Battery question

[1Alpha1]

My SIL has a 2008 Honda Pilot. She's been widowed several years now, so when she has a car question / concern, she e-mails my wife and has her ask me.

I'm no ASE Certified mechanic, but I've been around vehicles long enough to do most of my own work / repairs. At least I did when I was younger.

About two years ago, my wife and I were up in MT. visiting her mother and sister. My wife and her sister had to go out of town to conduct some family business. They were gone for about 2 days or so.

While they were gone, my wife told me that they had experienced some minor starting issues with her sister's Honda. A few times, the car acted like it didn't want to start.

Anyways, they made it back okay, so I took a look under the hood. The battery cables / posts were badly corroded. Mostly the positive cable clamp and terminal. It was so bad that the corrosion had eaten away a good part of the cable clamp itself.

My SIL called her grandson to come over and help me. He owns a small auto body repair shop. He said that he would go and buy an after-market clamp. In the meantime, I cleaned up both terminals and cables.

Her grandson returned with a high-end, gold plated, after-market battery terminal clamp. Real nice and very heavy-duty. We cut and removed the corroded part of the positive battery cable. Attached the new terminal clamp and buttoned it all back up.

All was good and it was back to starting well. Tonight, my SIL e-mailed my wife back to say that the battery terminals were all corroded up again. My SIL used baking soda and warm water to clean them again. She can't send me a pic of how they were for me to see.

So, in the span of two years or less, she's still having issues with battery corrosion. I've been driving since age 15 1/2 and I turn 63 in October. Not once, have I had any battery corrosion issues with any vehicles I've owned.

So, I'm at a loss as to why she's having so much trouble. I'm not sure how old her car battery is, and I doubt that it's original to the car.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions as what to do? Maybe it's just time for a new battery? I try to help my SIL out as much as I can, since she's single. I'd like to be able to give her some good advice.

TIA!

 

[DR. P. Proteus]

1. New Battery
2. All new cables both pos and neg and clean the areas where they get bolted
3.Clean ALL ground connections to motor and chassis.
4. Spray all connections with battery spray or Fluid Film

The old cables are probably corroded all they way through. You can see it if you cut the insulation. You don't want to see black, white or green, just copper. Most times its just black because there is little to no O2 in the sealed wire. Black will cause to much resistance. If its black through the wire then its time for new cables or you will just overwork the systems.

Once all this is done check to see what the ALT is doing. To much charge makes corrosion, to little makes corrosion.

The starter is probably hurting also as its been starving for food. When you don't give an electric motor its proper current it will burn itself out.

If the starter is trying to pull its current through corroded wires it will add to the corrosion. And after it starts its still running current through the dirty wires so that's not he best situation either.

You would be surprised how the cables get overlooked in these kind of ongoing problems.

 

[1Alpha1]

1. New Battery
2. All new cables both pos and neg and clean the areas where they get bolted
3.Clean ALL ground connections to motor and chassis.
4. Spray all connections with battery spray or Fluid Film

The old cables are probably corroded all they way through. You can see it if you cut the insulation. You don't want to see black, white or green, just copper. Most times its just black because there is little to no O2 in the sealed wire. Black will cause to much resistance. If its black through the wire then its time for new cables or you will just overwork the systems.

Once all this is done check to see what the ALT is doing. To much charge makes corrosion, to little makes corrosion.

The starter is probably hurting also as its been starving for food. When you don't give an electric motor its proper current it will burn itself out.

If the starter is trying to pull its current through corroded wires it will add to the corrosion. And after it starts its still running current through the dirty wires so that's not he best situation either.

You would be surprised how the cables get overlooked in these kind of ongoing problems.

Thanks for the info. I will pass on to my SIL all that you mentioned.