Real time - battery just exploded

Jgordon · 07-12-2009, 07:21 PM

My optima red top just exploded. I pulled the battery out, doused everything with baking soda. What's next? If I flush water through the battery tray area, is there a drain hole? or will I just fill my trunk with water? I have a shop vac, but I'm concerned about electrical (battery out, but still concerned).

I'm searching as we speak, but any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

ischmitz · ischmitz's Garage

ouch....I am wondering why? Maybe your regulator is toast and you had severe overvoltage cooking the battery?.

I don't think there is a dedicated drain plug as far as I remember. I would proceed with the baking soda and use the shopvac to get it out. Use water very sparingly just so the soda gets into the double bottom of the battery tray.

Ingo

TRE Cup · TRE Cup's Garage

mop it up with disposable rags/ paper towels. use gloves- acid sneaks up on you in a nasty way. Baking soda application again with water- the concern is the hollow gas tank support area that goes across the tank inside the trunk- the small holes are usually open and allow liquids to get in. Also the battery support has underlying layers where the liquid will go. Mix up the soda solution with water and rinse it several times. This should neutralize it pretty well.
imho, after its all dry, i would get some por 15 as a preventative measure and get that into the cavities as soon as convenient. Enough of it so it oozes out from the undersides on each end where the front control arm supports mount. Make sure you mask off the non affected areas so you don't have this super sticky goop in unnecessary places

after you get a new battery, get your charging system tested right away. it could have been a blown regulator allowing overcharging , which would lead to the battery failure

vash · vash's Garage

dude! glad you are ok, buddy!

Pete000 · 07-12-2009, 08:34 PM

Optima=JUNK

I hate Optima batterys, nothing but bad news...

HarryD · 07-12-2009, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete000

Optima=JUNK

I hate Optima batterys, nothing but bad news...

Why do you say that?

We at the Air Base use Optimas for our backup generators to be sure they will start on power failure. For us, no power = failure to perform our Homeland Defense mission. Pretty critical, would't you say?

Jgordon · 07-12-2009, 09:02 PM

Thanks guys. After a midnight run to the 24 hour supermarket (closed!) and then to 7-11, I put two boxes of baking soda in the battery area, tossing it up under the front lip/bumper area, around the wiring harness, and down in front of the spare/gas tank. In between baking soda showers, I sprayed water, getting it out with the shop vac. It stopped fizzing, and I'm reasonably sure that I got it everywhere the acid may have gone.

As an aside, there is a drain hole (or the acid ate through the floor) of the trunk.

I am about to drop it off at Rundtner's on Tuesday. I'm in Long island, 90 miles away from new york. The plan was to drive to nyc tonight, then back to rundtner's (~30 miles) on tuesday. If I pop a known good battery in, assuming my VR is shot, what is my range before the next battery eats it?

As background, the car sat for about 3 months. I jumped it a few days ago, it died but held a small charge. Jumped it again and it was running fine for two days. It sat overnight, started it earlier this evening to move it (difficult), then went to start it again and it barely cranked over. I went to jump it and that's when I realized there was an issue with the battery. Yes, battery acid stings if you get it on your hands. Do you think the jumping got it? Could the sitting have taken out my alternator or VR? I had a rebuilt alternator put in about 40k miles ago.

I had thought optimas didn't explode/leak? what gives?

Thanks again for all of the help and info.

ischmitz · ischmitz's Garage

No battery will hold up against overvoltage. It's like saying I hate Porsches because they get all banged up when I hit a telephone pole

Jgordon · 07-12-2009, 09:13 PM

Agreed, but how long does it take? I mean, do I have this thing flat bedded over there or can I get there on my own steam?

Thanks.

Edit: I guess you may have been talking to Pete.

ischmitz · ischmitz's Garage

The Optima red-top is not made for deep-cycling. You might have damaged the battery by having sitting for prolonged periods of time. Self-discharge and small drains from the alarm, clock, etc. will cause it to go fully empty and into deep discharge. That is when sulfation sets in poisening the electrodes. It reduces the battery's capacity to almost nothing. That is why it doesn't take and hold a charge.

The jump starting and the battery not presenting much of a load could have damaged your regulator or the diodes in the alternator. The nearly dead battery has a high internal resistance. The charging system on the other hand need a battery as load to function properly. You should never run a car and then disconnect the battery. But that is essentially what you are doing when you have a battery that doesn't take a charge.

Get a new one and measure system voltage at idle and check that is isn't about 14 volts. If it get's higher than 14 volts, stop the engine, disconnect the battery and remove the alternator. Time for a rebuilt.

Cheers,
Ingo

Jgordon · 07-12-2009, 09:26 PM

Dumb question - where do you put your multimeter to test system voltage? I've only tested resistance across specific pieces.

Thanks

pwd72s · 07-12-2009, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jgordon

Dumb question - where do you put your multimeter to test system voltage? I've only tested resistance across specific pieces.

Thanks

Anything that takes 12V will do...one way to make a voltage meter for testing is to get the male cigarette lighter socket plug in...wire a multimeter to it's leads...
That way you can run the engine, read voltage at various revs, when starting, etc.

(edit) I agree with the others...ANY battery will explode with over voltage coming in...I've had great luck with the Optima brand.

ischmitz · ischmitz's Garage

I usually put the leads right to the battery terminals. No chances to short anything out and they sort of fit into the slot of the cable clamp. That way I know what the battery "sees". Set the voltmeter to VOLT, hook it up and you want to see something around 12.6 volts for a nicely charged battery. When you crank the voltage will drop a couple of volts. and then it should come up to 13.6 volts. When you rev. the engine it shouldn't go much higher. If the voltage stays around 12 volts with the engine running you are not charging the battery. If you voltage goes up about 14.5 volts or even above 15 volts your have a bad regulator.

mpeastend · 07-12-2009, 10:14 PM

Just out of curiousity, did it blow up when you were attaching/disconnecting/wiggling the charging leads? I learned the hard way by having a battery blow up almost in my face when a poorly placed clamp slipped off on it's own. As it disconnected, there was a spark that ignited the hydrogen gas present and completely obliterated the plastic casing.

Hydrogen gas is created whenever you charge a non-sealed, lead acid battery. You may recall topping off batteries with distilled water for this very reason (water is consumed). The harder you charge it, the more gas is created. It's why they recommend attaching the neg lead to a chassis ground away from the battery, especially when jump starting a car with another car as a severely discharged battery will outgas more than one with a partial charge.

I've also had batteries overcharged by a runaway voltage regulator...you would definitely know it as it "boils" out all the water and it gets close to shorting out, the sulfate on the plates reacts with the water causing hydrogen sulfide gas, giving that rotten egg smell. I think you were the victim of hydrogen ignition due to an errant spark.

I was lucky I didn't get acid in my eyes wehen it happened to me & it has given me a new found respect for car batteries. I'm very careful around them & wear goggles if I have to attach clips to the terminals...I still remember the sound, like an M-80.

scottb · 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jgordon

As background, the car sat for about 3 months. I jumped it a few days ago, it died but held a small charge. Jumped it again and it was running fine for two days. It sat overnight, started it earlier this evening to move it (difficult), then went to start it again and it barely cranked over. I went to jump it and that's when I realized there was an issue with the battery. Yes, battery acid stings if you get it on your hands. Do you think the jumping got it? Could the sitting have taken out my alternator or VR? I had a rebuilt alternator put in about 40k miles ago.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the battery went flat, or almost flat, after it sat for three months. Once you jump started it, the alternator then tried to charge the dead battery, and something in the charging system (either the alternator or more likely, the regulator) went south, thereby overcharging the battery. Alternators don't like to charge fully dead batteries; they're more for topping off batteries that are already charged.

Under no circumstances would I drive the car until the charging system has been thoroughly checked. If you (or a friend) have AAA+, the 90 mile tow job will be free. Otherwise, it's gonna be pricey.

Good luck!

carrera turbo · 07-13-2009, 12:42 AM

wow i didn't know optimas could spill acid? i had one pop but it just pushed the caps on the corners up and released some gas?

what the heck is in an optima to spill out? i saw one cut in two and it didn't have much in it. just a little wetness.

sorry to here about your mishap i run dry cells because they don't spill acid well so i thought.

learn something new everyday

ed

T77911S · 07-13-2009, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryD

Why do you say that?

We at the Air Base use Optimas for our backup generators to be sure they will start on power failure. For us, no power = failure to perform our Homeland Defense mission. Pretty critical, would't you say?

thats all we use for our engines with the FAA.
i would suppose ANY battery is suseptable to expolsion, although i would think a sealed one would be less.

i would make up some more buckets of baking soda and water and just keep pouring it everywhere.

i had a similar thing happen. i relocated my battery in my 914-6 to the rear trunk over the right axle. my batt box broke and the battery fell on the cv joint putting a hole in the battery. i did as i said, although not as big a mess as yours im sure.
that was an interstate battery, i used that battery for another year with a drained cell until i left the lights on and it died.

oh, another thing i did was to pour os pho all down in the hole where the batt was originally mounted. i also sparyed some under the car after i was done just to prevent any rust.

304065 · 07-13-2009, 06:31 AM

I wasn't aware that ANY Optima battery is type certificated for aircraft use.

John, FIX the regulator immediately you don't want it frying the Motronic control unit.

Bill can fix you up if you just flatbed it to him, he's not cheap but he knows what to do.

Jim Richards · 07-13-2009, 06:31 AM

Jgordon, have you checked out / replaced your voltage regulator as suggested by some of the other posters? I had a bad voltage regulator lead to a battery explosion in a 280Z I used to own.

Jgordon · 07-13-2009, 06:53 AM

Is the consensus not to drive at all? I could just make the trip straight to Freeport tomorrow, with no driving in between. I actually do have triple A, I just would prefer not to call them in and have to do the "I need a flatbed, no seriously, I do" dance.

Should I even put in a battery to do the voltage tests? I'm still trying to get an idea of how much room I have to work here before the new battery would eat it, or other damage might occur. Cramer seems to be telling me not to do anything, just to get it to Bill, which, given my skill at electrical work, may be the best solution.

I wasn't doing anything to the battery at the time. I suspect that it was as has been said - long storage coupled with having the car's system charge the battery.

I didn't know they could leak acid either. I opened the trunk and pulled up the carpet, noticed a lot of liquid, initially thought the trunk was leaking due to the rain we've had. However, the liquid stung my hands, and fizzed like crazy when I poured baking soda on it, so I'm assuming it's acid.