I was starting the cars and bike and running Sta-bil through them yesterday and the 41 was giving me a problem starting. It was turning over slow even with the battery charger hooked up and draining the battery. Today I charged the battery and also hooked the charger to the starter to help the weak battery. Soon as I hit the key, KA-BLEWY, it blew the battery apart ! Luckily the battery was a rear passenger side mount in the back of the bed and I was half in and out of the cab. Pieces blew onto the top of the truck near where my head was and also near the door of the Henry J on the other side of the truck about 15 ft away. I was a lucky man to not be near this thing when it let go. So after giving everything a baking soda bath the question remains, WHY did it happen ?
First, glad it missed you! Second, you did hose everything down to remove the acid that went everywhere, right? As to why it exploded, lead-acid batteries outgas hydrogen gas when charging and it's very explosive. You obviously got a spark from the charger when you hit the starter, that's all it takes.....
Probably a spark where your charger was connected to battery, acid fumes are explosive. It happened to me a while back when i was disconnecting a charger from my forklift. The charger was still charging when i unhooked it and sparked (large explosion)
That sucks, at least you didn't get hurt and there's no acid damage on anything. No clue why it blew but I have seen one blow before and they are no joke. When I was in high school I worked at Buffalo Thermo King. One of the mechanics hooked a battery charger up to a refer unit backwards. As soon as he turns the charger on it sounded like a bomb going off. Battery acid went everywhere all while the customer was standing right there, he wasn't too happy. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
It was the possessed truck not the car, I swear it's possessed. It sure made a loud bang, maybe a spark off the cable at the battery did it, charger was hooked up at the starter.
It can be caused by a bad internal connection in a battery which might be why it didn't start in the first place.
If there was a top on that battery box and it was not vented to the outside that could have a lot to do with the explosion also as someone else mention batteries do short internally.
Just another item on the "weird" things that have happened with this truck. Surprised the cops didn't show for the gun fire sound it made, being twenty degrees out I'm sure all the neighbors had their windows closed. Yeah that piece of battery on the roof was no comparison to the load it once carried. Mike, come on over,just don't get out of the car...lol
FWIW, the batteries I have seen near/or have exploded have been low of electrolyte in at least 1 cell.
I had that happen to me years ago when jump starting a customers Vega. I saw a spark out of the corner of my eye. Luckily I had turned my head to look away, when it blew. It was like a shotgun blast. The lid blew off the top of the battery and went up and over the car and landed in the parking lot.. I was very lucky I wasn't hurt. A gassing battery and any type of spark nearby is all it takes. Thank You for posting!
When I worked in a shell station many years ago I had to go out on a road call and jump start a customers car.I didn't know the battery was frozen . When I hooked up the jumpers kaboom.I am glad I didn't get hurt but ruined my clothes and then the guy wanted me to pay for his crappy battery lol. Bruce.
Either a bad internal connection, or a charger clamp not making a good connection. You're lucky you didn't get any acid in your eyes, braille keyboards aren't funny!
I've seen brand new batteries explode. One in particular I remember was a mid-60s Lincoln, the battery was toast and I activated a new one for it. I worked at Standard (now Chevron) at the time and all our batteries were shipped dry, so you filled them then charged them until the specific gravity was right and it reached a certain temp. Took the battery to the car, started installing it. The oil dipstick was pretty close to the positive battery post, and when I connected the negative cable, it arced through the hydrogen-laden air and blew the entire top off the battery. Ended up buying a paintjob... those had a forward-opening hood and acid went all over the car; didn't get all the acid rinsed off in time.
I've had one blow up in my face, some how the acid never got me in the face. Ran to the water hose and rinsed my body off. I was very lucky! Another one was a diesel chevy pick up would not start. Tech had a charger on both batteries all of suddin one of them explodes. He was lucky that he was in the cab when it let go. The noise is bad enough, but the acid and the damage that it could do is some scary shit.
Been over 30 years since I had a battery explode,fired up the car after school and BOOM then the car shut off. It fired right back up and went home and then opened the hood and found the top off the battery,drove it for a couple days with the top off the battery before it died. I think the wreck I was in had had something to do with it but ended up walking to school for a few days before getting another battery.
Glad your ok. Never had one go off personally,but heard,then saw the results of one 25 yrs ago.....The noise,the guy screaming,the cloud,the fire engine wail.........No thank you.
Had one blow up on me just hooking up jumper cables back when batteries had vent caps. What was weird was I was still able to start it and drive to a station to get a new battery.
Probably created a spark as said above.I had one blow up on me back in the early 70's, I was charging the battery on our 67 Opel wagon with a 400 smallblock,I had the charger on high, we fired it up, the battery was in the back so I decided to lift the cable while it was running to see if it was charging, well it was charging and created a spark and blew the top off I got sprayed, but worse me and my buddy who was sitting in the drivers seat had a ringing in the ears for quite a while.Hosed myself off no real damage other than some clothing, but sure taught me a lesson.
I had one blow up on a car a few feet from me years ago in a theater parking lot late at night. Way back when I drove tow truck and been called to unlock someones door in the same lot. When the battery blew up everyone was diving under cars thinking it was from a drive by shooting or something.
Your very lucky you didn't get hurt,,My uncle had a battery explode in his face more than 30 years ago and he spent the rest of his life blind. All it took was a spark while he was installing jumper cables. HRP
Yep, gotta be careful, really bad things can happen. Had a buddy once who was checking the (dead)battery level after dark, no flashlight. No problem, flic'd his Bic. BOOM. No permanent damage, but his shorts were throwaways.
I had an early Econoline back in the late 60's. When I got off work one day it would not start. Cranked really slow. I looked at the battery located in a box behind the drivers seat. Corroded terminals. No tools. Grabbed the lug wrench and pried the cables off, cleaned 'em with my pocket knife, put the cables back on and was tapping them back on with the lug wrench when....BOOM!. I had crossed both terminals with the wrench. It was raining and I remembered in an instant where the puddles were. With eyes wide shut I stumbled out of the truck and washed my face. No real damage ( other than the batt. blowing it's top. But the damn thing started. Been very careful since that lesson!
Glad your Ok. Seen & heard about a few explosions. When I was a kid I was watching my dad help a guy install an engine in his car. The guy was leaning over the battery with the charger on when it exploded. Didn't ruin anything but the clamp of the charger ended up clamped to the guys shirt. The 2 just laughed about it but they knew they dodged a bullet. Fast forward to the 70's, jump starting a new car when the battery blew up. Boss I was working for(who everyone hated)gave me hell. Not 2 hours later he blew one up in a customers car. Couldn't resist gettin' in his face. One more. A friend was working on a car when one blew up in his face. Blinded, he panicked and ran out the shop door. Other guys at the shop had to tackle him before he ran into a busy street. He ended up ok & we still get to laugh about it now.
I blew one up in my pickup a couple years back when I reversed polarity on the jumper cables. My wife was a 100 yards away and she came running. She said, "I just knew you had finally blown yourself up!" Fortunately for me, I made the last connection at the jumper instead of the jumpee. In my case I think the spark was created internally due to low electrolyte.
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