It seems every JC battery I've owned leaks on the top, performance wise I usually get good service life 4 or 5 years even with the cheapest walmart everstart. Just curious if I'm the only one.
Do most JC batteries leak on the top?
- Thread starter Corollaman
- Start date
They all seem to leak a little. I had one that was particularly bad so I pulled the caps to top up with distilled water and when I put them back on it stopped leaking 
If you do pull the caps make sure you have the proper PPE.
If you do pull the caps make sure you have the proper PPE.
Exide used to be known for leaking around the posts. JC was better but maybe not any more. The deka flooded battery in my jeep is dry on top.
Every JC (or Clarios) battery I’ve had in the last 10 years or so leaked somewhere (posts most common spot), literally NONE of the East Penn ones have leaked a DROP! What is most frustrating is that the thieving resellers (Auto Zone, AAP, etc.) of junk JC batteries REFUSED TO WARRANTY the leakers! Never again…
The leaking JC batteries are a recent development, I had an Interstate MTP Group 78 make it 13 years without leaking before it finally died.
i never had one leak and i use the walmart felt caps.
They all seem to leak a little. I had one that was particularly bad so I pulled the caps to top up with distilled water and when I put them back on it stopped leaking
If you do pull the caps make sure you have the proper PPE.
Those caps are just a friction fit and it's not liquidtight. I guess you could put an o-ring around each of the 3 nubs where the cap fits into the top of the battery to stop any leakage.
To answer the title question, yes, in my experience. I had 3 JC-made batteries, starting in 1995. They all leaked, generally made a mess, and were relatively short-lived. The original (Panasonic?) Japanese battery of my Mazda never leaked, although it lived much longer. The Delco-made Kmart battery never leaked. Funnily, compared to conventional wisdom here, the Exide-made Harbor Freight battery never leaked either, but I had it only about one year before retiring the car. All the above were in the same car.
My Walmart Everstarts have to be wiped off quite often. Not sure where it comes from ? I assumed the caps
Get yourself some of these and never pound or twist hard on the terminals to fit.
Rather than start a duplicate thread I'll revive this one!
I bought a new JC walmart battery in July for my Rav 4. Went out today to do some maintenance and noticed some corrosion on the hold down bracket. I removed the caps and it was wet with acid underneath. So it is leaking around the fill caps. There was nothing coming out of the vent holes in the caps. I also noticed that there are no internal baffles in the fill holes to keep the acid from constantly splashing on the cap plugs as the vehicle is driven.
It looks like I need to look for some o-rings or felt washers.
Here is another tip: I use Silkolene motorcycle chain lube to protect the electrical connections. It flows into all the joints and then turns into thick grease when the carrier solvent evaporates. One can will last a lifetime if you don't have a motorcycle.
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