blue phosphurous stuff from leaking battery

[HAVABEER]

hi everyone.

a while back a blown light globe managed to burn a hole in my battery (yes i was a bit WTF but it happened) i dodgily bogged up the hole with some high temp silicon and for a while it was fine.

i had a flat battery the other night and upon inspection of the battery i noticed that one of the chambers in the battery was low on water. so i topped it up and everything was fine. i noticed that there was a bit of that blue foamy stuff was around but didnt think much of it.

i'm doing the 100,000k service on my soarer and i pulled the battery holder out and there's ton's of that blue stuff. and its at the point where its eating away at some of the metal. there was a foam hose next to the battery which has been eaten away. and the bolts holding the battery tray in place snapped off rather then coming un done.


how do i go about cleaning up this mess? just wash the blue stuff off water, or blow it away with compressed air? obviously a new battery is in order. and will replacing the battery stop any more of this from happening?


some pics:
battery tray



underneath. red circle is where there's a small worn away hole, green line is where there was a foam covering

[fixeruperer]

evidence of a leaking battery and currantflow, id never fix a battery so get a new one.

get some bi carb soda and put a few table spoons in a cup with hot water and that will neutralize the acid

[cameron lt2000]

yeah boil the kettle and pore boiling water over it make sure its hot as shit and your not on anything it can burn eg grass your parents nice new drive way and then put Vaseline on your battery clamps before you put it on your new battery or else it will com back again....also if you over fill your battery and the water gets on it thats why it starts this oxidising shit......when you filled it up did you get water everywhere?cause thats what causes it most times

but make sure its boiling water and then spray it with degreaser and repeat untill gone

have fun

cam

[fixeruperer]

use bi carb it wont neutralize with out it.

[unleashed__]

it's corrosion and it eats away at your terminals.. just pour boiling water on it

[HAVABEER]

thanks fella's will get on it.

[oldcorollas]

i second the bi carb soda... make up a strong solution, or put the powder on the surface after wetting, you migth be surprised how much is needed to killthe acid.. after that wash away and clean.. soap maybe? then paint attacked metal...

[jeffro ra28]

bi carb FTW. thats a definant.

[Slim]

Gotta use the bi-carb otherwise you'll need to use heaps more water to dilute the acid to an acceptable level. The bi-carb will neutralise the acid rather than just diluting it.

[TERRA Operative]

Boil water and dissolve as much bi-carb as you can while the water is hot. Keep adding bi-carb until it won't dissolve, then pour it on the corrosion.



And buy a new battery....

[HAVABEER]

so is the blue stuff actually the acid. or just the "oxidization" of the acid attacking the metal?

[TERRA Operative]

Bit of both.

[5000gt]

copper phosphate...

[gianttomato]

The blue stuff will be copper sulfate in its hydrated form - copper is in the terminals and wire. If it is white then very likely it'll be lead sulfate. The acid in the battery is sulfuric acid so it stands to reason that the product of acid vs metal will be metal sulfate.

Terra operative had the right idea with boiling the water and adding as much bicarb as possible. That said, the panels and paint will be fucked in 6 months. After neutralising the acid, I'd be getting in there with a wire brush, strip back the paint and rapidly forming rust, treat it with a rust treatment and paint over it again. I'd be keeping a very close eye on it over the next year or so. Hopefully the acid hasn't found its way on to something important like suspension.

As for the metal line with foam covering, what is it? I would be replacing that pronto. If it holds anything with decent pressure, like AC gas, it's just waiting to fail. Sulfuric acid is a powerful dessicant (drying agent), so all those fragile foam or cloth items just become dry and brittle such that they just flake apart. The foam is irrelevant, but the damage done to the line is much more important.

Maybe sell it on boostcruising/hot 4s? Battery damage is a ****.

[HAVABEER]

so i managed to clean it up a bit.... used hot water and bi-carb soda... gave it a wire brushing and a degrease and a paint and got it back to this:







(red line is the eaten away hole)



as per gianttom's advice will keep a strict eye on it the next few months to see if it starts eating away at anything else.