I have a 2003 hyundai elantra gt. The battery is dead, and corroding and i am having a LOT of trouble removing the battery. I've removed the battery on my jeep with no problem, its a straight forward process, but i cant for the life of me figure out how to remove the positive side on my elantra.

Here are 2 pictures I took, hopefully someone can explain to me what I need to do. I have a feeling that maybe the corrosion is making it stick, but wanna be sure before i end up breaking it taking something off that isn't meant to some off.

i got the little nut off but don't know what to do next. I even tried pulling up at the bottom of the little clamp, but it actually chipped a tiny piece of the metal. Don't think its gonna be a problem, but it scares me to try much else on my own, don't wanna cause a lot of damage.





Any help would be fantastic. I don't know much about cars but was pretty confident i could figure this out. after an hour of me accomplishing nothing I'm pretty fed up with it.

 

Ideally all you have to do is loosen the center nut... You managed to take yours off.

Use a flat screwdriver to lift the outer "hat" up and hopefully the inner fingers will release..

May want to consider replacing the clap, and dont tighten it real tight, just snug it good...

I'll run and see what the number and cost is for replacement clamp....

Stand by -- all I come up with is the complete cable..

 

im having trouble understanding how this comes off. like what part is the battery and what part is the clamp? It becomes even more confusing with all the corrosion.

I tried prying with a flathead, no avail. Am i suppose to pry right here?
like between the metal thats copper colored and the plastic of the battery itself? this is what i did and really the only place i can imagine prying, and i was afraid the screwdriver itself was going to break.

And you said you dont even need to take the nut off, leading me to believe somehow it just comes off when loosened? Do i need to do anything with the little nut to the left? I tried to loosen it but it just kept turning, without loosening or tightening any.

I have a feeling this is going to become me having to get it towed to the dealer, and that is extremely frustrating and disappointing for something thats suppose to be an easy fix.

 

Ok, ended up prying it so much the actual battery is coming apart. its ripping the little tower out of the battery before the hold is breaking on the terminal. Im afraid im gonna have to get this taken to a mechanic, which means a tow most likely and a hefty bill. No fun.

Got some battery cleaner and sprayed it on there to sit, hopefully it will break it up enough.

 

sounds like she's corroded on there pretty good. make sure to replace that terminal after you get the battery out!!

try turning it back and fourth to loosen some of that crap. if the cleaner doesn't work then try some WD-40 in there...you'd be surprised what that crap can clean up. also, yes you're prying right...its just being an ***.

if worst comes to worst get a new terminal (cheap at any auto parts store), and just cut the old one off. the battery is dead, so who cares? you just crimp the new terminal onto the remaining wire

EDIT: looking at the pics again, i would loosen the second nut further back on the terminal. you need to replace it anyways, and that should avoid cutting any wires.

 

ok, i need to replace the whole terminal and cut the wire just to get the battery out.

Any idea how to find what kind of terminal i need? is there multiple sizes? and can i get one that isnt this stupid dome clamp thing? It seems like a REALLY bad design, so damn hard to figure out.

 

the design isn't bad, all terminals can corrode, etc. the cheaper clamp ones can actually start to strip around the bolt...thats loads of fun.

try removing that nut further down the terminal to see if you can get the wire loose without cutting before you get the cutters out. might save you some headache. replace it with whatever you want, any parts store has cheapo generic terminals.

 

And smear vaseline all over the new battery terminals !

 

just like my wife...

 

I wonder how this turned out? We are having a similar problem. The terminal is now damaged, but we got it off. Now trying to find replacement. Nothing looks the same. Is it ok to use the older type? Or can we purchase the hood type! Is it hard to attach?
By the way WD 40 did the trick to remove it! Thanks zero_gravity!