benw123
Members
A surprise problem last week, one that I can't remember managing since my student days - the car failing to start thanks to the damp weather. Walked out to my i-CTDi last week as normal, jumped in, key into the ignition, switched on as normal, go to start and then nothing. It was just dead.
Even the courtesy lights were failing to come on after that, and with my wife's car blocked in on our sloping-towards-the-house driveway, I couldn't push the Honda out of the way, so worked from home that day. Thinking it was the battery, I went back outside a bit later to find the car absolutely fine, at which point I realised it could be the damp.
The night before, it was windy with very fine drizzle and I reckon this got inside the engine bay and was enough to leak away the current. So at the weekend, I decided to clean up the terminals and insulate them with vaseline (no smutty gags please!).
This is how the positive terminal looked on the battery - note the dirt and mild copper corrosion from the wires:
The battery terminals are made of incredibly soft metal, so I used very fine grade sand paper to remove the dirt before wiping away with a dry cloth. Did the same to the clamp, repeated for the other terminal and after retightening the clamps, dabbed a bit of vaseline over both terminals. It's important I think to cover the clamp where it might be possible for water to seep between the clamp and the terminal.
Of course, it's been fine since but will have to wait for more wet weather to test it. Anyone else had this problem?
Even the courtesy lights were failing to come on after that, and with my wife's car blocked in on our sloping-towards-the-house driveway, I couldn't push the Honda out of the way, so worked from home that day. Thinking it was the battery, I went back outside a bit later to find the car absolutely fine, at which point I realised it could be the damp.
The night before, it was windy with very fine drizzle and I reckon this got inside the engine bay and was enough to leak away the current. So at the weekend, I decided to clean up the terminals and insulate them with vaseline (no smutty gags please!).
This is how the positive terminal looked on the battery - note the dirt and mild copper corrosion from the wires:
The battery terminals are made of incredibly soft metal, so I used very fine grade sand paper to remove the dirt before wiping away with a dry cloth. Did the same to the clamp, repeated for the other terminal and after retightening the clamps, dabbed a bit of vaseline over both terminals. It's important I think to cover the clamp where it might be possible for water to seep between the clamp and the terminal.
Of course, it's been fine since but will have to wait for more wet weather to test it. Anyone else had this problem?