battery acid spill, what would cause it?
 

What would cause the battery fluid to spill? I checked under the hood recently and saw that some battery fluid had spilled. I noticed since the retaining clip was rusting and the paint around the fenderwell was damaged. I flushed enough water through there, and I am going to spread some baking soda too. I didn't go offroading or anything, perhaps one or two hard brakes perhaps, but I wouldn't expect that to cause the battery to spill.

Any ideas? Thanks

A. Your voltage regulator isn't regulating. The resulting overvoltage will overcharge the battery and make it boil.

B. The battery was over filled. Actually not over filled but filled a little too much and its splashing out. It should be filled to just above the bottom of the slotted well, for lack of a better description.

Thanks, I'll look into that...
 

The I hope is not the first, since I haven't touched the battery at all so the fluid should be OK or at worst need fluid and not overfilled.

Thanks again, I'll share the results once I have it checked out.

Get a voltmeter and measure the voltage across the battery terminals with the engine running.

If yours reads over 14.4 volts, you have an overcharging problem!

My 300E measured 17.5V when my regulator went bad, and my battery was constantly venting...you could smell the sulphuric acid in the air and see the cloud emanating from under the hood!!!:eek:

it was the battery...
 

Had it checked, the battery was bad (original battery since '98). Put in a new battery, everything is fine now, thanks...