL and thankyou for your good advice Philip and Bruce.

A A A A A A A a a a a a a a a g g g g g h h h h !!!!!

Don't Kid Like That. Someone's liable to miss the footnote and do something really stupid. It's bad enough when they discover how to let the Magic Smoke out of expensive parts on the car on their own.

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Are you still befuddled as to why horizontally opposed engines don't need piston springs?