Battery exploded
#1
10-30-2008 | 08:35 PM
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2
From:
Battery exploded
Last night the battery exploded. Had it towed to the dealership, unfortunately it sat all night and the acid didn't get neutralized until this morning.Dealership is doing the work under warranty and they are also going to paint the underside of the hood since it blistered. According to the dealership the neutralized everything this morning.
My question iswhat would cause a battery to explode ( wasn't jump starting anothervehicle) and what else can the acid damage in the engine compartment.
My question iswhat would cause a battery to explode ( wasn't jump starting anothervehicle) and what else can the acid damage in the engine compartment.
Last edited by rcbstuff; 10-14-2011 at 07:38 AM.
#2
10-31-2008 | 03:42 PM
Super Moderator
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 8,666
From: Manor, TX (Outside of Austin)
RE: Battery exploded
First off, it is against the rules to cross-post the same thing.
Second, I thought your question might be better served in the General Tech section since batteries generally fall under that category.
As far as why? Well, frankly I have never heard of a battery exploding w/o being shorted out, usually by those that do not know what they are doing. I am not accusing you, or your girlfriendof that, however the battery may have been defective internally from new and it was just a matter oftime before this happened.
Since batteries involve lead plates separated by dividers, it seems possible to me that one of those dividers broke off and allowed the plates to contact one another causing the battery to overheat and eventually explode.
That"s only a guess on my part.
The other is that the charging system may be overcharging the battery possibly causing several issues:
1) the afore mentioned overheating/short/explosion, but for different reasons
2) a situation where so much liquid was allowed to escape through the top of the battery as to short out across the posts.
Again, all speculation on my part.
Second, I thought your question might be better served in the General Tech section since batteries generally fall under that category.
As far as why? Well, frankly I have never heard of a battery exploding w/o being shorted out, usually by those that do not know what they are doing. I am not accusing you, or your girlfriendof that, however the battery may have been defective internally from new and it was just a matter oftime before this happened.
Since batteries involve lead plates separated by dividers, it seems possible to me that one of those dividers broke off and allowed the plates to contact one another causing the battery to overheat and eventually explode.
That"s only a guess on my part.
The other is that the charging system may be overcharging the battery possibly causing several issues:
1) the afore mentioned overheating/short/explosion, but for different reasons
2) a situation where so much liquid was allowed to escape through the top of the battery as to short out across the posts.
Again, all speculation on my part.
#4
11-11-2008 | 09:55 PM
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 2,726
From: southern New Hampshire
RE: Battery exploded
Funny that this response should be my first post here as a new member.
Regarding exploding batteries, I've been wrenching on cars for a long-long time, and while I'd never seen an exploded battery until the late 1990s, I'd been hearing about them from the gray-beards that I learned how to wrench from since I learned how to drain oil. As it was told to me, GM had such a problem with batteries blowing up that they converted to the side-terminal style of battery as a means of curing the problem. True? Don't know, but it makes a good story.
Anyway, back in about 1997 or so I was on my way to my cousin's birthday party on a very hot and muggy New Jersey day and realized that I'd forgotten to bring a bottle of wine along with me. I pulled my car into the parking lot of a liquor store after a couple of hours of hot-footing it down the NJ Turnpike (with the A/C blasting), and shut it down. I ran inside, bought a nice bottle or two and ran back out, hopped in my still mercifully cool car and turned the key. All I heard was a loud "POP" and then everything went dead. When I opened the hood it was quite obvious what had happened as all four sides of the battery had been blown away from the core as far as the surrounding components would allow and there was battery guts all over the place. Ewwww!
IIRC, my car was about two and a half years old and had about 50,000 miles on the factory battery at the time of the explosion. Fortunately there was a PepBoys a quarter of a mile away and so I walked over there, bought a new battery and schlepped it back to my car. I have no definitive proof as to whether the battery was at fault, or if the charging system caused an issue, however, given that I went another 60,000 miles before I traded it in with no further problems, I suspect the battery.
Regarding exploding batteries, I've been wrenching on cars for a long-long time, and while I'd never seen an exploded battery until the late 1990s, I'd been hearing about them from the gray-beards that I learned how to wrench from since I learned how to drain oil. As it was told to me, GM had such a problem with batteries blowing up that they converted to the side-terminal style of battery as a means of curing the problem. True? Don't know, but it makes a good story.
Anyway, back in about 1997 or so I was on my way to my cousin's birthday party on a very hot and muggy New Jersey day and realized that I'd forgotten to bring a bottle of wine along with me. I pulled my car into the parking lot of a liquor store after a couple of hours of hot-footing it down the NJ Turnpike (with the A/C blasting), and shut it down. I ran inside, bought a nice bottle or two and ran back out, hopped in my still mercifully cool car and turned the key. All I heard was a loud "POP" and then everything went dead. When I opened the hood it was quite obvious what had happened as all four sides of the battery had been blown away from the core as far as the surrounding components would allow and there was battery guts all over the place. Ewwww!
IIRC, my car was about two and a half years old and had about 50,000 miles on the factory battery at the time of the explosion. Fortunately there was a PepBoys a quarter of a mile away and so I walked over there, bought a new battery and schlepped it back to my car. I have no definitive proof as to whether the battery was at fault, or if the charging system caused an issue, however, given that I went another 60,000 miles before I traded it in with no further problems, I suspect the battery.
#5
11-12-2008 | 01:26 PM
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 19
From:
RE: Battery exploded
Brief explanation: Lead-Acid car batteries will release Hydrogen and Oxygen gases while charging.
These gases usually do not build up enough to cause a problem.
BUT back in the days of electromechanical requlators it was more common for a failing regulator to set voltage too high and overcharge the battery, causing a build up of too much h2 and o2 along with a lot of heat, which could easily lead to a battery explosion.
Even a modern solid-state voltage regulator may cause a weak battery to overheat and over-outgas as it tries to charge it. Then all it takes is One Spark to make the battery go Boom.
-
As for acid damage:
An exploding battery will spray acid -=everywhere=- so pretty much everywhere near the battery, or below the battery, or below something near the battery (liquid running downward) needs to be flushed with massive amounts of water, and inspected for acid damage.
Favorites are wiring, fuel lines and brake lines. Battery acid will also eat paint, leading to rust.
These gases usually do not build up enough to cause a problem.
BUT back in the days of electromechanical requlators it was more common for a failing regulator to set voltage too high and overcharge the battery, causing a build up of too much h2 and o2 along with a lot of heat, which could easily lead to a battery explosion.
Even a modern solid-state voltage regulator may cause a weak battery to overheat and over-outgas as it tries to charge it. Then all it takes is One Spark to make the battery go Boom.
-
As for acid damage:
An exploding battery will spray acid -=everywhere=- so pretty much everywhere near the battery, or below the battery, or below something near the battery (liquid running downward) needs to be flushed with massive amounts of water, and inspected for acid damage.
Favorites are wiring, fuel lines and brake lines. Battery acid will also eat paint, leading to rust.
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