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95 Mystique Battery getting too hot

S

Shtoms

New CEG'er
Joined
Jun 26, 2005
Messages
13
My battery cracked at the positive terminal (closest to engine) due to heat. I replaced the battery, after much conversation as to what "failure" means in warranty terms. The new battery is leaking fluid through the caps on the top, the battery itself is getting to hot. There is no heat wrap, etc on it. What can I do to protect it?

Also need to change the coolant, dont think it's doing a great job cooling anymore.

It's a 2.5 V6 duratec btw
 
it sounds like yur battery is getting heated up more by like overchargin rather than engine heat, alot of contours/mondeos have the same set up like u and they dont have the problems, maybe yur alternator is over charging the battery and making it hot, id personally get it checked out if its this, the water leaking on top might be a sign that yur battery is on its way to exploding, i sound a bit extreme there but it doesnt sound right from reading yur post :(
 
Have the charging system checked out. It might be overcharging the battery causing the battery acid to bubble out of the fill holes and the over heating. I don't know why the battery would crack at the terminal unless there was some undue physical stress on it there. Is it the Motorcraft battery that's standard issue for the car? While heat in general can "kill" a battery, they still last 4 or 5 years or more in these cars barring a charging system failure.
Karl
 
Also need to change the coolant, dont think it's doing a great job cooling anymore.
Click to expand...

Boiling battery=overcharge, car should have no more than 15 volts at battery terminals while running. You might need a new waterpump, metal impeller or white plastic impeller. Also, do your radiator cooling fans operate? Quick test, turn on (functional) A/C, the radiator fans come on.
 
The charge system reads 14v normally during run and 12.7 - 8 off. The battery is el'cheapo battery from advance (autolite). car does have a history of electrical problems, the advance ato guys also checked the alternator and it checked out fine. All I know is the engine gets real hot, the fans work etc. Maybe my thermostat is bad.
 
Bottom line: if you have acid boiling out of the vents of a battery, you are experiencing an overcharge situation.

You state what the system reads (14v) running, but when was this taken?
recently? since we asked?
 
Listen to Ray

Listen to Ray

DO you think your car is over heating because the battery is boiling over? RAy is right, short of a fire in you engine bay, the only thing that could cause the battery to 'bubble' water out of the top is overcharging. Overcharging is usually caused by a defective voltage regulator. I don't know about this car but most voltage regulators now days are an integral part of the alternator, check your particular application for details.

Oh yes, not only test idling, but at higher rpms, the alternator produces just barely enough to keep up with demands at idle, produces much more energy at higher rpms.
 
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I took a reading yesterday to make sure. I had an issue that the new battery wasnt charging due to corrosion on the cable end (the cable was covered in white corrosion junk from the cracked battery), I thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned it and the battery light went off. Maybe that was causing the bubbling issue?
 
14 volts running should be OK, it may drop a bit after you take a drive. Try: measure voltage after starting and measure after 10 minutes. Voltage should drop some (about .5 volt) after 10 minutes as the battery needs less recharging. If that works charging is OK. Then change your waterpump if you actually have overheating (temp above M in the word NORMAL on the gauge) M is the point where the cooling fans trigger on from the engine warmup, then the temp should drop, rise slowly, fan on, cooler again, Off, etc. If you are in hot climate the engine does get hot but can regulate itself.
 
OK while running it was at 14.3v after like 30 mins of driving, it was down to 13.8v. The temp never goes past the M. We have had 100+ degree days here the past few weeks, i drive 70 miles round trip daily on highway, lots of stop n go in the afternoon heat. Probably killed it. Looks better now.
 
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