Bad Battery?

[65sixbanger]

So today I had to jump start one of our tractors with a battery, cause I am not turning it over by hand crank!! And so anyways, I pulled the drivers side battery out and hooked it up to the tractor, and no go. nothing was happening. I thought the starter was bad, but I ooked up a voltmeter to the battery and it showed nothing. Anyways long story short, there was a huge hole in the bottom of my battery which emptied out two cells. I have been startig my truck all winter with only one battery!!! And to think all those nights I had to sleep on my truck with the radio and amps on. WOW.

 

[91f2504x4]

Sounds like it must not get too cold, and you're lucky you live somewhere warm. My truck has been starting good all year and the first day we had below 20 degrees, I went to crank it and it clicked. I jumped it with my other truck and it started up and was fine for a couple more days until it got cold again and then nothing. I tested and the driver side battery was crap and it had been starting off the passenger battery. It was fine till it got cold out.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Oh goody, another battery thread.


I try at least once each year to separate the batteries of any multi-battery system and see if each individual battery will crank with authority by itself.

It is best to isolate the batteries about twelve hours before this test, so as for any internal power losses to manifest themselves.

I have had batteries that tested good and hot about three different ways, yet not have what it takes to whirl things over under actual use.

 

[65sixbanger]

Well I JB Welded the hole up last night so I guess I will fill the cells back up and see what happens. Its a Group 31 Continental, the ones they use in the Internstionsl School Buses.

 

[Agnem]

Hmm... I doubt I would mess with JB Welding a $100 battery. I'm already in search of a battery tray. I don't think I'd give the truck a second acid bath if I could help it.

 

[65sixbanger]

Hmm... I doubt I would mess with JB Welding a $100 battery. I'm already in search of a battery tray. I don't think I'd give the truck a second acid bath if I could help it.

You know, Thats the weird thing, there are no signs of battery acid on the truck, So I am almost thinking I bought the battery with a hole in it . I figure I have nothing to lose....

 

[CDX825]

Shows the power of a group 31 if your were able to run that long on just one.

 

[65sixbanger]

Shows the power of a group 31 if your were able to run that long on just one.

Yeah thats what made me laugh about the whole thing

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Shows the power of a group 31 if your were able to run that long on just one.

Many of the Dodge/Cummins trucks come factory-issue with only one Group-31.

 

[CDX825]

I was looking at the specs of Deka's group 31s and they have several different amp ratings. The biggest being 1125 cold cranking amps and 1260 cranking amps.

 

[TBigLug]

Many of the Dodge/Cummins trucks come factory-issue with only one Group-31.

My buddy's Cummins came with one standard automotive battery. Weird how that one little feller starts his truck every ornin no matter how cold it is.

 

[sassyrel]

Yeah thats what made me laugh about the whole thing

make sure--you use full on acid in those cells--NOT distilled water

 

[65sixbanger]

I know these are well over 1000 CCA

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Well I JB Welded the hole up last night so I guess I will fill the cells back up and see what happens. Its a Group 31 Continental, the ones they use in the Internstionsl School Buses.

make sure--you use full on acid in those cells--NOT distilled water

You guys make me think of a guy I know; he was some lunatic that my father hired to work for us, years ago; lunatics just seem to be drawn to him.

This guy couldn't recite his ABCs, nor count past ten, but he was constantly dismantling and rebuilding old dangerous-looking batteries that we had to accept as cores, and then selling them to old skin-flint farmers, equally as loony as him.

He would un-seal the tops and pull the good cells from two or three dead batteries, re-assembling them into one, then pour them full of sulphuric acid.

What amazed me was how he could take pieces from completely different brands of differng sizes, and still come up with a somewhat functioning battery.

 

[CDX825]

lol thats crazy