Now and Later (A Tail of Two Battery--Problems)

There is a candy called “Now and Later.” It is a concept that you get a little treat now and wait for the rest. Well, I just had an episode of “Now and Later” with the battery in our Honda. (Shameless product placement.) But this is a good example. We had trouble “now” but avoided the later  part.  (Ed question: Does anyone really only consume half of the candy? Most of the time, in my experience, the portions are about half of what is “required” to satisfy the craving. But I digress.)

I was going to the meeting of the College and Career group with which I volunteer, sat down in the car, and pushed the starter. (Funny, I recall an old pickup that we had on the farm that had a “starter switch” on the floor. Dad would step down on it to start the truck. Now the fancy cars have a starter button on the dash and you push it to start the car. Progress! Until you have to replace the ignition “switch.”)

Anyway, the response was as old fashioned as you can get. Ever since electric starters first appeared on cars, the bug-a-boo of a dead battery or a defective connection has haunted and taunted drivers. (Or in this case, would be drivers. Without cooperation, you gonna drive nothin' nowhere.)

So I hopped out and connected my battery charger. Fortunately, the other car was not home, or we would have jumped it and probably led to a different “later” problem. After connecting the leads, I tried the starter. It still did not work. That generally means a “really” dead battery and not one that has just gotten slightly discharged. NOTE: I missed the meeting. A jumper may have energized the starter and then it would have not responded the next time I tried to start it--when I was coming home.

Next morning, I disconnected the charger and happened to notice a “little” corrosion on the positive terminal. (For the mathematically or automotively challenged, that is the red cable or red cover to the terminal. It usually has a “+” on it somewhere.

Being a good steward, and understanding the role of corrosion in electrical circuits I looked deeper. (The “role of corrosion” is to act as an insulator. In other words, it keeps the spark from getting through. It is the same result as a dead battery. No electricity gets to the starter and without that other implement in our old pickup, a crank, you are waiting for whatever or whoever to fix your problem. Either a mechanic–or tinkerer, like me, or a tow truck.)

I discovered that the cable connecting the red (positive) terminal to the battery and the rest of the ignition system was filled with corrosion. We bought this car, used, about 9 months ago and I did not think to check the battery terminals. It had to be there when the owner sold it. I know this, because he had turned a screw into the connecter and terminal. I am shocked that it worked as long as it did.

This is the first praise. This is a “then, now, and later” situation. This car has recently taken trips to Chattanooga, Memphis, Alabama, and Knoxville, besides being driven around town. It did not fail on one of those times when it was “out.” A failure here would have caused a varying amount of distress, contingent on the distance from home that it occurred. In the garage was nice.

We were also anticipating further “trips” around town and even one to Indianapolis. So the “later treat” could have been quite distressing and even disastrous. Thankfully, it occurred here, and, after cutting the cable, I discovered that the corrosion has crept (does corrosion creep? It is caused by battery acid leaking and moving up the cable, reacting with the copper, forming copper sulfate–for the chemically curious.) ...crept up the cable about an inch or so. Fortunately, I was able to chemically remove it from the cable, obviating an expensive replacement of the entire cable. (For the chemically curious, use baking soda and water. It reacts and completely removes the corrosion and neutralizes any residual acid.)

“All” I had to do was to replace the connector end of the cable to mate it with the battery. Of course, Honda has a special connection and the AutoZone (shameless product placement) replacement required some modification. But the principle is the same. Make a good connection to a complete circuit and everyone goes home happy. (Literally, and leaves home too.)

So the “tail” was literally the source of the problem. By correcting this, we avoided additional battery troubles and became aware that earlier ones were avoided. Not sure how: That sucker was literally suffused with corrosion.

Maybe I should have started this with, “It happened at the best of times. It happened at the worst of times.” Only it wasn’t really the worst. Just inconvenient for the current plans.

We were protected from “then and later” incidents by a smaller event at home. Thank You Lord.