I looked in my battery compartment for the first time today (had my car for a month) and the battery and all connections are clean. The surface of the inside of the compartment appears to be a medium gray color about a third of the way down and the rest looks brown. There's also what appears to be some brown goo (looks like spilled Coke) on the inside of the cover. I did a taste test and it doesn't taste acid.
Is my battery compartment rotting out? Should it be all gray?

 

Taste test - good Lord son, what do you do if you get somethin' on your boot that looks like cow pie <img border="0" alt="[hiha]" title="" src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" /> ?

But seriously, Ernest, I'd recommend washing out the area with a very concentrated slurry of baking soda and water, then rinse, dry and paint with acid-resistant enamel.

 

Mine had some thick tar-like goop sprayed in there, too. I rinsed it as well as I could, treated it with a baking soda soak by plugging the holes and filling it with a hot water/baking soda mixture, then drained and rinsed again a few times. Once I figured it was clean and dry, I got some of that "rubberized undercoating" from the autoparts store and reinforced the original goop.

 

Randy,
Hyar in Teyaxas cow pie is considered a delicacy. We're already full of the leavings from bovines of the male persuasion. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
Brian,
Greetings from a Newfie. (Already "full of it" when I got to Texas).

 

Welcome Ernest. Look forward to meeting up with you sometime. John C.

 

Texas. Lived there. Once. Now that I have a summer loving car (which I returned to Texas to buy) I've rediscovered a few of its good points. But that Bush guy... where the hell is he from again? - Ruf

 

Hey Ernest!! What'cha at, bae?

 

Ernest,

Sounds like the PO sprayed some amber tectyl in the compartment to prevent corrosion. Although I can't tell you what that would taste like.

 

Hey Brian,
'Ow are t'ings up dere on the mainland b'y?