Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

Pulled the battery and tray from my 71' and was surprised to see all the corrosion on the radiator support caused by the battery. Never seen any liquid come from the battery so I'm assuming it's gasses from the battery. How can I protect the support and other parts in the area from this corrosion? Do I need to go to a sealed type battery? Thanks in advance for your help.

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

Yes a sealed battery will help, yet I believe they all have some type of vent.

Biggest part of the problem I can see is the old style separate voltage regulator.

I had one go into an overcharging situation a year ago. It was putting out over 19 volts to my electrical system. It did make my Optima Red Top battery spit some juice out of the vent. Got all over my new radiator.

With the old style system every time you start your vehicle those old regulator will push more than 16 amps to get the battery back up to snuff. I believe that would be a main cause, or where I am going to begin looking.

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

Periodically rinsing the area with a water and baking soda mixture will help by neutralizing the acids the battery vents out. Then you can rinse that off with clean water after 5 or 10 minutes.

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

X2!!!

Batteries put off acidic vapors. My knowledge of sealed batteries is zero...
I clean up the battery tray on my 77 TA every few years, repaint it. I try to buy the best batteries, not sure what that would be these days. I used to sell AC Delco batteries, they were awesome.

Speaking of voltage regulators. THe old external regulator on my 67 Bel Air was sticking for a while, man I had beech'n headlights for a while. It also shortened the life of my awesome AC Delco battery...:metal:

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

Do those battery tray mats really do any good - have seen them advertised but never tried one.

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

I’m curious too, I was looking at them the other day. I hope someone will chime in on if they are good or not.

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

I've had good luck keeping the core support free from battery crud by removing the battery every so often to inspect the tray, clean, treat, and paint when needed. If I see a mess below (rare), I rinse or scrub before neutralizing/coating

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

I wonder if coating the battery tray and all area around it with something like POR 15 would prevent corrosion from battery acid?

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

They work OK, but they're not a magic cure for negligence.
Periodic hosing down and baking soda rinses are still required. I have to re-paint my battery tray every few years.

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

Thanks for the replies - wasn't trying to high-jack thread - just seemed to go along with what was being said. Jay

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

I haven't tried POR 15, but I can tell you that professionally installed spray on bed liner will not work.

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

Using an AGM type battery will help. They (usually) only leak if you have a charging system problem.

Re: Protecting Radiator Support from Battery Corrosion
 

My core support has a big hole in it so I dont worried about it.