OK, it's not the LS's fault.

It wouldn't start this morning so I pop the hood and check the battery connection. I pop off the terminal caps. Wow, never seen so much corrosion on terminals before. It obviously surface discharged over the night.

I'm thinking how in the world did that happen? I take the terminal connectors off snapping the positive one in the process,arghh! I take the battery out and find lots of stuff at the bottom of the tray blocking the drain. Ah there's the culprit, moisture was getting trapped in the battery box.

I cleaned the battery and put it on my charger. I then flushed out the drain and cleaned the battery tray.

I'm about to go start it and give it a try. Wish me luck!

 

Good luck!

 

number one reason i use a bit of dielectric grease on the terminals, keeps them corrosion free

 

The Toyota battery terminal is a pos in my opinion.
Can't decide if the terminal covers help or hinder corrosion??

 

Good luck, hope that solves the problem.

 

Thanks!

Yep, I sanded down the terminals and replaced the bad connector.

Hmm, I wonder?

Started on the first try, YAY!!!!

Back in business!

 

That's why I have a DieHard Plantinum AGM style battery. No leaks, ever

 

I used to have a 1995 Honda Civic, and when its original battery died, I bought a replacement one at Strauss Auto. They only had one type of battery that would fit the Civic. Well, after a year it leaked, so I went ahead and bought a new one, but this time I kept the receipt, and what you know, a year later the new one leaked too, but I had the receipt, and they replaced it for free (it had a 6 year warranty). As far as corrosion, there was plenty of it on the Civics terminals, but I've never seen any on either my LS or GS... and I don't remember about the old GS.

Now that we are on the subject of battery terminals, Autozone and other parts stores sell these gold plated terminals, but I've heard bad things about these from auto mechanics. Does someone have any information about these?

 

Copper, Silver, Gold, Aluminum etc -- Isn't going to make any practical difference in your charging system at the terminal setup.

Gold plating would only serve as an anti-oxidation role,.. Which is nice,.. but it doesn't really keep things from rusting.

I would assume anything negative heard about these terminals is simply due to a probably lack of craftmanship, not that they are 'gold plated'. Sort of like buying radio-shack gold plated Coaxial cable and other gold plated items.. Looks good, but it really isn't . (Talking mainly about Coax here.. since I am very familiar with it).

Best thing for corrosion is to put a grease on the terminals,.. something with the consistency of , say, Vasoline. Lasts a while, and is cheap. Some old-timers use a penny next to the terminal to 'attract the oxidation/rust'.. but simply coating it in such a substance will keep things in perfect working order. Be good to check it every oil change or so.

The covers help to some degree,.. but they won't prevent corrosion,.. The only way they would prevent it is if they were air tight seals,.. and that just isn't the case. Though some grease with a cover over it to make it look pretty is just fine.