battery post mystery

[SirRobyn0]

@SirRobyn0,

Yep, yep. It's to bad to because many years ago Sears did the best repair work in town. Everyone there seem pretty professional, of course every place had good and bad but in general they were all pretty good, and basically affordable, especially back in the day.

I'll tell you, there were so many good places to get your car worked on by people who cared and affordable prices, i.e. Sears, Montgomery ward, J.C. Penney even had a car shops that were as good as Sears and cheaper. And car part stores everywhere. Pep Boys was the last to go here in town, and they were down to only one store in the city across the river. We're kinda of a twin city here, and Pep Boys just closed their last store earlier this year.
No Sears, no Pep Boys, no Radio Shack, no car part stores, except franchise stores, left where you could get all the performance parts right off the shelf, except O'Reilly has some MSD and some Accel, no place to get your car worked on barely. We do have a few shops left but they've gotten so expensive. It's almost down to having to take you car to the dealer to get work done and just go ahead and bring your right leg and your left arm in when you come.

I'm just glad I grew up in a time in America where all that was common place and people were making plenty of money in the auto parts and car repair businesses and they were everywhere. These kids today will not ever know what it used to be like and that's to bad. Even though there were some cars that were POS's but it was still fun to run around town getting parts and stuff. And everybody knew at least one person who worked on cars for a living and all the places where that was going on.

I could go down a real rabbit hole on way it's hard to find a good mechanic and why the independent shops are closing but I've said it all before so I'll summarize. The industry has done this to themselves, low tech wages, and flat rate pay. Why would anyone want to get into automotive to need to go to trade school first, to get paid a couple bucks more per hour than work fast food. At least in fast food, you work an hour you get paid an hour because of flat rate pay that isn't true in automotive. Plus you got to invest in tools. Few people are getting into it that are any good, and guys like me are leaving because out pay has been flat for 20 years or so. It's just terrible to be a mechanic right now at least I. The Pacific northwest.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I could go down a real rabbit hole on way it's hard to find a good mechanic and why the independent shops are closing but I've said it all before so I'll summarize. The industry has done this to themselves, low tech wages, and flat rate pay. Why would anyone want to get into automotive to need to go to trade school first, to get paid a couple bucks more per hour than work fast food. At least in fast food, you work an hour you get paid an hour because of flat rate pay that isn't true in automotive. Plus you got to invest in tools. Few people are getting into it that are any good, and guys like me are leaving because out pay has been flat for 20 years or so. It's just terrible to be a mechanic right now at least I. The Pacific northwest.

and the people who do seemingly now want to cling to the jobs, which people like you dont because the disrespect and bs just isnt adding up, the ones who are fine with that math are leaving a lot of taylors brake system parts unbolted when doing brake lines or not mounting a gmas tire properly on a rim or balancing them remotely properly.

 

[Raider L]

@AuroraGirl,

Is that how you found that battery? And looky there Taylor has discovered and new way to drain the radiator! Oh look! There's one of those top post-side post batteries! Aww, to bad it's dead. Anybody got a charger?
It seems to me that there was an Exide battery manufacturing plant here in town. Yeah, for about a year and they went bankrupt. I don't know the details, but I know it stunk every time I'd drive by there. And a couple of people I knew worked there and they said there were accidents all time, people burned by acid, and other kinds of mishaps.

 

[Raider L]

@SirRobyn0,

And when those guys HAD to be ASE? ACE? whichever, that didn't bring them any more money either. All it did was kept the guy from loosing his job. I don't know whose requirement that was that all car "technicians" had to be certified to change some 'ol bitties antifreeze. I don't know. My wife's niece's husband is an ASE certified Jaguar "technician". The car dealership sent him over seas to school to learn all that stuff just so after he came back it was up to him to train everyone else.
Did he get paid anymore to be a "instructor" to? NO.

 

[AuroraGirl]

@AuroraGirl,

Is that how you found that battery? And looky there Taylor has discovered and new way to drain the radiator! Oh look! There's one of those top post-side post batteries! Aww, to bad it's dead. Anybody got a charger?
It seems to me that there was an Exide battery manufacturing plant here in town. Yeah, for about a year and they went bankrupt. I don't know the details, but I know it stunk every time I'd drive by there. And a couple of people I knew worked there and they said there were accidents all time, people burned by acid, and other kinds of mishaps.

Actually no, It was a normal looking interstate that I wanted to put a charger to and use to start the Massey harris I got lucky removing the charger , putting the posts on the tractor on the battery, and then stepping behind the fender to hit the starter button because when it blew it up it made hearing difficult in the right ear for a while, a little jump to sujdden noises, and left a scar on a couple spots on body that has been taking a while to remove the scars /heal them

 

[SirRobyn0]

Actually no, It was a normal looking interstate that I wanted to put a charger to and use to start the Massey harris I got lucky removing the charger , putting the posts on the tractor on the battery, and then stepping behind the fender to hit the starter button because when it blew it up it made hearing difficult in the right ear for a while, a little jump to sujdden noises, and left a scar on a couple spots on body that has been taking a while to remove the scars /heal them

I've seen it happen a few times and had one blow on me at the shop.

What I think happens is this, battery is charged and gas is released during the charging. You hook the battery up and hit the key, the thing is for whatever reason, a dirty connection on the outside or even a problem inside, and there is a spark, boom battery blows. I've never seen it happen when a battery is being hooked up, but I'm sure there is potential. Every time it has been when the starter is cranked. You ought to see what it does to a concrete floor!

 

[SirRobyn0]

@SirRobyn0,

And when those guys HAD to be ASE? ACE? whichever, that didn't bring them any more money either. All it did was kept the guy from loosing his job. I don't know whose requirement that was that all car "technicians" had to be certified to change some 'ol bitties antifreeze. I don't know. My wife's niece's husband is an ASE certified Jaguar "technician". The car dealership sent him over seas to school to learn all that stuff just so after he came back it was up to him to train everyone else.
Did he get paid anymore to be a "instructor" to? NO.

The thing is ASE is terribly out of date, or at least it was. It's basically a joke to most technicians. I was at one time master certified. I got it because I was working for one of the tire stores, I can't remember if it was during my time with Goodyear or Firestone, and the way they got the techs to get them, was by saying no more annual consideration for pay increase or cost of living. Nothing. At least the company was willing to pay for the tests. I let mine lapse three years ago. Part of it was when I'd recertified previously the tests hadn't been updated for new technologies, and their test centers by then had become ridiculously restrictive. Basically you'd have to take everything out of your pockets, put them in a locker and then get a pat down. For a test, that does not really show ones abilities to fix cars, at best it just shows that the guy taking it understands the principles.

 

[Octane]

I've seen it happen a few times and had one blow on me at the shop.

What I think happens is this, battery is charged and gas is released during the charging. You hook the battery up and hit the key, the thing is for whatever reason, a dirty connection on the outside or even a problem inside, and there is a spark, boom battery blows. I've never seen it happen when a battery is being hooked up, but I'm sure there is potential. Every time it has been when the starter is cranked. You ought to see what it does to a concrete floor!

Many years ago I had a battery explode on me. I was hooking up cables between a 72 Pontiac and a 72 Chevrolet. I was standing next to the Pontiac fender and battery and before I can move out of the way my buddy reached in the car and turned switch to the on position he said. He said he never got any further than that and just went boom! Sounded like a shotgun going off. The top of the battery just peeled up and the case was cracked up. A little bit of acid blew up and hit me on the side of the face I ran to the get it washed off and my ears rang for awhile. It could have been much worse. When a battery shorts out they are dangerous.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I've seen it happen a few times and had one blow on me at the shop.

What I think happens is this, battery is charged and gas is released during the charging. You hook the battery up and hit the key, the thing is for whatever reason, a dirty connection on the outside or even a problem inside, and there is a spark, boom battery blows. I've never seen it happen when a battery is being hooked up, but I'm sure there is potential. Every time it has been when the starter is cranked. You ought to see what it does to a concrete floor!

based on the age of the plastic and the remannts, I would say a plate collapsed or was able to short to others and the load of the starter, which was 6volt one now that I know more,,it mayt be a starter generator too but idk. Anyway... im guessing it was a large load and that made a quite hot spot for this combustible gas because it obviously didnt do much when I hooked it up(so a spark wasnt the issue) but the laod being applied woudl quickly heat up or whatever, at least makes sense ot me. It definitely was gas not a solids thing because the lead is still there but the acid was mostly down to an inch at bottom and the amount of acid flung was minimal(half at me half at tractor fender and gas tank above it) and the hydrogen sulfide distinct smell was for sure present. Gave me my WWI "GAS GAS GAS" flashbacks from my previous life as a war horse(clearly) because they brought horses to trrenches and machine gun fights and dididnt think "gee this is smart"

 

[Raider L]

@AuroraGirl, SirRobyn0,

Thank God neither one of you got seriously hurt!
Do you think "sealed" batteries are safer when it comes to these kinds of explosions than the old "caps" type batteries. Do you think the screwed-in type caps were any safer than the press-in caps? What I hear you saying, I assume it was "caped" type batteries that blew up. Caps will release the gas more readily than sealed batteries? And how "sealed" is sealed? How do these sealed batteries vent?
And here I just bought a caped battery!

 

[SirRobyn0]

@AuroraGirl, SirRobyn0,

Thank God neither one of you got seriously hurt!
Do you think "sealed" batteries are safer when it comes to these kinds of explosions than the old "caps" type batteries. Do you think the screwed-in type caps were any safer than the press-in caps? What I hear you saying, I assume it was "caped" type batteries that blew up. Caps will release the gas more readily than sealed batteries? And how "sealed" is sealed? How do these sealed batteries vent?
And here I just bought a caped battery!

I can't say for sure on all of them. I've been around three that blew, two of them I was in the shop but were not vehicles I was working on, the one story I told was a car I was working on. The one I personally had blow was a press in cap type, but my I just don't really think it matters. They are all at risk to explode under the right err, wrong conditions, and when they go it so powerful they get torn up. Even the maintenance free type have vents, otherwise you could get an internal build up of pressure anytime the battery is getting charged, be it by the alternator or charger.

I think my thoughts are if you've charged a battery to the point it is hot to the touch, or you can smell the acid in the air from charging it's best to let it sit a bit before connecting it up and trying to crank the engine. Make sure connections are clean and tight, to reduce the chance of a spark right at the battery. And last if your jumping a car with cables, make that last connection a ground and do it to the block not the battery to get the inevitable spark as far from the battery as possible.

 

[Ellie Niner]

I once worked as an electrician for a large commercial complex, but occasionally got called to pinch hit in other areas... Here's something I witnessed once while working on an electric golf cart: Golf cart was randomly cutting out under acceleration, and would sometimes start freewheeling during regen... Dash voltmeter would drop to zero during these events. It was a bog standard 48 volt system, but I can't remember if it had 8x 6 volt or 6x 8 volt batteries... doesn't matter, as they're all connected in series, so if one fails, everything stops.

What I ended up finding was that one of the batteries had an intermittent open circuit inside, probably between cell connectors. How I found this out was that the batteries had a translucent white case, like the blown up Interstate that @AuroraGirl pictured, and I saw a bright arc flash inside of one of them while I was load testing the pack. It was also at this time that I found out that adrenaline is brown, and I wussed out and hit the deck. There was no explosion, but there could have been. That potential explosion would've been from inside case, with no external sparks or flames required. Once I gathered my sh¡t, replacing that one battery fixed the problem.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I once worked as an electrician for a large commercial complex, but occasionally got called to pinch hit in other areas... Here's something I witnessed once while working on an electric golf cart: Golf cart was randomly cutting out under acceleration, and would sometimes start freewheeling during regen... Dash voltmeter would drop to zero during these events. It was a bog standard 48 volt system, but I can't remember if it had 8x 6 volt or 6x 8 volt batteries... doesn't matter, as they're all connected in series, so if one fails, everything stops.

What I ended up finding was that one of the batteries had an intermittent open circuit inside, probably between cell connectors. How I found this out was that the batteries had a translucent white case, like the blown up Interstate that @AuroraGirl pictured, and I saw a bright arc flash inside of one of them while I was load testing the pack. It was also at this time that I found out that adrenaline is brown, and I wussed out and hit the deck. There was no explosion, but there could have been. That potential explosion would've been from inside case, with no external sparks or flames required. Once I gathered my sh¡t, replacing that one battery fixed the problem.

OOF was it a tester like a car or a carbon pile kind of tester.. that could go south faster than general sherman if it had. especially enough next to those to cause anything kinda deal.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I can't say for sure on all of them. I've been around three that blew, two of them I was in the shop but were not vehicles I was working on, the one story I told was a car I was working on. The one I personally had blow was a press in cap type, but my I just don't really think it matters. They are all at risk to explode under the right err, wrong conditions, and when they go it so powerful they get torn up. Even the maintenance free type have vents, otherwise you could get an internal build up of pressure anytime the battery is getting charged, be it by the alternator or charger.

I think my thoughts are if you've charged a battery to the point it is hot to the touch, or you can smell the acid in the air from charging it's best to let it sit a bit before connecting it up and trying to crank the engine. Make sure connections are clean and tight, to reduce the chance of a spark right at the battery. And last if your jumping a car with cables, make that last connection a ground and do it to the block not the battery to get the inevitable spark as far from the battery as possible.

if you overheat it too at least knowledgeably checking the electrolyte after time passes and cooler and ventilated a bit to make sure its good is a wise choice. overheating if not boiling out but hot nonetheless you likely need distilled water but if its boiled or evidence to have come out the vents in any amount it would be wise to dump the remainder and just fill it with new acid at theright percent so you dont dilute it with distilled water which would be larger percent when you add just that back.

The batteries with vents you can remove without needing to re seal the battery of course because they fill them and put non removewable caps with the vents just chilling at the sides or wherever they choose. gm had tsb for aurora and lesabre models in early 2000s for rotting out of the backseat floor where the battery is because the harness you put on for the vents to go under the car outside if they ever gas off werent sealing right because of course not and then acidic water would condensate at the vent where this rubber tube failed to connect to it and then dip to the battery case outside battery and sit there against painted sheet metal and the minuted the very large and wide 40-50 poound battery they chose to use became heavy enough to break a thin rusty almost hole into an opening they started taking in water LOL and pretty much all out of sight, and directly across a unibody structural part that the water then got etched metal to have time with. at best needed a battery floor and surrounding patch at worst was unibody structural cut out and weld in near it. new harness came with better design and also was made better dimensions so you can install the harness on battery, then clip the tube into the grommet on the floor without the yanking distorting the top of the harness on the battery because everyone knows all batterys of a group size are 100% the same dimensions and have the vents in same spot and the hold downs and trays are 100% positioned everytime same spot to the mm. LOL. the aurora came with 2 different size batteries for sure in the affected years and the lesabre might have, they never accounted that either. so it was either slightly too long or was pulled to tightly on anything it went on. joke.

But im glad it hasnt hit me ever but rip someone who never has their back seat off because...why the **** would you other than battery or fuses.

 

[AuroraGirl]

@AuroraGirl, SirRobyn0,

Thank God neither one of you got seriously hurt!
Do you think "sealed" batteries are safer when it comes to these kinds of explosions than the old "caps" type batteries. Do you think the screwed-in type caps were any safer than the press-in caps? What I hear you saying, I assume it was "caped" type batteries that blew up. Caps will release the gas more readily than sealed batteries? And how "sealed" is sealed? How do these sealed batteries vent?
And here I just bought a caped battery!

i think caps are caps which enable you to adjust the level of electrolyte and monitor and that vented ones dont really loose water that much faster than caps to make the loss of function and harder to inspect properly worth it. plus if you want a vent almost free expereince get an AGM they say you dont need to vent at all but the fact my agm has a vent in both sides and its top of the line stuff i am going to assume they didnt put it there for looks Lol