Oil in car battery?

[Jakegday]

i ran into someone that suggested when you add water to your car battery, its a good idea to put a cap full of motor oil in each one of the holes. doing this will help if the battery ever gets too low on water. instead of the plates (or whatever they're called) getting dry when the water gets low, they would get coated with oil, since oil always floats on water, and be somewhat protected..

thoughts???

 

[Chris142]

Never heard of this.

 

[oggb]

You first.

 

[tom slick]

As far as I know the "plates getting dry" isn't the issue when the water gets low.

I've never heard of oil in a battery, even in large industrial ($$$$) batteries.

 

[Eddie]

Very difficult to believe this is for real.

 

[tinmanSC]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
Very difficult to believe this is for real.

+1

 

[berniedd]

Crazy idea. Oil can seep into the plates' tops and coat the lead plates there even if the water does not go below their height. And oil is an electrical insulator. Get the drift?

 

[MolaKule]

Bad idea.

Not only that, but the additives in the oil can change the chemistry of the electrolyte and cause the cells to fail.

Water loss can be due to a number of things such as a bad charging system or intense heat in the engine compartment.

 

[Panzerman]

I would think that is a stupid sugestion. I have been looking at batteries alot and how they work and even had a couple of experiments with try to revive them. From what I have seen and read, they go dead and fail to recharge, because of build up on the plates, I would think oil would make this even worse and fail and the oil would be the same as build up on the plates. I solvent may work, but oil would be a bad idea. But then again, you never know until you try it. I never thought melting a coil would make it work again, but it did.

 

[Panzerman]

Not to mention that Explosive gases may result in a big acid bomb, seeing a battery explode in person, you gotta be a little careful when playing with them.

 

[mechtech2]

Nonsense. And potentially dangerous and harmful.

 

[sandy_d]

You really have to wonder if this is a true story or not.

I think the OP is BSing us.

 

[Jakegday]

really? i wanted to [censored] you guys and THATS what i came up with? lol, i seriously had someone tell me thats what they do..

 

[The_Eric]

Motor oil? No.

Now MMO on the other hand......

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: Jakegday
i ran into someone that suggested when you add water to your car battery, its a good idea to put a cap full of motor oil in each one of the holes. doing this will help if the battery ever gets too low on water. instead of the plates (or whatever they're called) getting dry when the water gets low, they would get coated with oil, since oil always floats on water, and be somewhat protected..

thoughts???


Did the guy you ran into have oil in his battery ?? If he didn't, I would offer to add some to it.

 

[Steve S]

Who wants to try oil in the battery?

 

[Texan4Life]

LOL

now on the other hand little sulfuric acid in the crankcase is great

 

[eljefino]

I think it's a great idea. They put oil in electrical transformers and there's way more voltage in them. You can't lose.

I'd also use a few drops of MMO just to be sure.

 

[carwreck]

This oil "myth" is actually based on some fact. Not for modern car batteries, but it was used on Edison batteries.

Oil was added on the top of Edison batteries to prevent evaporation.

http://www.antiquebottles.com/edison/

 

[Panzerman]

That Edison Oil looks alot like Marvel Mystery oil. Interesting. More Interesting is the fact that they can make a battery, 75 years ago that still works 75 years later and they cannot make a battery now that lasts 10 years and in the case of ATV batteries that last 2 years.