Green dust on battery terminal connectors

[prhime]

So for the past month my truck (96 LTD 150K miles) has been giving me a hard start. This past weekend it decided not to start at all. I changed the starter about 2yrs ago. I can't exactly see if there is an issue with the starter as easily as i'd like.

Opened the hood and saw this green dust. Could it be a problem? The battery and power inside the car (radio, clock etc) are all working fine.

What's the best site to find an OEM starter? I haven't had to do much on this truck in a while so a bit out of the loop.

 

[chaz]

How to Take Care of Automotive Batteries: 8 steps (with pictures)

 

[Zuke]

How to Take Care of Automotive Batteries: 8 steps (with pictures)

Good advice. I usually just sprinkle baking soda on the terminal and contact and slowly poor small amount of water on it to wash off BS and acid. Then wipe clean and put thin layer of Vaseline (cheaper than the auto store "goo")on terminal.

 

[Hapeacres]

I just replaced the original battery on my V8. There was a little green corrosion on mine as well but not as much as yours. The guys from Autozone gave me a couple of red felt-like washers that you put on each terminal of the new battery before putting the positive and negative connectors on. Apparantly those little red felt washers are used to fill the open space on the terminal and help prevent the corrosion build up you pictured. Of course I bought the little packet of vaseline and smothered everything afterwards.

 

[Mark86]

A little baking soda does the trick. Just had that stuff accumulate on my battery and no biggie!

 

[calikev]

I used to pour a little Coca-Cola on mine. Now I use the lube and pads from parts stores like everyone else is talking about and haven't needed the Coca-Cola since.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

Get an Optima AGM type battery and you will never have this problem again. They do not leak acid as they age.