Advice on cleaning a club car battery compartment?

[Timxyz]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to go about cleaning a Club car battery bank?

I'm working on an electric club car for my father-in-law.The battery bay and batteries are completely filthy with what appears to be oil (not sure where that could have come from) acid residue and dirt. He uses the cart in an orchard and I'm sure that it sees worse conditions than would be seen on a golf-course.

Since I didn't see any electrical components besides the 3 prong electrical connector and whatever is behind the battery bank under the storage box, I thought that it might be ok to just get a bucket of hot, soapy water and just brush everything down.

The batteries are vented and I wonder about contaminating the batteries through the vents.

Honestly, if it were my cart I would have cleaned the battery bay without even thinking about it. I work differently when I work on things that belong to someone else.

Thanks for any advice.
Regards,
Tim