Cobra4B

So my truck's original battery from 2004 has taken a **** in a most peculiar way. Here's the series of events... maybe someone can chime in and let me know if I have a more serous problem than an old battery.

Truck is a 2004 GMC Canyon with nearly 54,000 miles on it. The battery was the original GM unit, never touched.

The truck has a 7 pin wire done by a local trailer supply shop (4 pin standard) to haul a car trailer and uses a brake controller. It's been in for over 2 years w/o an issue.

Towing the race car to NC on Friday I went through some serious rain leaving Virginia Beach... towed through 5" o standing water in some places very slowly

Get car to Greensboro, NC w/o issue Friday evening. Go to start it today to come home and the truck won't start... it's not 100% dead, but won't start. So we use my dad's F-150 to jump it, then I drive it around for 5 minutes, then put it on the battery charger for awhile while I packed up the head back to Virginia.

Leaving the car and trailer at my parents' I drive back to Virginia non-stop... start smelling wierd odor arond Franklin, VA but don't think anything of it because it's Franklin (paper mills there), then afterwards everytime I slowed down I'd smell a "Franklin" smell... was confused, but kept going. Pick my GF up w/o turning off truck and go to dinner. Leaving dinner car won't start at all, clicks, but not dead, but this time clock reset to 12, earlier it didn't. Have buddy from restaurant jump me.

I drive truck home and go to pull the battery out of my Corvette so I can get a new battery tomorrow. I figure after 5 years the stock battery is just toast and it randomly decided to take a dump between Friday/Sunday.

But... when I get under the hood I smell the "franklin" smell coming from the battery box. Get to the battery and it's swollen looking like it wants to burst. I carefully take it out and set in on the ground and I can hear it sizzling... it's very hot. I swapped in my Red Top fom the Corvette and verified all was working.

So... I'd think I have an old battery that gave up the ghost, but what would cause the thing to swell up and get hot while driving home? Reading around on google it says that's a symptom of overcharging... so I'm worried I have an alternator problem, or that my trailer somehow cooked the battery. Don't trailer batterys pull current from the car battery?

Or... is all of this a potential symptom of trying to charge a battery that's failed?


Thanks,
Brian

thehammer69

Last time I saw something like this...the voltage regulator in the alternator had failed and was sending too much voltage to the battery at around 17-18 volts. A good alternator should not output much over 14 volts.

Cobra4B

I'm going to advanced first thing in the AM to have it checked to see if that's the issue.

Jason

Damn, regulator was my answer.

TravisD

Unfortunately, charging system issues tend to be murder-suicide... One component goes bad, and takes another with it.

TedDBere

Wouldn't that be suicide-murder?

TravisD

It's hard to kill when you're already dead, right?

Cobra4B

Well.. my atlernator checkout fine... putting out 14.xx volts unloaded and underload per Advanced's tester box thing. I've got a new battery on order and will monitor it closely.

My truck has something called an "active cooling box" for the battery... basically the battery sits in a plastic box that has an air tube that goes into the grill.... ram air coolnig for the battery yo! The terminals stick out of the top cover of the box... of course to use the box it takes a specific size battery that is more expensive and wasn't in stock. Rolling around w/ the Optima Red Top out of my Corvette in it and the battery box cover left at home.

I think my trailer sucked the juice out of my truck over the weekend... since my 7-pin wire is aftermarket I'll bet the 12v wire is hot all the time. It was never a problem before because the break-away battery on the trailer was always good so sitting at VIR hooked up for 2 days never phased it.

But... I haven't used the trailer since last November so I'll bet the break away batter was dead... and it sat there trying to suck power and re-charge all weekend, thus killing the battery.

Explains the dead battery, but not the swollen, hot, ready to burst battery... who knows... maybe when we jumped it off my Dad's F-150 did something to it or maybe his battery charger cooked it somehow.

Bugeater

Does Advanced have a tester box thing that can check to see if you are gay?

Cobra4B

It's only queer if you're in front right?

c4cruiser

The 12v wire on the trailer connector should be hot all the time. It most likely has a 30A or 40A fuse for that wire. The breakaway battery is not much bigger than a tiny motorcycle battery. The box where the battery is located should have a tiny charger that will shut down when the battery is at full charge.

The battery only is used when the breakaway cable is pulled out of the switch when the trailer breaks free of the tow vehicle. That closes a circuit and the the battery provides a full 12v to the trailer brakes to let the trailer stop on it's own.

FWIW, When I park my trailer for the winter months, I pull the breakaway battery out and bring it in the house. That way it stays a room temp and it doesn't lose a lot of it's charge. Once I start using the trailer again, I hook up one of my Harbor Freight battery tenders to it for a couple days and it's ready to go for the season. Then I put it back on the trailer.

If you still had the OEM AC Delco battery, I'll bet it was one of a batch of batteries from Korea that had all sorts of issues. 5 years is pretty good for those batteries.

Cobra4B

Even with the truck off?

ErnieN85

Bryan, That is a typical failure mode for an internal short. many times it's caused by sulfate buildup from non use (not much driving). However it is also caused by vibration which may over time break the seperators in the battery allowing some plates to touch. That's one of the things which makes the Optima and batteries like it so much better for racing and trucks

c4cruiser

Yes. There should be power at the 12v pin.

Cobra4B

10-4... I posted this on the colorado/canyon forums and in 30 min got 2 replies w/ the same issue. Looks like you're right, people are saying the battery fails internally.
I understand... I think it was a "perfect storm". My trailer's break-away batter was most likely dead from sitting unused since 10/08. Then sitting at my parents house for 2 days sucked the truck down low... then the battery failed internally.

We're going to try to trickle charge the trailer battery, but if that doesn't work new ones are $50ish and I'll bring it inside in the off-season from now on.

ErnieN85

Bryan, You might as well just get new for the trailer every two years. If a lead acid plate type battery sits without a maintainer with the anti sulfate feature it will sulfate.
Check the battery maintainer peoples site for more on their one that zaps the sulfate buildup