main Battery Woes!

[JWB]

Hello All,
Just thought I would throw this question out amongst the masses.
I have an issue with the main battery on my 4b.
GQ Td42 turbo.
The main battery seems to spit out excessive amounts of acid.
this has caused some damage under the battery tray etc.
A few cells were over full, but I have now taken some acid out.
It still is moist on top of the battery
voltage test while running shows 13.8 volts at the battery
Battery is a few years old now! starts fine!
What the hell could be wrong?
Last time this occurred I replaced the alternator as some internal were fried. This was just under 2 years ago! now it's back
help ! !

Cheers

[Pinball]

sounds like overcharging.....

but 13.8 should be ok... other option is overdrawing, can you see it spit or just the aftereffects?

Spock

[JWB]

just after effects!

[bazooked]

possibly got a cell on its way, and may be bubbling, get a load yest done then you will no for sure.

[Oscars]

yeh, do ya lights flicker or brighten while driving at night

[smileysmoke]

i would start with a new battery.. 90 bucks for a 520cca maintenance free one.. cant complain.

[drivesafe]

Hi JWB, first off, obviously you should never have over filled the battery but worst still, you should not have taken the electrolyte out of the battery.

This will stop your battery charging properly as there needs to be a pretty accurate amount of acid in each cell for the battery to charge correctly.

It would probably pay you to get a new battery but I would also check the charging voltage.

13.8 is just about as low as you can go and still charge the battery, so over charging shouldn’t be occurring but have you tried revving the motor while you check the voltage.

It’s common place at idle to have one voltage and get a much high reading once the revs climb and this also usually means there is a problem somewhere and in your case it could be the battery.

Cheers.

[chimpboy]

Your battery is kaput.

[mgundle]

how flat is your secondary battery??
if your running that dead flat or even slightly flat your alternator will try and supply that battery with a full amount of current, but if you main and secondary battery are are connected wilst you are driving .
your main battery will be having excesive current supplied to it .
unfortuantly unless you get a sealed battery there isnt much you can do to over come the acid spillin out the top.
or your could go twin alternators and seperate the charging circuits.
but as drivesafe says the main problem is over filling batterys with acid/water which causes them to boil out of the battery
any ways enuf talkin.
mgundle

[JWB]

Hi JWB, first off, obviously you should never have over filled the battery but worst still, you should not have taken the electrolyte out of the battery.
I just took some out of 1 cell to get it back to a correct level.

This will stop your battery charging properly as there needs to be a pretty accurate amount of acid in each cell for the battery to charge correctly.

It would probably pay you to get a new battery but I would also check the charging voltage.
Been checked twice now! once by who supplied new alternator unit.

13.8 is just about as low as you can go and still charge the battery, so over charging shouldn’t be occurring but have you tried revving the motor while you check the voltage. Yes checked at idle and at higher revs
It’s common place at idle to have one voltage and get a much high reading once the revs climb and this also usually means there is a problem somewhere and in your case it could be the battery.

Cheers.

[JWB]

mgundle,
2 nd battery is new! Just replaced it while at birdsville.
$170
anyway had this issue before.
i'm confused!
cheers

[drivesafe]

Hi JWB, I’ve had customers with similar problems.

What was happening in their cases was that after driving for a while and with the motor at constant road speed revs, the charging voltage would slowly increase to as much as 15+ volts but as soon as they pulled up and checked the voltage, it would be back to normal.

What I have suggested is to get a digital multi meter and connect it to your battery and run the meter while you are driving, particularly when you know you are going on a long drive.

You can run a length of speaker cable from the battery onto the cab and simply connect the test probes to the speaker cable with two small screw block terminals.

If nothing else it will give you an idea of how your system is operating.

Cheers

[mgundle]

i didnt ask how old i asked how flat it is what are you running off that battery? fridge? invertor?