Willys M Jeeps - Battery Box Corrosion

BATTERY MAINTENANCE

Like a lot of HMV owners’ I don’t drive my vehicles as much as I would like. In fact, my M38 rarely comes out of the garage except for vehicle rallies. For the last few years, I have been plagued by battery acid corrosion damage to the battery boxes in my M38, especially the cowl box.

This year, I decided to do something to stop this problem. I pulled the batteries and hold-down hardware out of both boxes, and gave the boxes a good scrub down with a baking soda and water mix to neutrilize the acid, followed with a good soap and water scrub. After everything was dry, I wire brushed, primered and repainted the damaged areas on the outside of the boxes, and recoated the inside of the boxes with undercoating.
Before I reinstalled my batteries, I looked around on the internet and found a product called Battery Mat. It’s a felt-like pad that is impregnated with acid absorbing chemicals. When the pad is placed under the battery, it acts to collect acid fumes coming from the battery and soaks up liquid also to prevent acid from eating under the battery and around the sides. The Battery Mat is thin enough that no modification is needed to the battery mounting system, and the battery stays solidly secure as normal. The battery mat should last 3 years under normal conditions.
I found out that the US Military is using this same product to prevent corrosion damage on current issue vehicles. I ordered four 8” x 12” black battery mats from DC CarCare for only $16.75, including priority shipping. DC CarCare web site address is: http://www.dccarcare.com/battery.html

DC CarCare president Don Mallinson also provided me with the following tips for long term battery storage:
I will give you this advice from my years of storing old cars. Keep your battery hooked up to a small battery maintainer. I do not sell these currently, but the ones I like are from Battery Tender JR. Go to this web site for the best prices on the internet http://www.accwhse.com/batteryt.htm

The basic Battery Tender Jr is what I mostly use, but the upscale version is a bit nicer. Once I started using these on all my old cars and on my lawn equipment that may sit for weeks at a time, I never have had any more battery acid accumulation.
Make sure you start with a healthy battery, have it tested by a good shop, I like Interstate Battery. Clean everything up and make sure there is no bare metal. Use a battery post spray (not grease, although I did use it for years, it is messy), and Interstate sell a good clear one, no need to have the messy red stuff.
With the Battery Mat, a maintainer and a healthy battery, you should stop any acid accumulation and damage problems.