Why I hate Exide batteries. :RANT:

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Chris142

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Back in the late 80's I worked for Pep Boys and they sold batteries made by Exide. We had lots of problems with them.

Later on in life I worked for Kragen auto parts who also sold Exide batteries. We had so many problems with them that we had a 4x4x4 stack of returns every week!

No fast forward to February of last year. I aquired another Peterbilt as a parts truck. After I got it home I found that it had 3 brand new Exide batteries in it.

The date code on them was 2-07. I thought this was a great score.

I took the "reconditioned" batteries out that did not give me any problems and put the new Exides in my truck.

Now every 6 weeks I have to pull the cables off and clean the terminals. The Exides are leaking between the plastic case and the terminal on 2 of them.

Now I know that overcharging a battery will make gasses that will cause this problem. Truck does not over charge and I had no problems with the old batteries.

So far I have smeared silicone on the area where the posts go through the plastic case thinking that it may seal the area. Then I tried grease. Nothing will stop the gasses from corroding the cables!

6 weeks ago I bought new cables and cleaned the entire area up with baking soda/ water and cleaned it up with a brush.. Today I pop the battery box lid off and find the posta all corroded green.

Rant off.
 
Exide has made mostly junk since it was General Battery (a long time ago). They made all the "warranty" batteries back in the day. I guess they could make good batteries if they wanted to.

I don't think you can have corrosion without a conductive path for the ion exchange.
 
I have good luck with any battery made by Johnson Controls. Whether the cheapies at Farm and Fleet or others, i get 5-7 years from a 70 dollar battery in this brand. I remember researching battery reliability and these did better than the others.
 
Whats funny is that the Reconditioned batteries that were in it worked fine and did not corrode the terminals. They were over 2 yrs old and I was worried about them leaving me stranded somewhere...............They been sitting in the parts truck since the switch and still work.

I'll have to replace the Exides Probly this summer just to stop the corrosion but I can't swing $300 for batteries right now.
 
I never had a problem with the OEM quality Exide batteries for my car. The first one lasted 6 years. I replaced it earlier this year prophylactically with another Exide.
 
The OE battery that's in the Saab 93 is made by Exide and it's known to fail prematurely.

Wal-Mart batteries are made by Exide (at least in this region).

So are the batteries that AAA sells when you get a jumpstart and they determine the battery is dead. Guess it's their way of ensuring repeat business.
 
Ditto to the Johnson Controls comment. I've had great experiences with Interstate batteries in particular. I've beaten the heck out of Farm and Fleet batteries, having put them in cars that rarely got run without disconnecting the cables, and they never gave me any trouble either.

On the other hand, I had a rebranded Exide in a former 1996 Grand Am that had the same problems that the OP is describing.
 
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Wow, looks like we may need to start a "who makes what battery" thread.

IDK who made the 9 year old Delco battery in my Buick, but it's handled the coldest a Buffalo winter can throw at it (knocks on wood, gets down on knees to pray it keeps going, does a battery dance, throws salt over shoulder, says another prayer for good measure) without complaint.
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
I don't think you can have corrosion without a conductive path for the ion exchange.


If you've got two different metals (say the lead post and the clamp, or the clamp and the lead) joined together and a damp electrolyte over them, you've got a corrosion cell.

There's issues between different types of copper alloys (eg naval brass and cupronickel)in sea water
 
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Wow, looks like we may need to start a "who makes what battery" thread.

IDK who made the 9 year old Delco battery in my Buick, but it's handled the coldest a Buffalo winter can throw at it (knocks on wood, gets down on knees to pray it keeps going, does a battery dance, throws salt over shoulder, says another prayer for good measure) without complaint.

http://jgdarden.com/batteryfaq/batbrand.htm :p
 
FWIW

I know the enviromental impacts of certain metals was unknown back in the day but Exide really messed up the town I grew up and still work in. The river next to the plant is still contaminated after a few clean-up attempts,Exide abandoned the site and left the building as is and did nothing. It was made of brick so it stayed intact for the msot part but the roof ended up collapsing and allowing rain to get in,which in turn washed whatever residual in there to leach out. It was finally demolished and cleaned as of 2006. It's an open field along side RT 1 in Fairfield,Ct..Still has a chain link fence around it!

So I can see they have continued their tradition of sloppy and unprofessional workmanship!
 
I've got almost 8 years on a regular duralast battery from autozone. I charge it every year just in case. no complaints
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
I don't think you can have corrosion without a conductive path for the ion exchange.


If you've got two different metals (say the lead post and the clamp, or the clamp and the lead) joined together and a damp electrolyte over them, you've got a corrosion cell.

There's issues between different types of copper alloys (eg naval brass and cupronickel)in sea water


Well, it can surely be some impurity in the post ..forming its own battery. I think that they blend lead and steel ..but most of the corrosion that I've seen is because there's a path across the top of the battery between the posts. That's the alleged reason that GM went with the side post battery. I don't think I've ever seen one corrode ..or it was so rare that I've forgotten about it. One would reason that there's no exclusive property to it (over the decades) other than this feature.

Now he may just have a dirty case ..as in during the molding process.
 
Both the Exide and Johnson Controls Wal-Mart batteries are junk. They are the battery I most often have to replace.

I use a Deka/Carquest battery in my Saturn ION. I hope those are better.
 
Yes, the Farm and Fleet Johnson Controls ones are what I meant. My family has bought these for years and we always have gotten at least 5 years, and up to 7. And I think we just buy the 69 dollar one.
 
That's terrible. That really makes me happy I don't buy Exide batteries. Maybe Erin Brockovich could take this case.
frown.gif
 
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