Just a reminder to be careful around discount batteries. Came with the car. Went to start and it was dead. Put a charge on it after checking levels. Removed charger and tried to crank. Boom. Good thing the hood was already open. Now to clean up the mess after I collect my senses. It was LOUD. Like a shotgun blast.

Those two holes are not where the cap goes. Those are chemical updates.

&%#$ O'Reilly batteries. I've had one that was 3 months old (came with the car) that would barely hold a charge and another the same age (also came with a car) that has always leaked like a rusty shrimp boat.

WOW. Glad you're ok. Does the battery have a date sticker? I'm curious how old it is.

Thing is, most automotive batteries are made by the same company.

Shown on the cap on the pic. 5/19.

Never acted weak. Start the car regularly. The blast would have damaged the hood if closed. It blew both sides off the battery as well. I neutralized the acid with a pump sprayer full of hot water and a baking soda mixture. Did more damage to the grass under the car. At least it gave me a reason to clean out the fender drain pockets.

Relatively young battery, how's your charger? Perhaps it malfunctioned?

New. Its one of these. (Not my pic)

Wow, that would have hurt the hood I bet you are lucky there. I honestly wonder what caused that to happen given your setup doesn't seem old or sketchy. Glad you and the car are okay.

__________________

Carefully looking in the new holes, the plates dont look happy but Im not sure if they were like that after the boom or before. The design is archaic though.

Was the charger turned off before disconnecting from the battery? Normally battery explosions are caused by some sort of electrical spark. This could have happened with any brand battery - expensive or not.

These explosions are usually from the top cell cap of the battery not venting and allowing concentration of flammable gas. Sometimes installers forget to remove the venting hole caps on DIN shaped batteries like this one - the holes are on either side of the battery.


btw - please replace those poor battery terminals and cables with good items. HD solid ones are sold at NAPA too - you can order your cables online too in your custom shape - The ground terminal you need is an elbow shaped one.

__________________
2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Zul - have never heard of venting holes in a battery. Could you point them out in one of the pics above? Interesting.

I thought the only time you had a blow up problem was when both jumper cables were on the battery posts instead of the negative on a ground.

Charger was disconnected. I don’t crank with a charger connected as I don’t want to damage the alternator when it starts.

The cables and ends were on my list to swap before the battery popped and now more so. Im getting an AGM battery with new cables and running an extra ground to the block.

They are on both ends of the cap. You can barely see one in the first pic.

Heres a pic I just took.

Often auto batteries have a vent tube to allow gases to escape safely. Often, the installer does not install the vent tube or position it safely to expend the gases. When removing a battery always disconnect the negative cable first and reconnect the negative cable last.

that's a serious malfunction...

I popped one back in the 80's on my old mustang
but the top just broke off

acid ate all the paint on the underside of the hood as well.

guy at the shop said to let the battery cool 1 hour after hi amp charge before
submitting it to a full load