Auxiliary Battery Maintenance and Cover Removal - Warning

2004/2005 Prius

Over time the positive terminal of the auxiliary battery and its associated terminal clamp/nuts/bolts will most likely become corroded and will need to be cleaned with baking soda. Given to its location this could prove to be a bit of a mess.

It's with this in mind that I wanted to coat the terminal(s) with a protective coating to aid in preventing the corrosion ... there are commercially available sprays made for this purpose. Trying to remove the terminal clamp nuts and bolts, and the terminal clamp isn't an easy task when they are covered with corrosion ... and applying a wrench in this area doesn't appear easy under the best of conditions.

Unless your dealer 'doped' the terminal(s) ... and that's not likely ... you may want to look into doing this as it will save you a lot of grief later. I didn't actually 'spray' the terminal(s) as spraying them will also make a mess of the battery area. Instead, I sprayed the protective coating into a small container and then painted it on the terminals with a small brush.
You don't need to remove the terminal clamps to do this. Just coat them as they stand. I've used this material on my other cars with great success. You'll need a small ... very small ... common screwdriver to remove the red cover from the positive battery terminal. It's held in place by three plastic clips as well and you'll need to lift the clips off the retaining pins.

NOW THEN ......
According to the owners manual, to access the auxiliary battery, the battery cover (carpeted cover) can be removed by 'lifting it'. There isn't much about this other than an illustration and an arrow pointing 'UP'. Easy enough ... just lift the cover up, right? Nope ... there's more to it than that. The cover is held in place by plastic retaining clips that are molded onto the cover and these will break if you just 'lift' the cover. I found that to remove the cover, I had to press it down 'slightly' while pressing the the surrounding liner 'outward' and then carefully manuver it out of the slots. In any event, I had to shift it around a bit before I could remove it. (See photos for location of battery cover retaining clips).

I hope this information and the photos prove helpful.

Bob
Oak Creek, WI

 

Thank you for the compliment ... it's appreciated.

Actually, the corrosive buildup on the battery terminals is more likely to occur before that of the area it's stored in ... provided of course that the electrolyte from the battery isn't spilled in that area. It's nasty stuff.

The following site has more information/photos on this.
Different automobile but the principle is the same.
Just click on the photos for a larger view.
Needless to say, there are a number of sites that cover the science, cause, and effect of this subject.

http://focus.noegruts.com/battery/battery.htm

Bob