Ka'boom!!!

[Chuck Miller]

2 weeks ago, at the 'Car&Coffee at Will Pringles, I started my car and heard what I thought to be a backfire. Very strange, my car never backfires on start up. After listening to the engine idle I noticed a strange odor in the air. Walking to the front of the car I noticed and small puddle under front bumper. It turned out that the backfire I thought I heard was the left side battery exploding!!!!. The car started of course on the other battery. I shut everything down, stuffed some shop rags around the bottom of the tire well, and drove the car home. After getting home I spent the next 2 hours cleaning up the mess with hot water and baking soda. These batteries were the MOLL/PORSCHE small 12 volt you can get at Performance Products. The ones that you have to fill with acid, and maintain periodically, which I did, and always had on a Miti-max charger. They were almost exactly 5 years old. The next day I got a couple of new Interstates' maintenance free' acid batteries... and all is OK..........

Now, I've been around cars my whole life, and have heard the stories... but NEVER had this happen...or even close to one happening...

I still have no idea why the hell one failed so drastically.....

One theory is that the 'time was up' for the failed battery, it 'dropped a plate' and was just sitting there dead. Now if the car had just THAT battery then all would be dead, the car wouldn't have any juice, let alone start, and that would be that. BUT, having another 12 volts (actually much more on start-up) running through a dead shorted battery, the result was the explosion.

At this point I'm still not sure why.......

All I know is that there was a hell'of'a'lot'of energy released, and I'm sure glad that that battery was enclosed on 5 of it's 6 sides......

Cheers

[Mr9146]

A few years back my dad had a battery explode on him while we were working on a car. He was just getting ready to unstrap it and pull it out of the battery box and BOOM!!

He was perfectly fine (aside from the shock), but one can only imagine what kind of injuries he would have sustained if it wasn't inside the battery box.

I guess that's why they put all those CAUTION notices on the batteries...

[Cornpanzer]

Chuck,
As a battery charges, it through the chemical process reaches a point where it begins "gassing". The gas is hydrogen.

Likely what happened in your case was that one cell (each cell is two volts, so in the case of a 12v battery you have six cells) was shorted and sparked which ignited the hydrogen within the battery case and caused the battery to explode.

I used to be an industrial battery tech and have had a couple 3000 lb batteries light off on me when I made a tactical error. Dey do go Boom!

Its a bit scary when it happens, but aside from the risk of flying acid, it isnt too big of a risk.

When I read this, I was afraid that your 2.7 hucked a rod.

[Rich Lambert]

I had that happen to my '73T on the trip to deliver the car to it's new owner (huge mistake to sell that car, but I didn't heed the signs). It happened as I was driving down I-5 and I thought somebody shot me...then I smelled the battery acid.

A couple of times in the weeks leading up to the "Ka'boom!!!", I noticed the dash lights would suddenly get brighter. At the time I thought maybe there was a loose connection and the lights getting brighter was a good thing...not so, the alternator was overcharging the batteries.

[911quest]

That sucks..... I didn't notice the vent line hooked up, did you have a vent hooked up?

[Chuck Miller]

.... did you have a vent hooked up?

Yeah Tony,

Both sides had the 90`vent elbows attached... they both blew off in the boom...

[Paul Schooley]

Probably more than anything else it's the haunting feeling in the back of your mind that maybe you didn't get all that phreaking acid and some of it found a nice spot in the pan to do bad things huh?

[Cornpanzer]

Rich makes a good point. Check your alternator to ensure that you are not overcharging.

[carlsbadmark]

Had one explode a few years back. Ripped the cable in half - very powerful. Can't imagine if you had the bonnet up.. Usually happens if the battery has very low water level - allows excess gas to build up. Tip for cleanup - use plenty of baking soda with water. Will help neutralize the acid. Go overboard on the cleanup. It's extremely caustic, and will cause severe rust over time (hence battery pans rusting out from acid splashing). Also, realize when the battery blew it spewed the acid everywhere. Wear polyester - cotton will dissolve in the wash when exposed to battery acid. Again, err on the side of excessive cleanup... Good luck..Mark

[HarryD]

Chuck,

Glad to hear you are ok.

Nasty business.

Be sure you keep an eye on the affected area. Rust (and acid etching) never sleeps.