OK,this guy is not putting safety first but I'm sure most of you members would use common sense and take proper safety measures. But the end result is interesting all that old black crud can kill a battery get rid of it and you might save some bucks it might be worth picking up some 80 cent a gallon distilled water at Wally World and giving it a try.
Why not just use tap water if you were just rinsing the battery out? You could always just save the distilled water for the final rinse. He still had quite a bit of gunk coming out at the end. Also why not just use some fresh acid? I'm sure it's available somewhere. I bet places that "rebuild" batteries probably do the same thing. Either way I'm going to try this. I have a couple of batteries that are no longer holding a charge. Safety first though.
I have tried the additive to bring the batteries back , but with poor results. I also will try this on a couple batteries i have. I dont have any experience, but maybe those pulsing chargers that break up the crud on the plates is another way to go,, but they are expensive
They actually did a similar procedure like his when I was in the Army back in the mid 60's in our shop,new acid is too strong on the older plates it will shorten their life so they also used distilled water to dilute it.
My idea was to get some fresh acid and dilute it. Anyway I just finished trying to clean all that crud out of one of my old batteries. It took closer to 10 gallons of rinsing to see a difference in the amount of crud coming out of the battery. There still was a noticeable amount visible even after 10 gallons but I decided it was going to have to be good enough. I filtered the old acid a few times with coffee filters and blue paper shop towels but even then the acid was still a bit grey. Anyway I have the charger on it now. I am really bushed after lifting and shaking that battery. It was quite a workout,
Thanks, I hope it works. I didn't want to get battery acid on my phone. I did get some on my hands but it didn't burn me one bit. The garage floor didn't fair so well. Strange. It's supposed to be pretty toxic to skin.
OK, after 24 hours of charging, I put it back in my 25 year old F150 with a 302, It started up fine, I didn't try starting it after shutting it off. I did drive it enough to charge it a bit more off the truck's charging system. I'll have to see if I'll be still able to start it again tomorrow after it sits in the cold overnight.
I think I'd rather just get a new battery. I'm curious to see how long it lasts after this procedure. I'm guessing only a few weeks.
Sadly it didn't even make it overnight. Big waste of time and materials. Yes, it's better to just buy another battery.
Bummer ! I guess we can't say you didn't give it one hell of a try though. Just for fun trickle charge it again overnight and test with a voltmeter after charging and then 24 hours later with it out of the truck and post the readings.
I could try that. Right now I'm in no hurry now to pull the battery. I might give it a try after Thanksgiving. I was hoping it would have worked since it I wouldn't have to stick any more money into that truck. I want to sell it next Spring.
I didn't mean "out of truck" just unhook the cables to eliminate the possibility of any current draw.
I gave the battery one final charge again. It had a bit over 13 volts after pulling the charger. That boosted my optimism a little. I came back to it about 20 minutes or so later and it was a little under 12.9 volts. I let it sit the next day and then over night and it dropped below 11 volts. I never hooked it up either. It was worth a try. I have two other batteries that are weak. I'm not going to bother with those.
you will have to admit it occupied your timeand gave you an excuse to avoid the honey do list for a while
The Jalopy Journal
