Leaking Pos battery terminal

[Black02Silverado]

I have not been running the truck much since I have the jetta. Went out to get the umbrella out of the truck and the remote lock wouldn't work. Opened the door and no light. Went to start it and nothing. So I pulled the batter out to charge it and noticed that I have a small puddle of battery acid coming from the positive terminal on the battery. I bought my truck exactly 4 years ago today and it has 66k on it. So I called the dealer where I bought it and told them the story thinking that they would say sorry not under warranty anymore. Surprise surprise, they said bring the truck in and they would clean it up and inspect everything and install a new battery. So I guess there is some nice service departments out there after all. Not a bad deal for something that has been out of warranty for a year and 31k miles. Anyone else have the leaking Pos terminal issue?

[Ape0r]

I worked as a mechanic's assistant at a dealer this past summer, one of the mechanics told me its real common for the AC Delco batteries to leak out of the positive terminal.

 

I replaced more than a few positive battery cables that were so badly coroded from battery acid that they were no longer attached to the battery at all!

[asepgrad98]

IF your Delco is 4 years old or more just go ahead and replace it before it leaves you stranded

[willieboy]

Yup, I had the same thing this summer. Replaced it with a interstate battery. The interstate place had huge pile of replaced batteries. Of the passanger vehicle batteries, I would say 40% were AC Delco, 25% were Walmarts brand of the week, 15% were the Dodge/Chrysler batteries, 10% were Motorcraft, a couple of Champions and a few of wome others. The guy told me they average 3 AC Delcos a day!!.

[RyanZ71]

I think the only AC/Delco parts I'll ever purchase will be the spark plugs, plug wires, fuel filters, and oil filters. I will never get another AC Delco battery even though there are so called "claims" that the new AC/Delco batteries are ok now.

[gmcjoe]

My delco battery didn't start leaking until 140K miles or so.

Not bad for 5 years and all those miles IMO.

[chuck16]

Mine died after 5 years and leaked out on to the Shop Floor but it died on me at work. It was really weird I could jump the truck and get it to run but, the dash was freaking out and the Service Engine light was coming on. So, I put a spare battery in and limped home.

 

I replaced it with a long life Canuck Tire battery; that way if I'm on the road and anything happens to it I can just pull into/or go to any Canadian tire and have it replaced under warranty.

[Mule]

There was actually a problem with the GM batteries. The positive post bolt was too long when installed at the factory, and cracked the plastic slightly. Over about five years, it would leak and corrode. Make sure you buy a new positive bolt from GM. They are now the correct lenght.

 

I had three friends at work, all with Tahoes who had the same problem.

[97chevy350]

  Anyone else have the leaking Pos terminal issue?

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I work at Advance and I can't count how many batteries I have replaced in 02 GM trucks, Tahoes, and blazers with broken positive terminals in the last couple of months.

[GM-Tech]

The bolt is not the problem. A new bolt is no shorter than the original bolt. The bolt is the same for both the positive and negative cables which should also go to show that it's not the bolt, since they always leak out of the positive side and not the negative.

 

The problem was in the way the battery is manufactured coupled with some other issues. An engineer explained it to me, and why it's always the positive post, though I don't recall all the details.

 

Basically, the lead insert is put in from the outside and then crimped over from the inside. This crimping operation would cause minute fractures in the lead that, coupled with... electrolysis?... like I said, I don't recall, would eventually result in acid leaking. The fix was to change the way they installed the lead pads into the battery housing. They're now put in from the inside and the crimping operation is done from the outside. Any microscopic cracks are not exposed to the acid and no more leaks. Why it took years to accomplish this change is beyond me.

[kdm101]

Yikes!!! Talk about a coincidence!

 

Last night went out to get some groceries and the truck wouldn't start. Initially, the lights all came on as usual, but when I tried to crank, the lights all died. I did finally manage to jump start it with my decripit deep cycle battery, but as chuck16 stated, my dash was freaking out.

 

This morning as I tried to remove the cables, the positive cable just would not budge, until the entire terminal broke off the battery. Sure enough, there was a ton of corrosion in the cable end. The plastic shroud was full of dried acid. I ended up having to cut the shroud, then used my dremel to saw the bolt post off as it was corroded solid to the cable. A bit of cleaning up with baking soda and a sanding wheel on the dremel got me patched back up (and a new battery of course).

 

Now the fun part of actually replacing that cable!

 

PS: 6 years and 70K miles on the battery. I did say in a different post that I was living on borrowed time!

[Mule]

GM-Tech,

Thanks for the explanation. I guess a lot of folks around here were passing on the urban legend of the "too long bolt".

[97chevy350]

Now the fun part of actually replacing that cable!   

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I don't know how particular you are, as I would probably not do this, but if you didnt want to replace the whole cable, they now have battery cable extensions at advance. They are about 1 foot long and seem to splice pretty easily with a boot that goes around the joint. However, if it was me, I would be replacing the whole cable b/c I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to my truck.

And could you not get the bolt out of the terminal with vice grips and a ractchet?

[Markeaux]

My 2 Delco's (on 2 different vehicles) leaked right at 5yrs.

[asepgrad98]

And could you not get the bolt out of the terminal with vice grips and a ractchet?

 

that ussually works. if it doesnt you can take a ziz wheel and start grinding the terminal away. Then all you need to buy is a new bolt.