Removing the battery (or not?)

[JETS 81 DMC]

I cleaned the corrosion up today with baking soda. There wasn't much on the D's battery but my CRX's battery was pretty nasty-looking, AFAICR I'd last had it replaced around 2012 and it was cranking pretty sluggishly lately so I just went and got a new one at AutoZone. The clerk talked me into getting the kit that comes with the felt washers and dielectric grease for the terminals so I put those on with the new one. I'll see how those do and then evaluate whether to do that when I put the D's battery back in.

I checked the D's battery with a tester today and it still showed good even after sitting for two weeks. I'll hook the trickle charger up tomorrow and see what it says. (It's the Centech from Harbor Freight (https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...art-60653.html)

The D's battery is still on the kitchen counter because if the object is to get it out of the cold, my options are pretty limited as far as places the cats won't mess with it. There's a closet under the stairs in the basement but do I want it in that enclosed of a space?

You should store the battery in your garage not in your house. A charged battery will not freeze. Cars sit outside all the time in the winter with well below freezing temps and below zero degrees. Don't worry about that. I would leave it in the garage and charge it overnight on the 2 amp setting or longer until it shows full charge once a month. That is all you need to do and you will be ok but don't store it in your house.
Glad you got both your cars batteries clean up.

[Gfrank]

I’ll bring my battery’s in out of all my boats and any of my cars outside. Rotate them on the battery tender. The Delorean is inside semi heated and has its own tender. I don’t remove it

[DaraSue]

I tried to clean out the battery compartment today and there's a rubber mat or something on the bottom of it? The white crud wiped off the top of the mat but the underside of it's pretty nasty looking, do I just need to replace the whole thing?20171220_120804.jpg

[DMC-81]

I tried to clean out the battery compartment today and there's a rubber mat or something on the bottom of it? The white crud wiped off the top of the mat but the underside of it's pretty nasty looking, do I just need to replace the whole thing?20171220_120804.jpg

The rubber pad is supposed to be there. If the rubber is still in good shape you can just clean both sides and the fiberglass box and reglue it in place. The nasty stuff is just contact cement or a similar self adhesive. You can use goo gone etc to clean it.

[David T]

The rubber pad is supposed to be there. If the rubber is still in good shape you can just clean both sides and the fiberglass box and reglue it in place. The nasty stuff is just contact cement or a similar self adhesive. You can use goo gone etc to clean it.

The rubber mat should be cleanable. It does not have to be glued down. The heads of the bolts that hold the trailing arm shield are underneath and one day you may need to get to them. The strap that holds the battery in is often damaged or just missing.

[DMC-81]

The rubber mat should be cleanable. It does not have to be glued down. The heads of the bolts that hold the trailing arm shield are underneath and one day you may need to get to them. The strap that holds the battery in is often damaged or just missing.

True, but if you find that the rubber mat slips out of place when you try to wiggle the heavy battery back in place, you may need to revisit the adhesive. From experience, as long as you avoid using any permanent adhesive you can remove the pad as needed to access/replace the Big Head M6 studs (SP10250). Contact cement can be softened with heat and reapplied, just as we do when we have to remove the interior Trim Panel & Armrest (110677) part to access the rear speakers.

Your mileage may vary.

[OverlandMan]

Yes, remove it. Batteries outgas, and with it sitting right below the electrical area, I believe that's why so many DeLoreans get such bad fuse box corrosion.

Agreed when dealing with flooded lead acid types but is this still accurate with absorbed glass mat?

May be I missed something but why would you trickle charge a battery once a month instead of leaving a battery tender on it so the computer can turn
the charger on when the voltage goes below the set value? Can't we let modern technology do the thinking and working for us?

I had a Battery Tender knock-off cheapie from Autozone or similar years ago on my old 1948 Jeep. I used this same mentality in letting the technology in the "smart" charger maintain the battery for me. One day when I went out to start the Jeep, the battery was completely dead. The piece of junk crapped-out and took the battery down to nothing, which yielded a useless Interstate battery at that point.

Now I have an actual Battery Tender brand charger/maintainer and I keep it plugged-in for a few days. Then I unplug it for a week or two and repeat the process.

[Ron]

I disconnect a battery if it will be sitting a ~month. If longer or very cold, I'll put a good minder on it.
(One that will not allow the charge to cause the battery to heat up and out-gas (<13.2V, IIRC). Low amp, constant chargers don't cut it.)

I don't remove them because, beyond the above and keeping them clean, the warranty will take care of things...


FWIW, This stuff runs rings around anything else I've tried.
pACE2-1127292dt.jpg

[DaraSue]

I got the battery charged up and put it back down in the garage, but I guess I'll have to put it back in the car anyway because I didn't get the fuel stabilizer in before the snow started and I didn't realize you had to run the engine to get it through the whole system.

I cleaned off the rubber mat today so we'll see what happens when everything goes back in. It looks like there's a metal strip along the side of the compartment that the mat was supposed to be attached to?

Arrgh, we keep getting teased with 40-50F temps during the day but then it's down below freezing at night so I guess the roads are staying salty.

[DMC-81]

I cleaned off the rubber mat today so we'll see what happens when everything goes back in. It looks like there's a metal strip along the side of the compartment that the mat was supposed to be attached to?

You may want to check if the metal strip is an upgraded SS deflector retaining strip ( 111230 ). If so, it's unlikely that you will need to access it as the OEM bolt heads are eliminated. The mat doesn't specifically get attached to it. It still gets glued to the fiberglass floor...the strip just becomes part of the floor.