BenThere

'08 Z06. Opened the car door, the seat pre- adjusted for me (that electrical worked fine), set the automatic seat for me, pressed the start button, and BAM!!! the battery blew-friggin'-up! Out the side around the + post!

Anybody have this experience? Any quirks in the car that I need to look for before replacing the battery? I mean, why'd it blow? Been OK up to now......

The car has been stored for a couple months, on a battery tender. Took it off the tender last week, and been driving the car just fine until this.

As soon as it blew, I had to use the manual lever to open the door and the key to open the hatch, and flooded the battery compartment immediately with several gallons of water. Got the battery out without any acid damage to anything, thanks to careful usage of trash bags to cover potentially exposed surfaces.

Now what?? I can replace the battery, but what evil lurks in the Vette that will cause this to happen again???

BigVette427

What kind of battery was it? (Will try to avoid that one!) Was the vent tube installed?

Unreal

I doubt it was the cars fault. Probably just a random freak bad battery.

danziger

It actually exploded? I would suspect the vent tube as well. Scary!

BenThere

Super Start from O'Rielly. About a year old.

Yep, vent was connected.

BenThere

Yep. I'll check the tube to be sure it's not clogged, looks like some good 'ol H2 got ignited inside the battery case. Still gotta wonder why.....

Vette @ 71

Indication of a H2 leak. Does not take but a 2% by volume for H2 to explode in presence of a source. The battery cable looks to have some corrosion? and when it began discharging jumped a spark.??

BenThere

Battery connections are pristine, like new. No sign of any corrosion, deposits, dust, dirt, nothing. Pristine.

gsflyer2011

Beacuse you had it on the tender for continuously for months. Do not know for sure, either the tender was over charging and warped the plates inside and shorted, accompanied by all that hydrogen build up. Even one of my expensive so called smart tenders got defective while back over charging the battery, which i caught after 2 weeks, it did not explode but cracked the case around the post with fluid leakage. The lesson is that don't leave it plugged in all the time, without checking.

BenThere

Well, it sure has been on the tender a LOT, I’m out of town for months at a time. Been using a Deltran tender, rudimentary thingievwith two lites, one green and one red.

First I’ve heard of a tender doing this, but it’s the only thing out of the ordinary regarding operating the car. I’d like to know this is the cause, that way I will know there’s not something else going on in there I need to be looking for. One grenading battery in the Vette is enough for one lifetime.

Thanks for the feedback.

gsflyer2011

Do what i ended up doing. I got a weekly timer. Once a week it is programed to charge my battery for 13 hours which is 2-4 hours more than it needs at any day of your choosing. That way battery is not on continual charge for weeks and charging once a week is plenty, it never goes down less than 80 percent charge or 12.5 volts even after sitting for whole week.

GettnBetter

Sounds like the tender was braindead and overcharged the battery. Explosive gas was the result.

I've had two battery tender brand chargers die in strange ways. I'll never buy their brand again ever.

I've since switched to anybrand 12V float chargers less than $10. Simple items like .

itomh

I had to look this one up, I copied and pasted below:


The downside of lead-acid batteries, other than the fact that they aren’t a terribly efficient way to store energy, is that they’re made up of fairly hazardous materials, and those hazardous materials can interact in dangerous ways. The presence of lead is the primary reason that car batteries have to be carefully and properly disposed of, and the presence of sulfuric acid is why you have to take care when handling them unless you want holes eaten in your clothes or chemical burns on your skin.
Of course, the danger that we’re particularly concerned with here is a sudden and catastrophic explosion, and the source of that particular hazard flows from the interaction between the lead and sulfuric acid in a battery. Small amounts of hydrogen gas are produced during both the process of discharge and during charging, and hydrogen is highly flammable. So when a battery has discharged to the point where it can no longer power a starter motor, there’s always a chance that some amount of hydrogen gas is still lingering inside the battery, or leaking out of the battery, just waiting for an ignition source. The same is true of a battery that has just been charged, as charging—and particularly overcharging—with a high voltage leads to the formation of both oxygen and hydrogen


Source:


https://www.lifewire.com/dangers-of-...battery-534782

BenThere

Thanks, guys. Pretty sure the tender over- tended and hurt the battery. Got a new battery and I’ll get it in this AM and see what happens. The tender will be retired.

itomh

Good call

BenThere

New battery installed and seems to be just fine. But, I got another problem now. Started another "need help/suggestions" thread.

2StrikeHtr

Wow, just saw this ... and promptly went out to disconnect my battery tender !! Thanks for posting.

I'm not really versed in batteries, but are there better options, like a gel battery or something, that would avoid this problem.

Glad you and your machine are o.k. !

Unreal

A good tender and no issue. Something like a ctek.

SonnyAK

Which brand tender was it on? I have the same battery in my '09 and it lives on a CTEK tender. My Dad had one blow up in his face years ago when jumping a dead battery. Luckily no permanent damage to his eyes after getting acid in them!!