My battery exploded!

[ORANGE U NV]

My Camaro was parked in the garage over the weekend. I got up this morning to wash it and when I turned the key "BOOM". It sounded like a softball landed on my roof. I jumped out and of course coundn't find anything wrong until I realized the car wouldn't start....then the radio was flickering.
I had to climb through the back seat to pull the trunk release and then I could smell the acid.

After 3 boxes of baking soda and a drain plug pull, all is well and nothing was damaged. I'm just glad it happened on my day off, in the garage instead of to my wife in a parking lot.

[65TIMM]

Wow, that's bizarre! Glad nobody got hurt.

[Denis]

Yea that's a weird one. Glad everything is okay.

[LIM3]

Wow, haven't seen that before.

[Wildcherry13]

Glad no on waas hurt! Could have been just a bad battery!

[AdamZ]

Wow that is crazy. You may have just started a mass recall lol..

[102SS]

What year is your car?

Didn't early 10's have a recall for battery cable probs?

I think I will head over to Wally World and get an Optima,maybe right now!

[Mr pogo]

several thoughts about this.
a spark must have occured to set off the hydrogen gas from the battery when you turned the key on.

now it couldve been internal if there was battery plate failure and one shorted against another but that is pretty rare as manufacturers nowadays lock them in pretty tight.

but to prevent a repeat-
was the battery vent hose installed tightly, no kinks and vented to outside?
your setup looks different from mine, my vent hose is on passenger side of batt and goes straight down into hole at bottom of compartment.
battery cables tight also so no arcing?

also if the trunk floor cover got saturated with acid I would replace it.
and go over the battery compartment a second time with baking soda and keep an eye out for any corrosion that might pop up later.
back in the 80s toyota had a bad batch of batteries in their pickups/4runners that would blow up unexpectedly.
just about everybody I knew developed corrosion in the hood over the battery location.

[Chi-One]

Shocking!

[Scalded Dog]

Exploding batteries ain't no joke! I've dealt with a couple of them.

A friend was tinkering under the hood when his battery blew. I was 20 feet away, thought that it was a bomb. Shattered my friend's coke- bottle glasses, but the lenses were able to stop the acid from getting into his eyes.... other fragments of the battery dented the hood of the Mercedes, from the underside out.

Then a couple of years ago, I was helping an elderly friend fire up a riding lawn mower with electric start. We were inside a small shed. When that little battery blew, it was shell shock: Heard a muffled "whump" then everything was silent. We were both utterly disoriented, stumbled out of the shed. The silence led to ringing, and later we resumed hearing ambient noise... but it was days before the ringing disappeared. My clothing was wrecked: Hundreds of droplets of acid ate hundreds of holes in my clothing. It should be noted that while I was quite stunned by the event, the old man just sort of acted like this had happened to him 100 times before... and maybe it had. That crusty ol' dude was tinkering with the lawn mower within two minutes after the explosion... at that point I was still uttering expletives, and trying to regain my hearing and my senses.

Batteries can really pack a punch. (Even the little ones: Don't throw those little tiny hearing-aid style batteries in a fire, unless you are ready for at least an M-80 volume bang!)

[ORANGE U NV]

BTW, I have nothing aftermarket added to the car like speakers, amp or lighting. And I've never bother to remove any of the stuff to get to the battery before. This was the original battery with nothing touched since it left the factory. Also, the car has never been jumped or suffered a dead battery incident before either.

Since the battery (spare tire area) compartment has a thick plactic cover, everything was contained and none of the water/acid got on the carpet trunck mat. I suppose it's a pretty good design if a battery does explode. I repeatedly rinse the area out with water and baking soda. The center drain hole made it easy.

As a note, when you get a replacement don't just get any "Walmart" battery as a replacement. Because the battery is in the trunk, it has to be designed with a vapor release valve. If you look at the photo, you will see a clear tube attached to the left side of the battery. This tube vents the gasses through the floor of the car to the exterior.

[Scalded Dog]

Originally Posted by Mr pogo

several thoughts about this.
a spark must have occured to set off the hydrogen gas from the battery when you turned the key on....

From what I understand, a spark will generate an explosion if/ when a cell is leaking. The hydrogen gas is NORMALLY sealed up inside the cells, so as to prevent explosions, but if one is leaking, it is susceptible to ignition... and if a spark is generated (also not a 'normal' condition, I would think), the perfect storm is in place.

[CHMSC]

wow

[Mr pogo]

Originally Posted by Scalded Dog

From what I understand, a spark will generate an explosion if/ when a cell is leaking. The hydrogen gas is NORMALLY sealed up inside the cells, so as to prevent explosions, but if one is leaking, it is susceptible to ignition... and if a spark is generated (also not a 'normal' condition, I would think), the perfect storm is in place.

well yes and no.
hydrogen gas is produced by the acid/lead process during charging and on a camaro is vented outside thru the vent hose.
the cells share the acid inside so only an external leak would matter.
looking at the pics some more, his blew up inside and not in the spare tire well so I am leaning toward a battery internal failure.
if there was venting of gas into the spare tire well there wouldve been alot more damage.

also to the op, check your charging voltage on the new battery to make sure the alternator is not overcharging that may have contributed to this.