Battery Acid Leaking

[azcummins]

I was checking under the hood yesterday after I found some suspicious white powerdery looking stuff on my front axel and much to my dismay, both of my batteries are leaking acid. The front wheel wells on the inside of the engine box are covered in it.



Is there anyway to neutralize/wash away the residue before all my paint is eaten off? Also, since they are Mopar batteries, am I entitled to new ones under some warranty?

 

[WestTN]

You can mix a tablespoon of baking soda in a cup of water and neutralize the leaked acid with it. Then rinse with clear water and retouch the paint.

It sounds like you may be overcharging your batteries. Are you doing something that uses a large amount of power from the batteries when the engine is not running? If so, the frequent need to charge them back up can cause a little extra venting. How about the acid level in your batteries? Do you add water to your batteries? Maybe they are overfilled.

Ther are a lot more questions one could ask, but you get the drift. You will need to either investigate this problem or get the dealer or other service organization to do it.

 

[azcummins]

thanks for your help! I don't do anything that would draw a lot of juice when the truck is off, the only thing I could think of is the CATZ lights that I run when the truck is on. I figured I just got some bad batteries.



I'll get to work on baking soda.

 

[B9Mile]

Don't forget to check under the driver's side battery tray for any damage to the cruise control servo. It wouldn't hurt to keep applying that soda mixture until you no longer see any bubbling after its application. That way, you will be sure to have neutralized all of the acid.



Sounds like those "maintenance free" batteries are low on electrolite (I'm not a battery guru, so maybe somebody can correct me) causing a higher than normal charging rate. If your batteries are like mine, the caps are non removeable. My batteries also had a black plastic side wall instead of a translucent white one. It wasn't possible to check the electrolite level by looking at them from the side .



My battery on the driver's side just started to slightly boil over this summer. I replaced both of 'em with Optima red Tops. I didn't want to deal with any leaking acid problems.



If you want to replace those batteries with conventional lead/acid ones, I noticed that Costco has pretty good deals on their batteries.

 

[Lhotka]

Azcummins,



Had the same thing happen to my rig and ended up having to have the inner fender repainted. A few members have had the same problem with the batteries.



I got mine cleand up real well using the baking powder mixture and haven't seen any residual problems.

 

[MidwestMotorman]

another trick

You can also pour a can of Coca-Cola over the acid. Works great for cleaning the tops as well. Try not to get any directly inside the battery. The same advice goes for the baking soda mixture.