Battery caps are popping off
 

First off, my truck is an old beater that gets me around from place to place. Well, one day while driving down the freeway I hear this bang against the bottom side of my hood. I pull over and find that one of my battery caps had shot off so hard that it hit my hood and I heard it. Well, not being real smart or much time, I continued to drive it for a week only to realize that my battery had shot both caps off and was spraying battery acid all over the place. I had to get to work so I threw in a brand new Optima and when I got to work it was hissing pretty loud.
What is going on here, is it just a short somewhere, am I going to blow up my battery, etc? I know I need to get this taken care of ASAP because I think I have a potential bomb under my hood.

2 words - Voltage Regulator

You are probably getting way more than 14 volts at the battery terminal. This is overcharging your battery resulting in the condition you have

:agree: This could end up with a bang as well.

your battery is being overcharged your lucky the battery didnt explode and kill you while u were standing over it.

If You have ever seen one blow up,You will not forget it!We had one on a charger at the shop.The charger malfunctioned and charged it full blast.And I mean blast,battery casing all over the place.We were lucky that no one was close to it.

Don't drive it until it's fixed. If you stick a voltmeter on it I would bet it's over 16 volts, with the regulator stuck. No fun having a battery explode, it certainly ruins a paint job. :waah:

:agree:
the overcharge you are experiencing probably ruined the optima battery!
fix it then spray all the underhood with a bicarbinate of soda,(baking soda),/water mix.30%b.s. 70% water.let it sit a few minutes then rinse with clean water & repeat.
this will neutralize the acid that is even now eating your truck.
don't use the b.s./water mix on the battery though.have it out of the truck.

Thanks guys, the voltage regulator will be hooked up before I even leave work. Looking back on it now, I was definitely taking some risks driving that thing around :rolleyes:

Hey, thanks for the advice on the baking soda concoction. I couldn't figure out how to get all of that acid out of there.

i'm here to help

Voltage Regulator sounds right on the money.

It would also be a good idea to inspect the main power cables from the battery to the starter. And the wires from the alternator to the regulator. Overcharging can also superheat the cables and they may become brittle.

If they crackle when you bend em? Replace em.

and on that note do not weld or smoke near a chrging battery!!I was grinding on some steal plate and a spark caused the battery to explode.They give of hydrogine will charging and that is HIGHLY explosive!!Kinda like the Hinenburg air ship!!