Banner Battery Acid Leak

[speakmp]

Afternoon all, Looking for some advice. Old battery was 6 years old and appears to have given up the ghost. I mail ordered a new Banner battery last week and fitted Tuesday. The seven fired up great so all was well.

 

I had a cheeky 90 minute blat on Wednesday pm and then left the car in the garage.

In preperation to blat on Saturday morning I plugged the CTEK conditioner in on Friday pm just in case.

 

Checked under the car on sat morning as per the usual Caterham start of season checks to make sure there where no coolant or oil leaks but found a pool of blue acid from the breather tube. The battery tray being saturated too with crystals and some stripped footwell paint. Battery started the car still, but I removed it to clean the mess up. Not sure when the pool appeared, i.e. before Friday pm or post.

 

Had a good look at the battery to try to understand the cause. Battery looks fine condition wise, i.e. no cracks in casing. There were no leaks on delivery by courier either. I have now checked the levels in each cell. 1 to 5 where ok but 6 was below the plates. Also the cap on cell 6 was chewed up as if opened cack handedly with an ill fitting screw driver. I've topped up cell 6 but not wanted to fit and use again yet as dont want any more mess.

 

I have spoken to Tayna, the supplier, today who confirmed many of these batteries sold so will be fresh and will have come from Banner with the chewed cap. They suggest the acid leak is due to the alternator over charging the battery. Not sure to be honest. Going to try and borrow a volt meter and test this ASAP.

 

Is there anything else I should be considering?

 

Any advice will be appreciated

 

Thanks, Pete

[elie boone]

First indication would be like it's overcharging so test your alt output to be sure, if it's not overcharging it' the battery.

[10uptobase]

Does the breather have a flexible tube running down to the bottom of the engine bay? Mine didn't and had a similar problem and mess to rectify which I put down to me overfilling the rear cell combined with some spirited driving. . Now on second battery but same breather set up. IE plastic rigid tube epoxied into breather with flexible plastic tube pushed on which exits below the washer bottle. No problems since...

[speakmp]

Thanks Elie

 

 

Hi 10uptobase,

 

Yes, I put the breather hose in. This left the pool (approx 5cm diameter) on the garage floor, which has eaten the floor paint! But it's clearly been finding another route out too to flood the tray, which has eaten some footwell paint

[Jonathan Kay]

Check voltage as above.

 

Did it arrive fully filled or did you have to add anything?

 

Suggest you photograph the battery and the damage.

 

Jonathan

[speakmp]

Hi Jonathan,

 

Fully filled and charged, ready to use. Cell six was below the plates though when I checked but this could have been due to the leak and it may have been full when I recieved it.

 

I've checked the voltage which was 14.4. Same as the CTEK charges at. Also checked the tin top for reference whilst we were at it and that runs at 14.4 too.

 

I'll give Tayna a call again in the morning and discuss.

 

 

 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Pete.

[speakmp]

One more question, the vent holes, one on either side of the battery, one for the vent tube, but what about the other? Is it meant to be removed or left plugged?

 

My previous battery had both removed and served me well for six years.

 

Thanks again,

 

Pete.

 

Edited by - speakmp on 22 Apr 2014 23:02:05

[robert green]

I left the second vent hole plugged as that was how my previous battery was set up. I assume that is correct?

[patneale]

Pete,

 

I think you have been lucky to have your Banner last 6 years. My 2003 K series 1.8 is just on its 4th battery. But I have done 47,500 miles. It always seems to be one cell that fails and strangely is has twice been the end one. On my car, it is always left on charge but the first sign of trouble is always the same. the engine starts at once ,but then dies unless you catch it on the throttle and hold the revs for 5 seconds. CC told me that this caused by one cell in the battery being weak and on start the drop in voltage is enough for the ECU to lose some of its starting data hence the stalling. This time I didn't bother to take the battery to have a check, cell 6 needed water only so I figured it was weak.. Even with the charger light showing green it stalled as soon as it started without intervention. New battery started and settled to normal warm up without stalling.

[mav]

Quoting Robert Green: 

I left the second vent hole plugged as that was how my previous battery was set up. I assume that is correct?

 

correct

[patneale]

Pete,

 

I have never had a vent tube, just 2 holes either end so any spills would go straight into battery tray.. But never had a spill. Is your car a racing one. At recent Wightblat I saw many batteries, but none had a spillage tube.

[speakmp]

Hi patneale,

 

Me, racing, no. I'm way to slow 😬 and poor!

 

It's just a bog standard 120 bhp Roadsport.

 

Seems few have suffered leaking acid, so not sure why I have this time.

 

I spoke to Tayna this morning and they agree my alternator charging voltage is not an issue but would not accept the battery could be an issue. They refused to replace but have agreed a refund on return.

 

So I'll package it up tonight and have to put this wasted time and acid damage to car and floor down as experience. Think it could be a good time to contemplate another type of battery.

 

Thanks for all the advice folks.

 

Pete

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by - speakmp on 23 Apr 2014 18:10:25

[Jonathan Kay]

Are they covering the cost of returning it?

 

I imagine you're pretty fed up and just want out. But if you want to recover damages and any expenses you can use the small claims procedure. You've got a bit of time to decide but make sure you have photos of the battery and the damage to the car, and hard copies of all correspondence. If that conversation took place on the 'phone write it down now.

 

Jonathan

 

PS: I'm happy with a PVR25.

[Martin J]

Battery acid is not good for clothes.

As a boy when I was about 12 I was helping my Dad with repairs to the MK2 Cortina & he asked me to carry the battery over to the car. I could just about lift it, it tipped over & the acid poured down my legs. I was wearing a new pair of jeans which became shorts by the following day as they fell apart.

My Mum was livid.

[Jonathan Kay]

*arrowup*I destroyed the back seat of a Polo! And it wasn't mine.

 

Before this thread I didn't know any carriers would deliver a fully filled unsealed battery.

 

Jonathan

 

Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 23 Apr 2014 20:06:09

[speakmp]

Thanks for the advice Jonathan.

 

They are sending a courier to collect it tomorrow and then a full refund, so I won't be out of pocket.

 

I currently don't feel the acid damage to tray area or floor warrants the effort of a claim, it's just hassle and tarnish to a car I've strived to keep imaculate. Dissapointing.

 

I will take photos tonight and make a note of the conversation, just in case I find more damage when I take a close look / fit the new PVR25 in the next few days. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning up the mess and flushing the area with copious amounts of water so hope it's ok now.

 

Thanks again.

[Grim Reaper]

I've just ordered an Enduroline 895 battery from Tayna to replace my current Yuasa 32A19RT(S) which replaced the original Banner when it gave up in the middle of France in 2006. so 8 years isn't too bad.

I chose the 895 in order to have the terminals the other way around to the original so I can reverse it when in situ as there is a bit more room for the cabling to fit to the rear, but the 896 is the same arrangement as the Banner/Yuasa.

It is 20mm higher than the Banner but higher rated at 32Ah and 310CCA and at £38.99 as opposed to the £54.02 for the Banner I reckon it's worth a try.

 

Edited by - Grim Reaper on 23 Apr 2014 22:05:50

[Grim Reaper]

Battery turned up today but it is a smidge longer than both the Banner and the Yuasa, a little lower as well as there is a 10-12mm gap under the strap.

I have flattened one end of the tray and trimmed a bit off it and rotated the tray 90 degrees and re-rivetted it in place, battery sits snugly in the tray and up against the bulkhead rail, fortunately my leads will reach the terminals OK.