Help! Battery smoking

[Suedezed]

Happy Sunday all.

On Friday I noticed there was quite a bit of smoke coming from the battery and distinctive smell. Car turned off ASAP and battery disconnected, and made sure I was well away from the vehicleis sat at the moment.

Could anyone shed some light on how much of a pain is this going to be to fix? Just a battery change? Or is there likely to be some dodgy wiring somewhere? Can’t imagine batteries just give up catastrophically very often…

Anyone had any similar incidences?

Thanks

 

[t-tony]

Most likely is that the Alternator is overcharging the battery. Allow the battery to cool then restart the engine and connect a voltmeter, on 12//20v range across the battery terminals. The meter should read between 13.8 and 14 volts at around 1500 rpm.

Tony.

 

[PhilH67]

Get a vape for it, apparently it helps when giving up smoking

 

[Rod and Kate]

Run away

 

[Pingu]

Change the battery, even if it does pass the alternator test. The level of the electrolyte will have dropped and the internal plates may have swelled and be touching each other.

 

[Zephyr]

that red cable is a sneaky b*****d. Better check that also.

 

[SV8Predator]

Please be careful with this. As advised above, it is caused by over-charging. The gas is hydrogen.

Do not be tempted to disconnect the battery while this is happening! Let everything cool down and leave the boot open to dissipate any gases if you have to disconnect or remove the battery.

You can imagine what will happen if you cause a spark and there is hydrogen gas about. I've seen it twice in my automotive career. Life-changing injuries both times.