..well, today, on the way back home from work, I noticed a rotten eggs smell in my Comet.. I ignored it and saw a bit of smoke at the last stopsign, before I got to turn onto the st. on the way to my home.... wellll.. I kinda panicked, limped her home, and shut her off ASAP... popped the hood, frelling battery was smoking and rotten eggs smell was gagging.... pulled the cables off and let it sit... so, I've got a nuked battery, and I suspect the regulator... (guess I can't complain, it's older than I am..... ) Any other ideas, folks?
lucky Hey man, That smoke was Hydrogen gas...kinda lucky, it could have exploded on your face or something of that nature. Just sounds like its overcharging somehow. Thats the experience I've had with bad batteries luckily. Jeff
I have seen batteries get cooked and cause some pretty extensive rust damage. Get that battery out of the car ASAP and mix up some baking soda and water and wash down the battery area ASAP. Keep putting the baking soda solution mix onto the area until is no longer bubbles. What you smelled is the sulfuric acid from the battery. And now that fine mist of acid is all over your engine compartment. Now go down to the local do-it yourself car wash (after fixing the charging problem and putting in a new battery), and run about $5.00 worth of quarters through the plain water wash, and rinse down everything in the engine compartment and inside the fender well on the battery side. That should keep it from rusting.
I had a battery blow up under my hood while i was driving it, the positive cable to the starter had rubbed on metallic surface and KA-BOOM! I have alot of respect for battery's now. Be careful whatever you do but get that battery out of the car and get your charging system checked. Dan
A buddy of mine blew up a battery in my old GMC truck once. He snapped off the little bolt that holds the side terminal on. Then to try and get it started, he pressed the cable against the terminal by hand while his buddy cranked the key. Well, it sparked and blew the battery up in his face. He's damn lucky all he got was some burns on his face which healed completely. Come to think of it, he never did pay me for that battery. That was way more than a dozen years ago.
Last year one day while I was on my way home from work for lunch and I went around the corner and my truck started to hesitate and all the gages were going crazy. I thought nothing of it and thought it was a sensor. After lunch I went to get my other car out of the garage to use to return to work and I thought at the last minute to call my brother up. He is a mechanic and the former owner of my truck. As I was talking to him I go to my front door and I am looking at my truck sitting in the street and I see smoke coming from underneath the hood. So I went running out there and poped open the hood to have a flame jump out at me. My battery bracket had broke and when I went around the corner the battery fell into the engine and the terminal arked from the airconditioner compressor. There was nothing left of my battery but two terminals sticking up and acid all over the street. Luckly I had an extinguisher in the house. It had to have been burning for at least 45 minutes. All I had to do was clean the terminals up and washing eevrything down and put in a new battery and all was fine. All that was damaged was label on the underside of the hood and the insulation but not much. Now the truck has a little brown circle on the hood were it started to heat the paint. I was surprised that the fuse box and washer fluid bottle never melted since the battery is sandwiched between them. All was good. I count my blessing and thank God I found it when I did and I was home. So make sure that sucker is strapped down good.
And always make sure your connections are kept clean and tight. Occasionally, when a battery starts to get old and weak, you can start smelling the fumes (rotten eggish) from when it is being charged. If you ever smell fumes coming from your battery, get rid of it. Those are very explosive fumes and any little spark can make it blow.
I think I found what happened..... Positive battery cable got pulled into the alternator pulley, tore the insulation, thus shorting the electrical system directly to the engine.... fried the battery, (anyone know the procedure for checking the regulator, just in case?) so, looks like all I'm out is the battery and cable, provided the regulator is good. Coulda been worse.
You really need a volt meter hooked up to the battery. You'll need to start the car and with it running the volt meter should show anywhere from about 13.8 to 14.5 volts. Most of the time the regulator will cut it off around 14 volts which is great. If it's much less than about 13.5 volts you need to replace it, if it's goes much over 14.5 it will overcharge your battery and you'll fry another one. If your alternator light comes on it's a good possibility you'll have alternator problems too. That's when you need to get somebody to put a tester on your car and check out the system. Don't guess. Believe me, it's cheaper if you have to pay an electrical shop $5-$10 to check it rather that process of elimination. It's also a good possibility you may have burnt the fusible link wire going to the battery side of the solenoid. Be sure to check that. You can usually just put a tug on the fuse wire and see if it's burnt. Good luck and let us know how you come out.
I had a battery explode in my face one time, I was trying to remove the positive cable by twisting it . a no no I know now, but everybody does it. The post apparently was broken loose from the case and when I twisted it, the plates moved together and BOOM! Instant dead short, instant explosion! Luckily, I only recieved a cut in my eyebrow that required about 4 stitches, no eye damage even though I had acid all over my face. Quick thinking I ran to the outside faucet and put my whole head under the water, meanwhile my bride is freaking out and calls the EMTs. An ambulance ride to the emergency room for a check out and stitches and a good chewing out by the doc and I'm good as new. I never much believed in safety glasses before then, but since I wear eyeglasses now { not from this, just old age creeping up on me ....LOL. }you better belive I've got my eyes covered when I fool with a battery now. Just my ..
I'd personally just buy a new regulator anyways. They're cheap, and they seem to only last so long with todays "build it crappy, and charge lots" practices. I may be a blasphemer, but I got sick of all the unneccessary wiring and mess of the original Ford charging system, and installed a one wire self exciting GM "Garbage Motors" alt and haven't had a problem in 2 1/2 years. All my Chevy friends say that's why my car is so fast. Hahaha. Don't hate them, they drive chevy's and don't know any better...
When the car has been in the barn so long that the hens are laying under the hood. If you do smell the rotten eggs and it IS rotten eggs....don't go back to the barn. Cause the hen's gonna be pissed.......... Preston
I had a 280 Z, one day I pulled into the drive way, cut the engine. Came out later and it was leaking. Told the wife to pop the hood, and try to start it (I thought the leaky water was radiator,and wanted to find the source of the leak). The battery was melting as I watched, and the top blew off spraying acid all over. I got it on me, but quickly hit the hose and washed it off, no permanent damage, just a lot of itching. It was a bad alternator overcharging, and melted the entire side out of the battery. Scary stuff. I would recommend a 1-wire alternator, lose the regulator completely. Anyone done this yet? Any hints or suggestions, or other comments regaring the 1-wire?
