Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) gooey crystal stuff on battery...

[THenningsen]

I noticed the negative post on the passenger side battery had this damp crystal goo around it. I've seen the bluish green powder before but never this stuff. what is it? The positive terminal has a little rust forming. Does my battery need replacing?

 

[JFaughn]

Its normal for this to occur , if preventive maintenance is not done [ a spray to prevent , a auto parts store ] .
Since you already have the crud on there , you can get an other can of spray that will clean it off , then dry and put the preventive spray on .
A load test is the way to check for good or bad battery .

 

[ironbutt]

Try cleaning the battery terminals one at a time,( easy with our dual batterys). and then install te felt ring battery protectors below the connector. Exide markets them and are at most auto part stores and at Walmart too. I do this at least one time per year. I too have 140k mi and the original batterys and they look just as clean today as they did the day I picked it up in Jan 02. And the only way to test itis a good load test as [JFaughn] stated.