o1s

Today i noticed a rotten egg/sulfer smell coming through my vents while driving home from work. i figured it was the cat stinking the car up, but when i got home and popped the hood, either steam or smoke was coming out of the fill caps on my battery.

the battery is 3 years old and i am not sure why there is smoke coming out of the battery. i thought it might be a crappy connection so i cleaned the terminals and clamps with baking soda and water. i then topped off the cells with water to make sure that they weren't low. when i tried to start the car again it wouldn't start.

i put the car on a slow charge about 2 hours ago. when i just went and checked it, there was smoke coming out of the caps again.

i'm not real sure what would cause this problem. is it possible that the car is over charging the battery or perhaps a lose connection somewhere else that is causing it. has anyone else had this problem?

i think it's just the cheap battery that is taking a crap, but don't want to go drop $80-$100 on a battery if it is a problem somewhere else.

phee

iTrader: (5)

how does it taste?

VIPCLS

Im guessing it's the battery. It's $80-100 bucks, that will be well spent on a new battery. $80-100 bucks might be considered alot to some folks nowdays, but if your gonna own a nice car be prepared to have the $ when things go south.

ThomWV

My goodness are you toying with extreme danger, or what? That steam or smoke you are seeing is a mixture of water vapor and hydrogen sulfide. It will explode if even the slightest spark becomes available to it - like when you hook up or disconnect a battery charger. I used to work with a guy who had one blow up while he was taking it out of a vehicle, the battery acid blew all over one side of his head and face; the injury he suffered from the explosion only left a few scars but the chemical burns left scars that will be there his whole life.

I can't tell you what's wrong with your battery or charging system, though I could take a couple of pretty good guesses. It may have a broken plate that is shorting out its neighboring plates, it may be filled with sludge at its bottom (the sludge builds up over time and degrades the battery), and it may be a problem of massive over charge. In any event your battery is toast and the problem you have there requires immediate attention by someone who knows how to safely address it. I can not emphasize enough how potentially dangerous the problem you have is - have it dealt with immediately by a qualified mechanic - and if not make sure your medical insurance is up to date.

o1s

it taste just like it smells...delicious! i guess i'll be taking the battery back and getting it prorated today.

o1s

i don't have a nice car. it has 236k miles and is worn out. every time i fix something, i have to debate whether it's worth fixing or just getting a new car. i'm a cheap ass though and don't want car payments.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Yeah well even so the problem is the battery. Buy a new one. Walmart is cheap.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Yea, get a new battery.

I got mine from Costco for $80 with a 100 month warranty.

o1s

i got the battery replaced. it was still under the 3 year free replacement warranty.

as soon as i put the new battery in, a blocked off coolant line in the throttle body sprung a leak. so it cost me anther $2.50 to fix that. this damn car lol.

ThomWV

Well, that should put you in free-battery land for the rest of your life. Most automotive batteries only last about 4 years, less in hot areas.

I suspect you have a pretty good knowledge of the workings of batteries but most folks don't. There are a couple of general things about them that are useful to know.

The first is that no matter how well you maintain your battery, which is to say you keep the electrolyte level where it should be and keep the terminals and battery top clean, its going to die anyway. As a battery cycles a thin film of corrosion builds up on the plates. This stuff flakes off and settles in the bottom of the battery. Eventually it builds up enough to internally short and kill the battery. Under normal daily use that takes about 4 years, sometimes a little longer, sometimes shorter, but in time it happens. With gel cell batteries, which aren't needed in any production car in the world, the material can't migrate to the bottom of the battery, but it can't migrate away from the plates either so the long term effect is essentially the same.

The biggest killer of automotive batteries is heat but the worst thing you can do to one of them is to leave it in a state of partial discharge. If you have to store the battery or if you expect the car will sit idle for a long time charge it up first and if its in the car disconnect one of the terminals - the negative one.

Oh, before I go - and I'm sure many of you know this already but some may not and its a good thing to keep in the back of your mind. You know how most manuals and instructions tell you to disconnect the negative battery terminal before doing certain work? The reason the tell you to disconnect the negative terminal is to avoid shorts. Disconnecting either terminal has the effect of disconnecting the battery of course, but when you put the wrench on the negative terminal if it accidentally touches other grounded parts of the car you will get no spark. But if you have the wrench on the positive terminal's clamp and the handle of the wrench touches the wrong thing in the engine compartment you'll get quite a nasty surprise.

o1s

i know that batteries usually only last a few years. i have never seen those symptoms from a bad battery before though . that is why i was unsure if it was the battery or something overcharging the shit out of the battery or some other problem.

Allout

Might also be worth checking the voltage off the regulator/alternator. Too high a voltage will cause your battery to boil and kill a battery.

ThomWV

Yep, you should definitely either check the charge rate or have it checked. If you have a voltmeter ($50 or less at your local Sears) put it on the battery before you start the car. It should read about 12.4 volts. Then start the car and immediately put the probes back on the battery terminal and it should read 14.4 volts or somehing very close to it if its charging properly. That 14.4 will only be maintained until the electricity used in cranking the starter over is replaced and then it should drop back down to about 13.6 volts. If you get readings that are significantly higher or lower than the values I just gave you it would be wise to see a mechanic.

acura_dipset_tl

iTrader: (40)

^ he's cheap, remember? I dont think he would want to spend $50 voltmeter. Never the less great advice.

o1s

i have a voltmeter and it cost a little more than $50. i checked it last night and it was reading very close to what you said.

i will fix a problem with my car myself if i know what it is, but i don't like taking it to the dealer or a mechanic so that they can just throw parts at it until they get lucky and figure it out.

acura_dipset_tl

iTrader: (40)

agreed.

ThomWV

Well, its pleasing to see you got good numbers. That tells you it was simply a battery problem and not your charging circuit or parts.

For whatever its worth I had an MR2 for a couple of years and one day when I got off work it would not crank. We jumped it and it started but it died again about 2 miles away. After that jumper cables wouldn't touch it and it shut off battery chargers almost as soon as it was hooked up. Turns out a plate broke lose internally and shorted the thing out. The battery looked like new, nice and clean, plenty of electrolyte, and no where near old enough for anyone to think it might have died of natural causes. You just never can tell what might happen.

Allout

The point is to correctly diagnose the issue whether it's through the dealer, your own knowledge, or forums like this.

You did just what you accuse the dealer or a mechanic of doing. You threw a battery at the problem without confirming that the charging system was not the cause. You got lucky in this case and fixed the problem. Checking the voltage is the first step - not the second step.

o1s

the battery was replaced because it was under warranty. if the battery had tested good, i would have started looking elsewhere for problems. i was there ordering axles, wheelbearings, and balljoints and took the battery with me.

CL-S progression 01

iTrader: (2)

if our cars had a volt meter it'd be much more obvious

I installed a gauge pod for a tran temp gauge and and chose to make the other a volt meter and today when my battery died at home depot in the middle of a job with 2x10x8s stickout to the friggin sunroof. it' was obvious the car was too low on charge.

the option ud pulley I believe is the culprit since the car does not give full voltage at idle do to the underdrive. so the battery will likely fail my earlier due to all the cycling

luckily i was able to wait and then tried again and it worked. but tomorrow i am getting a new one, no testing needed