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How to clean battery cables?


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I have noticed that my car starts fine sometimes but other times it takes a few seconds to turn over. My battery volts are fine and I think my battery is to. Do you think it could be that I need to clean my battery cables? If so how exactly should I go about adressing this problem? Is there a step by step outline of how to do this somewhere?

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It probably wouldn't hurt to check the cables for corrosion. Disconnect the negative cable first. Then the positive cable.

Check the cable eng for corrosion - if there is corrosion, mix some baking soda and water into a paste and scrub the connection with an old toothbrush and the baking soda paste until it is clean. Make sure to clean between the two cables on the positive cable.

Rinse with a lot of clean water. Apply some dielectric grease to the surface of the cable that contacts the battery terminal. Connect the positive cable first and then the negative cable.

Kevin
'93 Fleetwood Brougham
'05 Deville
'04 Deville
2013 Silverado Z71

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How old is the battery? I had a similiar situation 2 years ago. The old battery was 5 or 7 years old. Crank over times increased and fluctuated with the weather. The volts were within the allowed parameters but I did notice that it was dropping faster then normal. After the engine would turn over the volts would recover to normal (13-14). So I installed a new battery and all was better! Just something to consider.

"Burns" rubber

" I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. "

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JUST REMEMBER TO PUT ON YOUR SAFETY GLASSES. I did this one time with glasses on instead of goggles and a speck of that white corrosion got in my eye. That is something you do not forget to quick.

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You need to use a wire brush... trust me I have had problems with corrosion of the positive battery terminal and the only solution is using a wire brush. (of course nuetralize the area first with baking soda if it is leaking acid)

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1993 STS with 213,000 miles - battery cable corrosion so bad that engine cut out...

Quick fix - in Dec 04 - clean cables, shorten worst cable and reattach...corrosion continues..

today, as we speak, cables being replaced at dealer..

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I have a 99 sts. It was a one owner when I purchased it a year ago. I lifted the back seat to check the battery and it looked like it was brand new. no corrosion at all...I thought for a minute that I had a brand new battery with cables and all, but upon further inspection it turned out to be the original battery. It is till in there and survived last winter very well. However, I think I will replace it befor this winter.

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