Technical Battery box corrosion

[g8rpi]

When I looked at my Croma (1.9 JTD 150 Manual) at the dealers, I noticed corrosion products in and around the battery box. The battery looked new though. I asked the dealy to investigate and clean it up. When I collected the car it was clean. The corrosion has however come back, so I investigated. The corrosion product is a white powder that holds moisture.



So I took the battery box out and gve it a good clean with hot running water. It's held in by 3 bolts. There is a coolant pipe and two cable looms clipped to it that have to be released. It would appear the a battery has leaked into the box in the past. The acid had got into the folded steel joint at the end of the box and took a lot of flushing out with hot water. A through drying followed by a quick coat of spray black paint. sorted that out. I also made sure the drain tube was clean and clear. The acid had stripped the paint from part of the inner wing/chassis leg. I cleaned that off with hot water and applied LPS-3, a corrosion protector, the aerospace version of Waxol.
With the battery box out out of the way I took the oppertunity to lubricate the gear shift linkage with molybdenum grease. I applied this to the cam roller. two ball ends and two cable end rods. In the first picture you can see the loom that if not clipped to the battery box can drop down onto the gear linkage.


This has improved the feel of the gearshift, making it lighter and smoother.
So all in all a good mornings work.

 

[Peter Pick-Up]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BATTERY-A...020?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a4fa5719c

 

[Peter Pick-Up]

Next time, use something like this to lubricate the shift mechanism, it won't attract dirt, like all other grease will do.




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wd-40-Dry...641?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51cf9a9609

 

[g8rpi]

I did consider a dry lubricant, but decided a grease would be better. While it may hold some dirt, it will also help keep mosture out. More importantly, it can work it's way into the cables and bearings as the gear shift is used, the dry lube only goes where it's sprayed and the carrier evaporates quickly. Having used it for a couple of days it has made a big improvement.

 

[g8rpi]

This battery mat seems a bit pointless. If you have a leaking battery it needs changing, or overcharging sorted out. The mat is treating the symptom, not the cause.

 

[Peter Pick-Up]

I did consider a dry lubricant, but decided a grease would be better. While it may hold some dirt, it will also help keep moisture out. More importantly, it can work it's way into the cables and bearings as the gear shift is used, the dry lube only goes where it's sprayed and the carrier evaporates quickly. Having used it for a couple of days it has made a big improvement.

There is a good reason why the factory doesn't use grease on the shift mechanism, instead they rely on the Teflon inner cables.
Grease will attract dirt, dust and sand, forming a sandpaper like emulsion.
At first it will give better shifting, at the end it will ruin the mechanism.

 

[Peter Pick-Up]

This battery mat seems a bit pointless. If you have a leaking battery it needs changing, or overcharging sorted out. The mat is treating the symptom, not the cause.

See it just as extra care....for the real die-hards...( like me, I use the mat on every car and bike I own..!!)

 

[g8rpi]

There is a good reason why the factory doesn't use grease on the shift mechanism, instead they rely on the Teflon inner cables.
Grease will attract dirt, dust and sand, forming a sandpaper like emulsion.
At first it will give better shifting, at the end it will ruin the mechanism.

Agreed, however one problem with the mechanisim is corrosion of the exposed operating rods at the end of the cables and the lever cam. The cable seals are already damged. Greasing is OK but it needs re-newing. Dry lubricants are for life. Unfortunatly the life isn't long enough.