white93nsx

Thought I would share this fix as it has the symptoms of a dead battery or even worst, bad starter.

Last week, I stopped the car and when I hit the door lock on the remote, I heard a very faint chirp from my alarm which was strange. The door locks also did not lock so I tried several times and then just manually locked the doors. When I came back to drive away, I had to manually unlock the doors and the car would not start, like it had a bad battery. I noticed that the steering wheel did not auto adjust to my position and the dash lights were very dim, but after letting the ignition key sit in the on position for a few seconds, the dash lit up and I was able to start it.
I drove it home and put the battery on a charger but noticed the positive battery terminal was very corroded. Came back the next day and tried to start it and same issue. I wiggle the the positive terminal and cable and it was pretty loose. The clamp portion of the cable had totally rusted away and broke off. See the B4 picture of the corrosion.

Took a little wire-brushing to get some of the corrosion off and then I was able to loosen the nut that was sticking straight up which held the main harness with the fuses on it to the battery terminal clamp portion. I then bought a replacement terminal (see link below for the Lynx/Epoxy marine battery terminal) which had a similar up facing bolt to replace the corroded one for about $6. Came with the positive and negative but I only used the Positive one since my negative terminal was still in good shape.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=257145_0_0_

I wore my eye protection and nitrile gloves to protect my eyes and hands.

Here are the steps I took after wire-brushing as much corrosion as possible:
1. Disconnected the negative battery terminal from battery
2. Disconnected the positive battery terminal from battery
3. Removed the upward facing nut from the harness (holding the whole harness from the battery terminal clamp). I used a vise-grip since the nut was so corroded
4. I then wire-brushed as much corrosion from the wire harness as possible
5. Removed the black cover from under the cable harness exposing three 10mm nuts facing forward which held two wires to the harness using a ratchet. Make note where each wires connects since it matters where you connect them as they connect to a specific fuse. I did not touch the blots on the other side facing backwards since there was no corrosion there.
6. With the wires removed, I used a small wire brush and toothbrush to remove as much of the corrosion as possible
7. I mixed a solution of Baking Soda and water in an old jar and threw the nuts into it to clean them up.
8. I use a towel to catch any drippings and then used a toothbrush and wirebrush dipped in the Baking Soda solution and brushed away as much of the corrosion away as possible on the terminal harness and on the cables (you will see it foam up). This may take a few tries and I wiped it clean with the towel in between coats.
9. When I was satisfied with the corrosion gone, I then reconnected the three nuts and two wires to the harness
10. The new bolt on the new battery is larger than the diameter of the harness hole so I had to drill the holes out to make it fit (I think I used a 3/8" bit)
11. Once the holes are drilled, you can connect the new terminal to the harness (note my new terminal used a wing nut which worked fine).
12. I then connected the newly connected terminal to the positive post of the battery, adding a felt, anti-corrosion washer underneath the terminal.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...fier=8170_0_0_

13. I connected the negative terminal also adding the anti-corrosion washer and then started up the car.

Worked great and car started right up. Battery was still charged as I checked it with a voltmeter which showed 12.8V when it was all disconnected. Before working on this, I thought the harness needed replacing and called Toyota (not Lexus since more expensive) and it was $480 so glad I didn't have to replace it.

I then used compressed air and blew away all the brushed off corrosion.

Hope this helps you.

DancesWith

Nice work.

Cheers

Nigel in NZ

white93nsx

Thanks. If it saves a mis-diagnostic and prevents a larger repair bill for someone, it's all good.

Cheers,
Mike

Mrburney

How hard is it to change the positive clamps for the battery ,it was so corroded it broke off.