Bingster Posted February 20, 2020 Report Share Posted February 20, 2020 I bought a cheap battery just to bring my engine back to life. I used it one day before the weather stopped me for the duration. I was charging it periodically in the garage, but forgot about it one time and one of the cells leaked out some water. Is the battery shot? I know, I should have used a battery tender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desoto1939 Posted February 20, 2020 Report Share Posted February 20, 2020 bingster where did the battery leak the water? Was it from one of the caps? The water expanded and then the only place for it to go would be out the top of the hole for one of the cells. canyou take the caps off and see how much water is in each cell, if low then refill with distilled water not tap water. Also go to an automotive store and get the hydrometer to see how much electric chagre you have in each cell. Then recharge the battery again. The battery charge should stop charging after the battery has a full charge I think the battery was over filled. Then hook up the battery to your Desoto and see if it will crank the car or engine over. If not then the battery might be dead. Rich Hartung Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulu Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 When you charge a battery water vapor comes out. It's normal as long as you don't have a crack in the case. When you charge too long the water boils up and can overflow easily if it was already filled up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Hiebert Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 As Ulu notes, one sign of a battery charger doing its job (besides the obvious indicators/dials/gauges, etc. on the charger) is that the battery acid will be just starting to bubble once a full charge is reached. Naturally, the more it bubbles, (by continued charging) the more likely it is to expel some of the liquid, and it will produce more vapor contributing to the escaped water, especially if it is overfilled. But it is not overcharged, just messy. Automotive lead acid batteries have an easily fill level indicator built in, fill them until the water just touches the plastic that protrudes down into the cell from the fill holes. And be careful, once charged, that water becomes sulfuric acid and is quite corrosive (that's how the hydrometer works, it measures how acidic the water is to tell you if it's charged or not). If spilled, it can be neutralized with baking soda (there are probably other things that will, that's just what I use). If spilled onto/into the car somewhere, it needs to be cleaned quickly, if onto you, then even more quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingster Posted February 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.