Italian Jobber

After some opinions hers Chaps & Chapesses...

Got a 04MY STI on its 2nd battery. First one gave up at 5K and this one has decided to spill its acid over the engine bay at 8K miles.

Any ideas why this could be happening?????

I assume it's due to the alternator frying the acid with to many volts? but my local Subaru Dealer who should remain nameless say its fine, no problem.. just keep fitting those new batteries sir.

Add to all this the front structure of the car is being eaten away by all the acid under the engine bay and I now have a rust patch on my drive 6 feet square!!!

After some opinions and whether someone has the tech specs for checking the alternator output.

Opinions would be appreciated, I can see this going to court.

powerman1

I work with DC power and when wet cell batterys are being charged i.e above their normal float voltage they do tend to boil and give off a gas,but it can also happen if a few plates have small short circuits and this can also cause the battery to gas off .I would suspect that you may have been unlucky and had 2 faulty batterys but it is easy to check.... put a DC voltmeter across the battery terminals and rev the engine up to say 3k and the voltage should remain steady at about 13.6v and falling to 12.5 when revs decreased anything drastically above 13.6 and the alternater may be suspect.
powerman

powerman1

Just a thought but it does seem unusual that the acid is leaking when the car is stationary which also points to a faulty battery

Italian Jobber

The Battery case itself is OK, no splits or damage. The leak appears to be happening due to the battery being boiled and acid/spray sems to be spilling out of the very small vent holes on the top face of the battery. So much so that it's left a white deposit on most of the adjacent parts and hoses that are in the front LH corner of the car.

This 'new' battery has only ben on the car for 3K miles!!! and I would be absoloutly amazed if it were faulty so soon.

powerman1

Get your meter on it,if the volts are high then DC current is being driven into the battery hence the boiling effect.I would be well pi55ed off it was my car

360ste

iTrader: (1)

As everyone else as said it's either a knackered battery or a high output from the alternator. Try getting it checked elsewhere to get an independent appraisal. Such as Halfords from what I remember the Cardiff Halfords has a workshop. Until it is sorted CAREFULLY use boiling water to remove any deposits that are on the body work. If the battery is a sealed unit it should have a vent on it see if you can attatch a piece of washer tubing to it and tywrap it so that it exits below the vehicle as a way of reducing any splatter.

Italian Jobber

The dealer say it's 'yet another Battery Problem'. I find this difficult to believe to be honest. this car has eaten 2 batteries in only 8K miles.

I will be speaking to a technical specialist this week and would like an idea how many others have had battery problems on their imprezas. I can see a poll on the horizon....

powerman1

I wouldnt think it a common problem,but it is possible the two batterys came from a faulty batch.Insist that they fit a different make or a least from a different batch

Tim-H

I would say that it is over-chargeing the battery , does it get through a few bulbs aswell ?
If you have a voltage meter , it should be around 14.3 volts with engine running nothing on,at the battery, anything between 13.4 and 14.5 is allowable ,if you do not have a meter pop into your local independant auto-electrician and get them to check it , most will do it free, you could probably ask them to fix it then do a report if it was faulty and have a go at whoever :-)
Have a good one
Tim