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My battery has exploded!!!

guydewdney said:
they might be tiny now - but in three days....

If you have ever got battery acid on your clothes, you know what guydewdney is talking about. I got some of the discharge (the white powder you find after the acid has dried) on my jeans and thought nothing of it. After they had been through the wash, they had some nasty holes in them :eek:

Stu
 
KillerHERTZ said:
Well, I called up my mechanic tonight and all is good.

He tried everything all day and found no trouble, He has put the trouble down to a faulty battery. I wont pick it up until tomorrow & the acid burns are tiny :)

You haven't had that battery long have you? will it still have a warranty with it?
 
The battery has been in the car for nearly 3 years. About 6 months ago I was giving a low charge, but since then its been fine
 
i reemember my brother carrying a bike battery - it leaked a bit on his jeans - thought nothing of it and he washed them (well - our mum... we were 16 / 18) - next day they fell apart....

"dooooom mr mainwaring - dooooom aye tell ya..."
 
KillerHERTZ said:
Well, I called up my mechanic tonight and all is good.


I do not beliieeeeve it!!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If that battery was fit enough to start your car and had a decent level of ACID before it exploded, then all is NOT GOOD.

If however the battery did not completely explode and kept ALL the contents within the shell then I accept what your mechanic has said.

In my very own personal opinion someone is wrong. Either the battery completely exploded or it never? Leaving battery acid in the boot is rediculous. Leaving mats, carpet etc that are soaked in battery acid in the boot is rediculous.

You obviously have a lot of faith in your mechanic so no doubt if the battery did indeeed empty its contents, then he has no doubt stripped out the boot completely and taken all the necessary action.

Good luck with the car,
John
 
Battery problem

Batteries don't just explode, they die quietly - even when they short internally. The only conceivable cause of an explosion is trapped gases (the gases which are generated as a part of the charging process). Batteries are designed to expel those gases safely. Depending on the battery's design, I would suggest you check the breathing route / mechanism carefully, if the blockage is in a breathing pipe external to the battery then you could be sitting on a time-bomb if you just put a new battery in.
On a chearier note, when mine exploded I literally hosed the boot down. Six months later, the paint was still falling off and eventually the bottom of the battery box just disappeared (but then it was a mini).

Good luck.
 
prprandall51 said:
Six months later, the paint was still falling off and eventually the bottom of the battery box just disappeared (but then it was a mini).
Isn't that just a "feature" of minis though? ;)
 
Good mini, bad battery

Actually, this was a very good condition mini. I would estimate that no more than 10% of the total body weight was fibreglass and filler.

Seriously, the bottom of the battery box was visibly eaten away by the acid that was spilled by the battery exploding.
 
KillerHERTZ said:
The battery has been in the car for nearly 3 years. About 6 months ago I was giving a low charge, but since then its been fine
Bet you wish you bought a new one last october now when you thought you killed your car :rolleyes: Oh well, Good luck getting this sorted.
 
I had a battery explode once in a Peugeot 205 Diesel. Turned the key, a hell of a bang, and the battery terminal was hanging off the battery, still attached to the lead. A new battery sorted it - no more probs. So they can explode occasionally! I put it down to a gas build up but didn't ever get to the bottom of it.
 
This looks like the answer :

"Overcharging a wet lead-acid battery naturally produces hydrogen and oxygen gas as electrolysis of the water occurs. While spark retarding vent caps help prevent external battery explosions, sparks occur when jumping, connecting or disconnecting charger or battery cables and ignite the gas causing an explosion. SEE:

DOE-HDBK-1084-95, "Precautions must be routinely practiced to prevent explosions from ignition of the flammable gas mixture of hydrogen and oxygen formed during overcharge of lead-acid cells. The maximum rate of formation is 0.42 L of hydrogen and 0.21 L of oxygen per ampere-hour overcharge at standard temperature and pressure. The gas mixture is explosive when hydrogen in air exceeds 4% by volume."

The less common internal explosions usually occur while starting the engine or using the battery and normally just blow the filler caps or cover off the battery and splatter electrolyte all over the engine compartment or battery box.

The most probable cause of internal explosions are from a combination of low electrolyte levels below the plates in the battery and a low resistance bridge is formed between or across the top of the plates. This is called "treeing" between the positive and negative plates. When current flows in the battery, a spark occurs and ignites the residual gas in one or more of the cells. A second possible cause is a manufacturing defect in the weld of one of the plate connecting straps. The largest number of internal battery explosions occur in hot climates due to the loss of water while starting the engine. Most internal battery explosions could have been prevented if the plates were always covered with electrolyte"
 
Cheers for the info, very intresting...

pluggers said:
Bet you wish you bought a new one last october now when you thought you killed your car :rolleyes: Oh well, Good luck getting this sorted.


Yeah, I changed my mind at the last min and kept it :(
 
Exploding batteries, :crazy: the only time I ever witnessed one of these was in a wagon workshop just finished rubbing down some rust on the roof of a transcontinental sleeper cab and my mate jumped off the cab from a sitting position on to the battery cover and shot off as it blow up he was propelled as high as the cab and landed about 10 feet away what a laugh :eek:
 
Better get some of these in...
 
My four month old had an explosion last night, but could find no battery anywhere. :D :D

Smelt of rotten eggs though, and I believe the resulting mess is highly corrosive ;)
 
I don't get it. prprandall51 said twice that batteries don't explode and then went on to tell us about the time his battery exploded... :confused: :confused: :D
 
Exploding batteries

zygote said:
I don't get it. prprandall51 said twice that batteries don't explode and then went on to tell us about the time his battery exploded... :confused: :confused: :D

Hi Zygote,
I can see my posts are somewhat contradictory....

I meant to say that as far as I knew batteries only explode when there is a build up of gas that is trapped within the case (the gases should vent under normal operating conditions). In my mini's explosion, the gases were prevented from escaping from the case and eventually it just blew apart explosively. More than half the casing was missing (well, in bits around the boot). The lead plates were just sitting there in a neat row, completely exposed. The acid was evenly splashed throughout the boot.

However, I also said that when subject to normal vehicle malfunctions (such as an over-charging Alternator or a short within a cell) the battery will not explode, though I note the authorative posting on this subject (above) that covers the ignition of the explosive gases and proves me incorrect(!)
 
Got it! :)

I guess it's lucky that minis have the battery in the boot, could you imagine the damage it could do to the engine :eek:
 
zygote said:
Got it! :)

I guess it's lucky that minis have the battery in the boot, could you imagine the damage it could do to the engine :eek:

But just think of the BBQ you would get if the battery managed to damage the petrol tank on the way out :(
 
Update:

Today I finally managed to have a look (in daylight).

There are only a handfull of very minor 'burns' (mainly just marks to the paint) and nothing major.

I guess I was really lucky! Green arrows show the burns. Pics from a Nokia 7610

bat1.gif


bat2.gif



This shot shows fragments of the old white battery inbedded in the boot carpet!


bat3.gif
 
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