Corrosion under battery tray

[Jezclax]

Hi all,

 

Whilst changing the nearside front parking light bulb, I removed the Battery to make access possible (just about with my hands). I noticed the Battery tray was a bit mucky so I removed it to give it a clean and noticed a number of bolts holding it to the chassis member in this area were badly rusted - there is also an earth connection here in a similar (or slightly worse) state. with the socket set I had I couldn't loosen any of these to clean and grease. So I just sprayed on a load of WD40 to hold things at bay until I can get a proper chance to look at this. 

 

It's the earth connection that worries me most (being an electrical engineer) didn't want to snap the bolt without a means to drill/tap/clean/repair and replace.

Just a word of warning to other owners out there - maybe something to check - think everything was a 10mm spanner to get there and check. 

Jez

[tavy]

Hi Jez, 

your Battery is probably leaking, so is necessary to replace it, even it's in good condition, buy one with gel. 

It's very good you put a lot of WD40 out there, I hope you can finally replace the rusted bolts. 

After that clean the tray and ground connector, fit new bolts and paint the tray with some thick paint with a brush (spray doesn't help too much, it won't last long). 

Keep up the good work. Good luck!

[Jezclax]

Thanks for the input Tavy. The Battery tray is plastic and has a drain hole on the opposite side to where the rust is, drains into a free space rather than the chassis member side. 

Now the tray is clean I'll keep an eye on Battery leakage but my working assumption is that it's water driven under the tray that's the issue. 

Will sort the rust in the spring! 

Jez

 

 

 

[craggle]

I have seen this a few times on other cars. As you say, water gets in between the plastic tray and the metal and sits there unable to evaporate and dry out. The steel bolts will go first as they only have a thin zinc plate protection on them. 

Cleaning it all up and replacing the bolts with stainless versions would be good assuming you can undo them. Use copper grease on the threads too and some wax type corrosion protection after that might be a good idea too.

Craig.