Battery Leakage

[riverdude]

Hey Riverdude here, was hoping to pick the colective brain about a battery problem i'm having.

I replaced the original batties after they quit taking a charge with 2 new batteries from Cantire things went good for a while until i noticed they were leaking fluid. Thinking that i had been given faulty batteries i returned them for two new ones. I instaled these and checked the charging voltage of the alternater, 14.46, so they are not getting overcharged. However these new batteries are now leaking as well. Are cantier batteries just crap or is somthing else going on.

Any ideas????

[fexlboi]

Do you really expect good quality from a Canadian Tire battery?

Where are you located? If in Vancouver, go to Polar Battery for good products....

[marsgal42]

Are they actually cracked, or are they blowing electrolyte out their vents?

...laura

[riverdude]

not cracked, acid is leaking out the vents. The kid at cantire said the were rated for V8 trucks so i figured that they would work?? Thought i should figure out whether it was a van problem before i spent another 200 on other batteries.

Dude.

[EricN]

Get a maintenance free battery and make sure you dont crank the hold down clamp on so tight that it distorts the battery.

[after oil]

never buy anything for a delica at cantire in powell river. never tell them that you have a delica. cantire says "youre delica will need work, it cannot be repaired, you cannot buy parts here in canada, and you shouldnt have bought one the first place."
http://www.delica.ca/forum/canada-tire- ... -2789.html

please, i urge you to get your batteries at aero or quality parts... the folks at napa are nice too, except the one nerd who says you cant get parts for RHDs. i told him the engine doesnt care what side the steerting wheel is on

[TardisDeli]

Riverdude,

Take batteries back immediately, safety issue, get your money back because their bad product, or at least a FULL store credit (be firm, use the full credit for buying camping crap not stuff your life depends on). None of us have battery leaks or issues, so it is not a Delica problem. My hunch is a bad batch of batteries. Any chance your batteries froze? Yes, CT products are cheap, the quality of their battery plates is very thin (that's where they save money as metals are expensive).

Then come into Vancouver/Burnaby, stay with us in the TardisDeli Motel, and get a decent battery. We help (for free, as part of our Delica Community Family) lots of delica owners sort out wiring and batteries and adding on extra 12 volt stuff such as inverters and power outlets for coolers. We are also Transport Canada boating safety checkers, so we absolutely know batteries. You do not want ANY battery leaks near the engine, an electric spark is not a good thing near a leaking battery (boom, I see dead people, yes I know your battery isnt in a sealed compartment so the gas is venting away, but...).

My installation is one good 27 series deep cell lead battery, instead of 2 of the 24 series as better cold cranking amps and better drain/recharge capability. There is then just enough room to install a Guest Marine battery charger (shielded wiring) beside the 27 battery on the back wall, which we plug in to our home at night to keep the battery topped up for winter or camping. The typical charge of a battery by a vehicle is only 80%, for safety). The charger will top that up.

If you need a second battery because you are camping and using up all the battery to run the fridge, then just don't run the fridge when parked and use battery flashlights to read by. We can show you a couple options (which is NOT to rely on a Crappy Tire jumpstart battery, we tried 4 of them and still couldnt get my deli started, turns out the specs on them is not the Cold Cranking Amps ... grrr ... Fexlboi did a post about this).

Polar Battery on Boundary Road south of Hastings in Burnaby are excellent, but Jay also buys from Edmonds Batteries on Edmonds near Canada Way in Burnaby as great pricing and quality.

Keep in Touch, come visit, the Community is here to help.

Cheers, Christine.

[Schwa]

The Van could be over charging the batteries... if the regulator is broken and isn't detecting a charged state it may continue to charge the batteries once they're charged...

[marsgal42]

The Van could be over charging the batteries... if the regulator is broken and isn't detecting a charged state it may continue to charge the batteries once they're charged...

This is why I asked where the "leakage" was coming from - electrolyte coming out the top is a classic symptom of an overactive charging system. There is probably nothing wrong with the batteries, as long as you haven't run them dry or otherwise damaged them.

...laura

[riverdude]

Looks like i'm gona get some new bats, but how would i determine if the regulator you spoke of is not working. The alternator is charging a 14.5v but the fluid is coming out of the vents so it would apear that the bats are somehow getting overcharged.

dude.

[Green1]

Do NOT get new batteries until you've solved the overcharging problem, you'll just kill the new ones too...