Where do you get $30 from? That's what you wish you'd pay, but the reality is it will take the same amount of time to get to the part, remove it for proper cleaning on both sides and reinstall it. So add another 1/4-1/2 hour at probably $125 at minimum per hour for the cleaning. Basically, you'd save the difference in the part cost vs the cost of cleaning it before reinstallation. The labor to get to the part and R&R it will be the same.

 

not to mention, Honda dealers reel you in with their estimate price.... i think its $200 for us here in NJ. Maybe if you go to a local mechanic you can get away with 30 bucks....just maybe.

 

for those bandaid fix you want to find a private shop, friend, or diy it.

hell id even consider replacing that thing vs wire brush if it looked that corroded..

 

A little maintenance can go a long way.

If the dealer didn't apply corrosion protection, I recommend picking up a can and DIY.

 

^ agreed.. that thing was not maintained or factory forgot to apply grease or something.. my 12yr old car had clean terminals while i owned it.

 

Then that's a hosing by the dealer. It can't take more than ten minutes to open the hood, disconnect two terminals, brush them off, reattach and put grease on them. But yeah, they probably figure out a way to make everything cost at least an hour of time. On the other hand they'd have bought a lot of goodwill if they'd comped it.

As far as climate I live in NY but I'm a couple of miles from the ocean and my car spends an hour and a half a day, at least half the year, parked within 20 feet of seawater.

 

I really don't think you understand how book time works? The time is the time it takes an average mechanic using standard hand tools to perform the job. The dealer doesn't charge you for the actual time, but what Honda lists as the time to bill for the job.

The mechanic depending on the dealership is either hourly, flat rate or maybe some hybrid. An hourly mechanic at the dealership is paid hourly regardless of what the book time says the job will take. So if book time is one hour and the job takes three then the mechanic is paid three hours. A dealership that the mechanics work on flat rate; if the book time is one hour and the job takes three the mechanic only gates paid for the hour. Likewise if the mechanic takes 30 minutes and book time is an hour they make more money. Regardless, all dealers work off book time and most if not all independent shops also use the books for time. You might get a deal from an independent shop that needs the work or they know that the book time is generous.

 

I know how book time works. In theory it's supposed to be a reasonable approximation of how long a competent mechanic would take to do the job under normal circumstances, maybe with a cushion built in when some percentage of the time something goes wrong, like a stuck bolt.


What do you think the book time for the ten minutes it takes to clean two battery terminals should be? If you buy a new battery they have to carry a battery from the parts department and do the same unbolting and bolting of the terminals. Cleaning takes maybe a minute per terminal.

 

Just guessing, but there probably isn't a book time for cleaning battery terminals. It's probably not something they want mechanics doing. The manufacturer and dealer are probably set up to replace corroded parts and not spend time cleaning.

I see cleaning as the responsibility of the vehicle owner.

 

I would see that too. I would also say if they want goodwill they'd have just cleaned it.


I also question why, in a car that's probably still under warranty and in any case only a couple of years old, there's battery terminal corrosion. I have a 2016 Fit with no corrosion. I might've cleaned the terminals once on my 2010 Fit which I sold just over a year ago. And maybe 2-3 times on my prior car which I kept for 15 years.

 

I don't know why, but some cars/locations just seem to get more battery corrosion. Maybe it's based on humidity? Not really sure.

Without that CRC stuff I posted above, my terminals seem to get corroded pretty quickly.

 

Original poster lives in San Diego. That might be worse if he's close to the ocean. Either way it's a warm climate.

 

I think that "goodwill" is something you might expect in the first year of ownership. Beyond that it would be very iffy especially for an item like this which is clearly an owner (lack of) maintenance issue.