Not sure why he did this - he thought it would help something. This is in an old pickup truck. Now his battery is dead. I did my best to clean the terminals and have it charging.

Anybody ever hear of someone doing this? He gets some strange ideas.

Grease can be applied to the terminals to keep oxygen from corroding them. Works well.

Oil - not so good especially if caps are not sealed tight and it gets into the cells. Will disrupt the chemical reaction and basically kill the battery.

1990Hullaballoo said:

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Grease can be applied to the terminals to keep oxygen from corroding them. Works well.

Oil - not so good especially if caps are not sealed tight and it gets into the cells. Will disrupt the chemical reaction and basically kill the battery.

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Thanks - I have no idea what he was thinking. And, he poured it on while the cables were connected.

Did he lick the windows on the school bus as a kid?

I have been doing grease on my terminals forever. Learned it as a kid working on our farm tractor.

It's not going to help anything but it's not going to hurt anything either. It's not going to stick around long. Petroleum is highly resistive. That's why we get all warm and fuzzy when we see high resistance on a well log and why your electric fuel pump is inside gasoline. It's a handy property.

oil, grease, same thing...

Tim Weaver said:

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Did he lick the windows on the school bus as a kid?

I have been doing grease on my terminals forever. Learned it as a kid working on our farm tractor.

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We had a female friend pour Coke on corroded battery terminals. It didn't help.

Oil is not conductive, so it wouldn't hurt it directly. It could seep into the battery and screw up the chemical reactions, it could probably kill the battery (as said above). I've never heard of anyone doing that before, so I don't know what to make of it. It seems like he saw somebody do it on youtube or tiktok and decided to go for it. Lesson learned, I hope.

Tell him that oil and grease are not interchangeable. If he wants to protect the terminals from corrosion, use a dielectric grease, or get a can of spray that is specifically made to protect battery terminals.

Potcake said:

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Tim Weaver said:

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Did he lick the windows on the school bus as a kid?

I have been doing grease on my terminals forever. Learned it as a kid working on our farm tractor.

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We had a female friend pour Coke on corroded battery terminals. It didn't help.

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I prefer baking soda but coke can work as well for corrosion.

Potcake said:

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Tim Weaver said:

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Did he lick the windows on the school bus as a kid?

I have been doing grease on my terminals forever. Learned it as a kid working on our farm tractor.

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We had a female friend pour Coke on corroded battery terminals. It didn't help.

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My brother has done that as well. Did nothing for the corrosion, but did attract plenty of fire ants. ETA - he also installed one of those bogus gadgets to improve mpg in the port where computer checks are plugged in to get a read out.

Potcake said:

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Tim Weaver said:

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Did he lick the windows on the school bus as a kid?

I have been doing grease on my terminals forever. Learned it as a kid working on our farm tractor.

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We had a female friend pour Coke on corroded battery terminals. It didn't help.

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I've done this many times. It does work at eating away the corrosion. Baking soda is better, but coke works in a pinch.

OP sounds like your brother-in-law confused oil for grease.

Having recently confused using two stroke boat motor oil instead of synthetic oil for my truck, I have empathy for your BIL and all other brain farters.

Remind him the sun will come up tomorrow.

Tell him to keep his KY away from your car