Cleaning Battery Connections - Can't get it disconnected

[kelemvor]

Strange problem I'm hoping someone can help me with. I've been having some issues with my '99 GA lately that seems to be coming form the battery not making good connections with the plugs. I was going to pop the plugs off and clean everything up with a wire brush or something but i couldn't get them off. It seemed that the ends of the cables were not removable from the nodes of the battery. But the node thing could be completely unscrewed from the battery.

The battery is form Sams Club so I'm not sure if it's the battery they used or if I'm just being dense and missing something obvious.

I was able to use a pliers and unscrew the whole thign from the battery but that didn't let me take off the plastic piece at all. SO, either it can't come off or it's really stuck on there good....

Any insight would be great.

Attaching a picture as well.

[Brad97GS]

It looks like you have some corrosion around the terminals, so maybe the plastic parts are stuck to the foam insulation. I would just take a screwdriver and pry the plastic away from the insulation (don't touch the metal, just in case...).

[kelemvor]

The plastic part isn't stuck to the battery, it's stuck to the metal piece. If I unscrew the terminal from the battery, the plastic piece comes off with it. It's something inside there. Also, there's nothign holding it on that I can see unless it's just supposed to be a really tight fit and that's what's supposed to hold it on there....

[rixGAphx]

Those are factory cables, black/NEG (ground) and red/POS.

The bolt is sealed within the rubber boot as the boot is molded onto the assembly. So you've done all you can without using a knife to destroy the rubber.

The GM design is generally quite good, in that it reduces corrosion and prevents short-circuits (from a wrench on the POS terminal to ground and the body, engine, or neg terminal.

BUT, in my experience that red rubber boot concealed massive corrosion that was occuring, unseen, within the boot itself.
There was only a single filament of copper sire remaining between the cable and the end when it gave up the ghost.
BTW, this not only killed a coupl batteries 'cuz they weren't being re-charged, but it also killed the alternator which was continuously trying to produce power to recharge the battery (but the ppower couldn't get thru the few remaining strands).
When I got my new GM replacement cable ($75!!!), I promptly cut-off the boot.
I installed a removable aftermarket boot for protection, and keep the terminal and bolt shiny clean.

I would recommend you do the same (remove the boots), but be sure to re-protect the POS end against accidental shorting.

Good luck.
-Rick

[kelemvor]

So with what's on there, about all I can do is use a brush to get in as much as I can the way it is, and then unscerw the terminal piece and then scrape the under side of where the plastic is and see what happens? That's what I did so far since it's as far in a I could get, but just wasn't sure if there was some way of removng the plastic part and then putting it back on somehow. But, I guess not.

Oh well.

Thanks for the info.

[Chain]

Well you can scrape all you can which you have done already. Get a big cup fill it full and put a couple of spoon fulls of baking soda. poor it over all the corrosion till its gone. rinse it off with water.

let it dry tighten it all back up and spray it with that red corrosion spray. This stuff is awsome and it works. If you want it to look neat and clean, mask off around the terminal so you dont have over spray.

[dm6156]

The baking soda and water trick works well. In a bind you can also use a can of soda (coke, pepsi, etc). However, this has many potential adverse affects such as ruining the paint job.


- Dan M