Battery explosion

[mattd]

Out of an ambulance, date code of 6/18 on the batteries. MTP65 interstate batteries. Driver claimed he heard what sounded like a gun shot and then "gun powder" smell right after starting the truck. Never seen one this bad. No charging system issues.

 

[Propflux01]

Heckuva short!!!

 

[JLTD]

BZZZZZT-POW!

 

[Trav]

We had that happen many years ago when I was in trade school, not fun when your coveralls fall apart when washed.

 

[AC1DD]

Seems like Interstate has a batch of defective batteries on their hands!!!!! Exide is their manufacturer correct?

 

[Chris142]

Had a couple blow up in the shop over the years.

 

[dlundblad]

I know of a guy who had one blow up in his face. Supposedly got all over his face and into his mouth and messed up his teeth enamel.

I wonder what the cause was in the OP since the charging system was good.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Ouch! Had this happen on an old TR-4 I owned as a kid. Positive ground car, shorted it accidentally while wrenching away and in a split second it blew up and scattered plastic all over the street.

Got stuff in my eyes, had to sit at the hospital while they contacted my parents. Luckily no permanent damages.

Came back the next day and the car still started!

 

[Kruse]

Years ago, I had customer who had a battery just blow up right outside the shop when he tried to start up his vehicle. Another one of those "..it happens" moments.
I put in a new battery and away he went, never to have a problem with it again. At the time, I remember our uniforms included blue colored jeans that weren't affected by battery acid, unlike regular jeans.
I never did check the label to see what they were made of.
On a completely different context, my brother also had one blow up on him when he was welding in his shop. Not the brightest thing in the world, but he had it under the vice and was welding and had spark fall down on it. He never did that again.

 

[BigGee]

Many years back,I had the same thing happen with an interstate battery also( it was the green /white variety).It was 3-4 years old ,in a 305 Chevy truck.Stopped for some take out food,when I turned the key -boom. I have stayed away from this brand ever since.

 

[Errtt]

Had one blow one morning on cranking on what I called my fishing vehicle (K-5 Blazer).
Put a new battery in and never another problem with a battery.
A weird thing was when I went to remove the blown battery, the seam around all 4 sides near the bottom separated so when I went to lift it out, the bottom of the battery case was still sitting on the battery tray. Although I hosed off all I could with water for awhile, the electrolyte had got into some tight areas and latter on corrosion came.
The battery was about a month old when that happened.

add: that was an Exide battery (some years ago) and still haven't bought an Exide battery since.

 

[P10crew]

Seen that twice. The first one was a bad one. One cold winters morning my dad was jumping one of the family vehicles in the drive way and bang. He came in the house and I was the first one to meet him. He said take my hand and get me to the shower. He jumped in there boots coat and all. He had a chunk of the case sticking out of his eyebrow. He got cleaned up put a couple bandaids on and went to work. Have no idea how it didn't burn his eyes.

 

[mattd]

Acid was all over the place, I'm surprised it didn't eat through any of the ac lines, heater hoses, belts, radiator end tank, or charge pipe. Never mind the underside of the hood. Used a couple cans of the battery terminal cleaner to try to neutralize the acid as it's all I had.

 

[Luftmasse]

Originally Posted by Chris142
Had a couple blow up in the shop over the years.


From charging the battery with a charger or jump starting?

 

[JimPghPA]

In 1977 I took a day off sick and was in house on sofa watching a neighbor jump start his truck with an other vehicle. The dead battery in his truck blew up when he made the last connection, and i saw the acid spray upward spreading out hitting everything, including him. It was winter and he was across the street wearing a coat. He ran into his house and got in the shower.

The next day I asked him about it and he said he had the polarity correct, and it just blew up.

At the time I did not think to ask if he made the last connection at a ground away from the battery.

 

[dogememe]

The battery in one of the delivery vehicles at work exploded when the driver cranked it up after making their delivery. We have no idea why.

 

[Piston_slap]

Wouldn't the explosion need a spark or open flame to cause it? I'd guess an intermittent cell strap or maybe a loose post clamp?

 

[bbhero]

Instead of "gentleman start your engines". . It is "gentleman blow up your batteries" ...

 

[NYEngineer]

Long time ago, I was doing a PM visit at a water district. The batteries appeared to be sealed so I did not check the water levels. When I pushed the start button, it was like I pressed a detonator button. BOOM! I then saw that there were plugs. They were flush fit with a slot in them. Both 1000 amp group 31s were bone dry.
I never made that mistake ever again.

 

[Wheel]

Years ago a co-workers battery let go as we all were leaving at the end of the day. Come to find out he'd been having problems keeping the water level correct in it. It made a mess of things under his hood over the next few months corroding stuff.