Thread: Corroded Battery Tray

Bumpety

I finally got the pictures on my computer of how bad the tray is.





It looks like the tray is spot welded in so it may just be a matter of drilling these out. Only problem then is that I have a heap of holes that need treating.

Anyone got any suggestions on how best to deal with it??

Hit it with rust converter, let it sit a while, then give it a good clean up and a paint. I wouldn't really got to the trouble of replacing it. Doesn't look that bad

You could clean it up as already suggested. Then purchase a plastic battery holder, the ones with high walls or just a plastic battery tray. These trays or holders will catch the little spills,discharges etc and wont corrode. Most battery places sell them, its a good idea to do this with every new vehicle you get.

Originally Posted by Boxer

Hit it with rust converter, let it sit a while, then give it a good clean up and a paint. I wouldn't really got to the trouble of replacing it. Doesn't look that bad

Yeah that was the fix last time except that paint lifted and its rusting again. Admittedly last time it was rushed though as we needed the car back on the road.

My only concern is getting in under the tray with the converter and paint. I plan on keeping the car for a few years yet so don't want to have to redo it all again later though.

Have you got any suggestions for a paint to use? I was thinking an under body sealer may have more resistance to battery acid if it leaks again.

Well I went the repaint option. When I stood back and thought about how much work cutting out the tray and making a new one up would be i threw the idea out the window. Instead I washed out the battery tray, dosed it with kill rust, pressure blasted it to get the loose scale paint off, re-rust killed it to get anymore I missed then finally painted it with two coats of paint.

This is what it looked like after the first treatment of kill-rust:


After first coat of paint:



This is all the pics i have for now but the second coat is drying and I'm going to wait for at least 48 hours before even going near it again to give it time to set properly. That kill-rust stuff is magic. You literally see it working before you eyes. I hope this time round I've spent enough time cleaning and painting it properly so i wont have to do it again soon (even used a small mirror to check I got the underside of the tray done fully). To help me though I'm going to use a sealed battery to prevent any future lead acid leaks.

That looks like a neat job, i would still buy a plastic under tray as the sealed batteries still corrode. they are sealed for liquid coming out but they still vent some gases , its the gases that cause corrosion build up.

Originally Posted by Bigmark

That looks like a neat job, i would still buy a plastic under tray as the sealed batteries still corrode. they are sealed for liquid coming out but they still vent some gases , its the gases that cause corrosion build up.

Cheers for the suggestion. You wouldn't know where i can pick one up from do you? I could probably cut up a food container or something but if there's proper trays available I'd rather get one of those.

Originally Posted by Bigmark

You could clean it up as already suggested. Then purchase a plastic battery holder, the ones with high walls or just a plastic battery tray. These trays or holders will catch the little spills,discharges etc and wont corrode. Most battery places sell them, its a good idea to do this with every new vehicle you get.

I didn't actually see this post before (maybe those stupidly big pictures before i re-sized them...). Yeh I'll have a look at the battery shops. I think i know what you mean now.

Cheers