Hi Guys

I recently removed my battery tray to paint the area underneath it as there were some rust spots. I angle grinded it, sandpapered, rust converted, etch primed, primer surfacer (x3) and topcoated it. The tray had already had all this done to it a few months before, including some clearcoat which I don't recommend. I also spray everything that has had prior rust or corrosion with a very light smatter of anti-corrosive spray with lanolin (woolgrease) as it lasts years and stops water build-up. You can't get it off with anything but metho but dust does stick to it so aesthetically it is a downer for some. It's especially good for the battery's terminal posts and clamps. I also used gap filler between the tray holes and the chassis.

Anyway, that's what I did to the chassis area underneath the battery tray. It looked great. But when I reinstalled the battery hold down clamps, I overtightened them. I've recently being busting a gut at the gym, and don't know my own strength (I've been lifting weights in the last couple months that used to astonish me when I saw others doing them). So I nearly warped the battery case and did back off a bit on the clamp nuts.

The next time I drove, and until I changed the hold down clamp, the battery warning light would intermittently come on very often, and often stay on for up to about 3 minutes, though usually far less than that. This happened for almost a month. But after changing the hold down clamp yesterday to a plastic one, the light never comes on (so far).

Could it be that some sort of current was being generated within the all-metal clamping mechanism, due to the new paint or other chemicals used? I would be very interest to hear your well-considered interpretations. :amen:

Well the battery light , that is in the cluster is pertaining actually to the charging system. AS in a currency drop , lack of charge there are for the moment. When it goes out , charging has returned. This can be due in part sumtimes to interconnector terminals frum the battery to the junction block in the main fuse panel under hood.

But how could what I did have effected the charging system or voltage levels?

As for sum i have mentioned earlier. In teh previous post near the end. Also i have seen vehicles that have prior had an acid corrosion issue due to the battery. I have seen MAXI fuses in underhood fuse panel corrode up and cause erratic charging , i would check the maxi fuse for the alternator. I have seen lots of MAXI fuses look good by visual inspection but be broken at the base due to acid corrosion that had followed the electrical frum the battery.

I changed all those fuses with a full set I got from a wreckers just a few months ago, so no problem there.

Anyway, the light still didn't come on again all day today (third day running) so I guess it's fixed now.

Update: The electrolyte level must have been down because the distilled water level was so low on the spouts. After topping it up, the light didn't come on after a day or so, but now it's back. Much, much less frequent though. Obviously I caused enough stresses to the battery case when overtightening it to cause some permanent damage, but probably not enough to make the battery stop working or underperform to the point of it being dangerous.