Battery goes BOOM!

[Ranger44]

An added note: batteries can freeze.

Look for bulging cases or pop a cover if equiped to see if its frozen.

Trying to jump a frozen battery can lead to the same bang with visual affects.

 

['99 EB Explorer]

Cool part is...I picked up a car that was in a collision a few weeks ago that had a battery that was mangled up bad like this one. Still had enough juice flowing to power most of the electronics in the car tho..even with most of the acid in a pool on the ground. I couldn't believe that.

 

[ranger_mclaren]

Cool part is...I picked up a car that was in a collision a few weeks ago that had a battery that was mangled up bad like this one. Still had enough juice flowing to power most of the electronics in the car tho..even with most of the acid in a pool on the ground. I couldn't believe that.

When I got into a head-on collision back in 2001 in the only GM product I've ever owned the front of the car was mangled and pushed into the passenger compartment the battery, was destroyed but I'm almost possitive the CD player was still on I remember flicking the keys too the off postion and trying to put it in park but the tranny shift mechanisum was destroyed then crawling out the passenger window.

 

[OilPatch197]

Everstart Maxx, is that the top Wal-Mart brand?

 

[Rudie Del Rude]

Ive always wondered why you arent sopposed to ground jumpers directly on the battery...

Are you sopposed to ground it somewhere other than the battery, so you can disconnect the ground first so you dont create a spark near the battery?

 

[shane96ranger]

Ive always wondered why you arent sopposed to ground jumpers directly on the battery...

Are you sopposed to ground it somewhere other than the battery, so you can disconnect the ground first so you dont create a spark near the battery?

This is the way I understand it. When you hook the second cable up, it can create a spark. The positive can only effectively be placed on the battery, and it's better to have the spark away from the battery. So I always hook the positive up first and then somewhere on the motor second (usually on the alternator or alternator bracket). You may want to rethink my technique if you have a carb though.

Also; when I disconnect, I take the ground off first.

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

Everstart Maxx, is that the top Wal-Mart brand?

Yes, but the same company (Johnson Controls) makes batteries for a lot of people: AutoZone, Advance, O'Reilly, etc.

Brand is irrelevant, hydrogen gas and careless use of cables isn't...


Shane, you are absolutely correct in your post.

 

[97RangerXLT]

yeah, when jumping a car always hook the positive side cable directly to the positive post, then the negative side cable to a ground. remove the negative side first. I do this for both cars, just in case of gas build up.

when I hook up the negative side, I hook it to the other side of the engine from the battery as well. Sulfuric acid is not stuff you want on you...

AJ

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Somehow I'm not surprised that it is a Neverstart.... I have two of them under 2 years old that are deader than Lenin. One of the two I had before that froze solid at one year old.

I'll admit, it is a good reminder though, I started getting careless hooking up jumper cables lately - I started hooking directly to the battery after having to jump a truck of mine that for some strange reason will not start via jumping if you hook to anything metal in the engine compartment but as soon as you hook it up to the battery it'll start. And I know it's not the ground wire being a problem, I have two 4-gauge ground wires on it and both are new.

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

AGM batteries like the DEKAs I sell or Optima do not vent gas like common wet cell batteries do so yes they are more safe to jump or charge .
The battery in the pic more than likely had a bad cell.They had it on a 2 amp trickle (geezz I hate that word trickle) charge all night and when the car still wouldnt start it was jumped and thats when the boom happend.
Do not trust cheap a$$ battery chargers that tell you some stupid percent of battery,use a good old volt meter and remember 2.1 volts per cell X 6 cells.