I started my car today and when I went to take off the car stopped and> >battery light lit so I parked the car looked under the hood and saw that

negative terminal had all this white foam around it and stains coming

if I need a new battery what do I get like the, brand, CCA, Group Size?

I have a 1997 ford Taurus.> >

Thank You for your help.> >

If you buy this at an auto shop, they will know what you need.>> If you pick one up off the shelf at K Mart like I do, you look up in a>> book what you need, a book they have over in the car battery>> department that looks like a phone book.>>

It will be big, heavy, and if you are a female, you will need a store>> clerk to assist you, so let -them- look up the battery for you, and>> then check to see if they have it in stock.>>

If you are a male, you will take the battery at K Mart, install it,>> and then bring the old one back to Customer Service for recycling and>> your credit refund.>>

"Lawrence Glickman" <Lawrence_Glickman@­comcast.net> wrote in message>>news:trkk2­11gfo9087mmc6jb0vpui­i14p5aoql@4ax.com...­>>> On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 00:08:41 GMT, "js5895" <js5896@abc.com> wrote:>>>

If you are a female and you have never done this before you will go to Kmart>>and ask the auto parts department manager to assist you and he will get you>>the right battery and probably some anticorrosion spray or washers, a pair>>of vice grips and a wrench or two, followed by some instructions, which you>>will then go home and follow and have a new battery in the vehicle.>>

If you are male and you have never done this before you will go to Kmart and>>look in the battery manual which you will misinterpret, buy your battery,>>take>>it home, drink some beer, go to remove the old battery and find that a bolt>>is>>corroded together, hunt around for the vice grips you know you have, drink>>some>>more beer, go back to Kmart and buy vice grips, come back, drink some more>>beer, proceed to break the clamp in half taking it off, swear and drink>>some more beer, go back to Kmart and buy a replacement clamp, come home>>drink some more beer, find you don't have a pair of shears that will cut the>>old>>clamp off the end of the battery cable, swear some more, go back to Kmart>>again and>>buy a battery cable, come back home and drink some more beer, remove the>>old battery and spill battery acid over the garage floor, swear some more,>>take>>your wife's box of baking soda and pour it over the garage floor to>>neutralize>>the­ acid, drink some more beer, return the remainder of the box to the>>kitchen>>and track in baking soda mixture to the kitchen floor, come back out and>>discover>>the new battery won't fit, swear some more, drink some more beer, drive back>>to Kmart and exchange the new battery for the correct one that fits, come>>back,>>drink some more beer, install the new battery and yell at your wife to get>>off>>your back when she yells that you said you were going to be done with the>>car 2 hours ago. Then the next morning on your way to work stop at Kmart>>and buy anticorrosion spray and stand in the Kmart parking lot with the hood>>up>>spraying on anticorrosion to the battery terminals.>>

­>>

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 01:52:38 -0800, "Ted Mittelstaedt"> ><tedm@toybox.placo­.com> wrote:> >

I can see you've done this before ;0> >

You left out the important part:> >

a battery off the shelf needs to be charged before being placed into> >service in the vehicle. Chances are it has -some- charge left over> >from the factory, but it is certainly insufficient.> >

So, my advice is to fully charge the thing before installing. Charge> >it out of the vehicle, or in the vehicle with the cables, or at least> >one cable disconnected. The idea is to keep from an overvoltage from> >the charger that could potentially damage delicate computer> >electronics.> >

I am going to buy a knife switch today to put in series with one of my> >terminals, probably the ground terminal, so when I charge the thing> >I'm not connected to anything sensitive.> >

I don't think it matters if b+ or neg is disconnected, just that the> >vehicle system is taken out of parallel with the charger and battery.> >

Thanks for all the help. What I did was the next day the car was working> >fine, I took it to advance auto parts> >the guy said to clean the terminals, got a terminal cleaner and baking

start it, after the fifth time the car started,> >I let it idle for a few minutes so the alternator can maybe charge it a> >little then started driving and then it was fine again, so I> >went to the auto service. they tested the battery and charged it. They

Thanks for the feedback guys ­>

Fully charged battery in perfect condition under no load = 12.6 volts> Alternator running, voltage across battery terminals = 14 volts>