Battery acid clean up

[Likecars]

[quote=JBsC5]2001 I believe GM went to a gel battery too..


The best way to tell if the car has had a battery acid leakage is to mix water and baking soda in a cup..

Remove the battery and with a dropper put the water/baking soda solution into the hole of the battery tray..

If you hear sizzle....the car had a battery acid leak and was not fixed properly.

There should be no sizzle if the battery never leaked...

A few drops will be all it takes and in fact can just be put on the battery tray itself...as the acid has to travel on the tray to get to the hole and then below.

If not caught in time...what happens is the battery acid will eat the wires...and sometimes even get into the pcm and cause intermittent electrical gremlims...

I' personally found it in time on my 1999 and had C4 C5 specialist work on my car to properly clean every wire and the pcm plugs..

He did a great job..I never had an electrical problem with the car either.

He fixed it by meticulously cleaning every wire and plug. He's the expert so I'll let him fill you in on what he did.

I replaced the battery with a red top optima from LAPD for around a hundred dollars or so...( which is a gel type so it can't leak.)

IMHO..GM wasn't so bright in packaging a battery above the pcm etc...but I guess thats where it needed to go..

Lots of C5 owners dumped the stock battery for the red top optima before the problem occured ..I remember reading these posts going? thats weird...and they were fanatics about it...



If I recall my chemistry, will a baking soda rinse help with the cleanup of some acid? Caught it in time, somehow made it to my carpet in the garage (burned a hole), but no damage to the car.

[JBsC5]

I would suggest you contact a knowledgable technician such as C4C5 specialist..


Its been a few years for me and I can't remember every detail.

I do know it was important to open up the passenger side front wheel well and specifically clean each and every wire....Open up the tapes..and even around the pcm..

Here's a link from many years ago...

I would definitely take each precaution to properly clean the areas involved..

If not a lot of electrical gremlins can occur down the road and its not worth the trouble...Better to be proactive..

Here's the link: http://www.c5forum.com/cgi-bin/ultim...11.html#000000

[wishuwerehere82]

For acid cleanup on carpets and floors, the acid (PH 0) must be neutralised first with a High PH solution of baking soda and water which is around 11. The neutralisation should be to a PH level of 7.0 and rinsed clean with water. Remember that battery acid is not just Sulfuric acid and water, but Sulfuric acid, water with dissolved Lead and Copper in the electrolyte solution. Dispose of properly.