12V Battery Corrosion just starting to appear.

[Oldschool496]

Took my Model S in for 25k service. After service I like to pull the plastic under the hood and have a look, like replaced brake fluid, replaced A/C filter etc.

Upon further inspection between 12,500 service and this service a little corrosion is appearing below positive + battery terminal of 12V Lead/Acid Bat.

Now that to me means some acid has leaked out a bit around the battery terminal. Small, but its there. Now I would expect them to remove that and inspect. Any thoughts on how to approach this? This corrosion creates a shunt to ground, however little, its being grounded out.

Car was built April 2016. The battery is original to the best of my knowledge.

Batteries are warrantied I think. I get conflicting info on that. Some have said they got warranty, others say they had to pay.

I really don't want to touch it at all for fear if its warranty, something I do may void it. Perhaps they noted the corrosion and are expecting it to go out anyday. I can surely talk to my advisor and surely that means taking it back in. Any thoughts? Have any of you seen this with your Tesla?

 

[Buster1]

Completely normal on any 12v car battery.

A little baking soda water will clean it right up.

 

[dhrivnak]

This is common with most 12v lead acid batteries. Nothing to worry about.

 

[ewoodrick]

Now that to me means some acid has leaked out a bit around the battery terminal. Small, but its there. Now I would expect them to remove that and inspect. Any thoughts on how to approach this? This corrosion creates a shunt to ground, however little, its being grounded out.

/QUOTE]

That's not because of acid leaked out. Lead Acid batteries, when charging, create gases which escape out of the battery. This is not only normal, but expected.

There are multitude of solutions, including some that coat the terminal to reduce the buildup. Auto stores sell these. And if you talk nicely, they may even clean it for you.

 

[dark cloud]

Completely normal on any 12v car battery.

A little baking soda water will clean it right up.

I'll second this. A monthly occurrence for my golf cart. The sodium bicarbonate will neutralize the sulfuric acid. Make sure you rinse well; you don't want this anywhere near aluminum. It is not leaking but off-gassing. When lead acid batteries get older they will do this. Once clean you can get a battery post corrosion inhibitor spray available at your local auto parts store to help limit the corrosion.

 

[Vogon]

Petroleum jelly on the post also eliminates the build up.