Any ideas? Passenger side battery HOT leaking acid, twice...

[JCobb]

Need help with a bit of a problem, the other day I noticed my voltage gauge go from 14. 7 or so down to around 10-12 volts, could smell sulfur smell, popped hood and saw passenger side battery steaming, with acid leaking out of vents slightly. Battery was HOT to the touch. I unhooked it, continuted my trip home, and battery gauge went right up to where it should 14. 7 or so.



I took my battery and truck to the local AutoZone used the battery and alternator tester. Battery tested good, alternator tested great too. I told them since battery was under warranty to swap it with a new one, they did, put in truck seemed fine, drove home everything good. Went to work next morning, same thing happened as before, hot, acid leaking, etc. Unhooked battery good on drivers side. What is going on here? Thanks in advance.

__________________

 

[rbattelle]

This same sort of thing happened to JThacker awhile back, with the same battery. But he had recently messed with the electrical system.

The fact that two batteries have done this (one of them brand new) says you obviously have some kind of major electrical fault. I'd start by checking the charging voltage at the passenger side battery.

It might also be possible that your driver side battery is actually the problem. If it's not taking a charge, and the ECM continues to try to pour electrons into it, the passenger side battery can overcharge, which can cause your symptoms.

Did you have both batteries tested?

Ryan

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

It might also be possible that your driver side battery is actually the problem. If it's not taking a charge, and the ECM continues to try to pour electrons into it, the passenger side battery can overcharge, which can cause your symptoms.

That would be my guess as well...

 

[AABEN]

It Is Well Known That You Change Both Batterys At The Same Time. For That Way Your Batterys Are In The Same Shape. I Thank Your Charging One Battery More Than The Other. One BATTERY May Not HOLD A Full Charge. it Is Calling For More Charge And Cooking The Good Battery. put A Load On The Battery That Is Not Cooked See If It Drops Down Fast. Good Luck

 

[p-Bar]

I'm with blackbear. These batteries are hooked in parallel both batteries get if they need it or not. You need to keep them matched. I am amazed the check engine light didn't come on for the battery temp. The sad thing with these sealed batteries you can't check the level and they have to be vented so they don't explode, so they are out gassing. The whole system sucks

 

[jkidd]

best to replace both batteries at the same time.

 

[MMeier]

... x 2 !!

 

[JCobb]

drivers battery..

Okay I will check the drivers side battery.



BTW, these batteries were BOTH new about 1 year ago. I only replaced the one because I thought it was a fluke thing even though it said it was fine on the battery load tester.



Thanks for clearing up the fact that both batteries are charged at the same time, I thought that the battery isolators allowed them to be charged somewhat independently.



I will let you know what happens. Thanks again.

 

[JCobb]

Solved...

Thanks everyone for the input, luckily it was the positive cable that goes from the drivers battery to the pass battery. There was a little corrosion that could not be seen from the outside, as in, I had to take the nut and lug off to see it between the lug and the terminal end. You could see where the spark was arcing (on the drivers side terminal). I cleaned that up good, and put terminal protectant on, works great. I drove 160 miles today, no problems with it thus far, so I am going to say it is solved, because before, the problem would show up intermittently but quite often.

 

[BHaner]

Had the same problem with my 07.



Buddy used some tire shine to clean up the engine compartment.



On the way home, the voltage dropped.



Passenger side battery was leaking, and warm.



When I went to check the drivers side, As soon as I touched the positive terminal, it sparked!



I guess it got loose!



I tightened it, all is well.

 

[KIKER]

This has happened to me. I lost battery acid out of the passanger side battery and it is hot. If a loose connection is all I have wrong, will the p. side battery need a fill when I get the connections fixed? How would I fill it?

 

[B.G. Smith]

The most likely problem in this case is a lost/bad cell in the battery, it then only is a 10 volt battery, the 13. 8/14. 4 or so volts that the alternator hits it with heats the 5 remaing cells and causes the acid loss. Disconnect the passenger side battery from the system overnight if you have time and check the voltage after it has set for a few hours? The caps on some of the sealed batteries can be remove to add water but it's usually too late when they start acting up. bg

 

[KIKER]

I just removed the cables from the two batteries and cleaned them. There was a little bit of oxidation on the drivers side battery. Cleaned up and reconnected, when started the volts came up to 14. 17 with my harbor freight multimeter. I don't know if that was the problem, but it will probably let me know shortly.