Old battery trick

[Flatie46]

I learned something about batterys from an old timer when I first got my car. The car run and had been cranked every so often{motor very worn out though} Well I charged the battery and run it a while I work on the brakes do this and that go to start it a few days later and it barley does start. Charge it again and notice on my charger that it never would take a full charge only 65%.Well an old friend came by and we were talkin' about it and he said "roll in down a hill"... He said back in the day if he had one that wouldnt take charge he'd do that and charge it and most of the time it would work. I was skeptical so I asked my Industrial Electricty teacher and he said that it would probably knock the lead sulfate off the plates in the battery alowing it to take charge. So I tried it... after some rollin and a little rough treatment she charged 90%. The battery did good for a while but the generator was not chargin and my car had other issues so I cant truly say how long it would last. Anyone ever heard of this?

[pflaming]

An acquaintence of mine says he (1) drains the water into a glass container then (2) 'rough houses' the battery upside down to get out as much crud as will come out, (3) replaces the water and by doing that he extends the life of his batteries by a couple of years. He claims batteries 'ground out' because of the accumulation of crud in the bottom of the battery. Interesting.

[Norm's Coupe]

I've never heard of doing that with batteries. However, I think I'd rather just buy a new battery and be done with it. Sounds like a lot of trouble to go through just to extend the battery's life a little longer. Not to mention the problem of handling a mixture of water and sulfuric acid. Plus bouncing the case around could also crack the case.

[JerseyHarold]

I've read similar accounts of 'rebuilding' old batteries. Supposed to be fairly effective, at least in the short term.

Be careful with the liquid in them....it's acid...dangerous!

[pflaming]

My acquaintance, who 'cleaned' his batteries is a very fussy person. I bought a Chrysler Cierras from him, it only had 30,000 miles, has 165,000 now. He totally covered every inch of floor board and truck floor with some flooring covering. I was going to remove it, but he had removed the seats, the floor edgings, etc. to install the stuff and it was too much trouble so the original rugs are still new.

Some people really try to stretch the pennies and he is one of them. I have another friend who has all the fluids in his cars flushed and new put in every year: brakes, coolant, tranny, diff. I have NEVER done that once to a car. Seems a waste of money, in fact, my 87 T Bird, 5.0 liter has 300,000 miles on it and still has the original plugs and wires. I may have changed the oil in that car five (5) times, that's 60k a change. Go figure. That may be my next project, it is a great car!

[Rodney Bullock]

You mean I could have fixed my battery darn it. I think rolling stuff down a hill will fix most of my junk:D I got a bad water pump and a flat in the trunk... here I goooo:D

[greg g]

During the charging cycle the battery sheds particles of lead from the plates in the cells. Over time it settles to the bottom of the battery case. There is some space between the case and the plates to allow for this over time. However it may build up to a point where it will contact the bottom of the plate. This essentially shorts out the plate taking it out of the power grid so to speak, If several get shorted, then you may loose a cell or a portion of that cell. since each cell contributes only 2 volts to the batteries output, shorting a couple plates in each cell of a 6 v battery deteriorates the system pretty quickly.

There used to be a shop here in town that rebuilt batteries mostly for electric forklifts but also did automotive stuff, If you remember old batteries were made of hard rubber cases, the tops were made of a tar based substance that acted as a matrix and an insulator in which th plate assemblies were hung and wired together. So yes in the bad old days, the old acid was dumped, the tar meled, the plates removed from the case. Ther process was reversed, and you had a new battery.

Well I wnet there onday to get a 10 battery for my lot car. Guy said whats the matter with the old one, I told him it wouldn't take or hold a charge. He took the battery, raised it above the work bench about 6 or 8 inches and dropped it flat on the bench a couple times. Put it on the quick charger and told me to take it home and try it. Worked fine for aother year or so.

Apparently the shock from the drop breaks the bridges, restoring the shorted plates, and restores the battery to usefulness. I have tried it several times over the ensuing 45 years and have had success more times than not. Especially with motorcycle and lawn mower batteries, as being so small they have a smaller space betweent he case and the plates.

Give it a whack, got nothing to loose. Make sure you have your safety glasses on, read and understand the safety warnings.

[Niel Hoback]

Here's another old-timers trick that works, sometimes. Remove the battery and quickly short the terminals with a jack handle or some other heavy metal bar until its dead. Then recharge it. People that do it say it heats the plates up so much and so fast that they throw off the built up crud.

I look at it as something to try just before I go buy a new battery.

BTW, I bought a new group 1 6 volt at TSC on sale for $31 last month. That kinda makes all this dangerous stuff a waste of time.

[p10plymouth]

Back in the day a "old timer" told me that if I drained a battery (6 volt or 12)... and fill it with a mixture of baking soda and water! and wait till the volcano stopped .. then flush with water... then drain .. then use battery acid and recharged... Worked for me at the time.... Wonder if the guy that said to roll it down the hill ... invented the "smack it on the side trick"

[Norm's Coupe]

Here's another old-timers trick that works, sometimes. Remove the battery and quickly short the terminals with a jack handle or some other heavy metal bar until its dead. Then recharge it. People that do it say it heats the plates up so much and so fast that they throw off the built up crud.

I look at it as something to try just before I go buy a new battery.

BTW, I bought a new group 1 6 volt at TSC on sale for $31 last month. That kinda makes all this dangerous stuff a waste of time.

Even at $80 I consider all this stuff a waste of time.

That said, better be careful shorting the battery out like that. Could be hazardous to your health, and you'll still need to replace the battery.

When I lived in Chicago back in the late 60's, I was having trouble starting a company car I had one winter. Instead of taking it to the dealer (was out of warranty), I took it to a service station near my house that did a lot of auto service work. Was standing next to the mechanic and he said he was going to do a quick check to see how hot the battery was. He then picked up a long screwdriver and said was going to cross the battery post. Not being a complete dummy I said, I wouldn't do that if I were you, and at the same time putting distance between me and the car. Couple seconds later he crossed the post with that screwdriver and blew the battery up. Acid all over him and the car. The owner of the garage and others immediately came over and flushed him and the car with lots of water. Then they sent him to the doctor. No damage (other than the battery) was done to the car. Don't know what ever happened to the mechanic, never saw him at the station again after that. But..........the owner wasn't a happy camper that day, so even if the mechanic was okay, he probably lost his job. The station had to buy me a new battery on their dime.

[Don Jordan]

You guys keep talking about "old timers" - well hell I am an old timer.

First I bought an Optima - little expensive but it's a closed system and it has great cranking power.

Second: when I was a kid I was always taught to put purified water in the battery - that way there is a minimum amount of "crud" build up. That always got long life out of my batteries.

[PatS....]

I was told by my dad who ran a real service station in the late 40's/early 50's to dump out the acid, rinse with clean water, dump again, refill with distilled water and slow charge for 3 days.

I've done that a few times and was happy with the results of a few more years.

Last couple of times, I added CLR to the rinse and rinsed a second time. Works great.

[David Maxwell]

...and might have been dangerous for all I know, but when we were kids and a car wouldn't start, we would just shake the @#$% out of it while it was still in the car and then start the car without disconnecting cables. It would work about 60% of the time.

[Rodney Bullock]

Oh no, I guess I was wrong.....I tried to start the riding lawn mower this morning to move it out the way. Battery very low, I took it out and dropped it on the work table a couple of times put it back in the mower and it started. I put the charger on it to bring it all the way up. There must be something to the crud on the plates.

I was at a sears getting something, I went out to start my Trans Am and the battery exploded:eek: There was a wire that ran off one of the terminals that touched metal. I was very lucky battery was under Warrenty and I was at sears.

[Merle Coggins]

Rodney, your just chuck full of luck of all kinds this month.

[Don Coatney]

...and might have been dangerous for all I know, but when we were kids and a car wouldn't start, we would just shake the @#$% out of it while it was still in the car and then start the car without disconnecting cables. It would work about 60% of the time.

Exactly how did you measure the 60%? Sure it was not 49% OR 71%? :D There must be a story out there somewhere to back up these numbers???

[David Maxwell]

...but I'm not done making it up:D

Exactly how did you measure the 60%? Sure it was not 49% OR 71%? :D There must be a story out there somewhere to back up these numbers???

[maurice wade]

I must share my battery story. When I was messing with motercycles in the late 60's. I owned a 1945 45" HD. The Harley had no generator on it. I had to keep the battery charged between trips. One of my older shade tree buddies told me to take a 12 volt battery, cut in down the middle, install a screw on top to make a new post for the +and - side. That way I would have a extra battery if one was not enough for the trip. I kind of didn't believe him, but I found a wood saw, and went to work on the battery, sure enough the battery had a double divider plate in the very middle of it, worked great. PS, I wouldn't recommend doing this at home, or anywhere else!