Need help with a bit of a problem, the other day I noticed my voltage gauge go from 14.7 or so down to around 10-12 volts, could smell sulfur smell, popped hood and saw passenger side battery steaming, with acid leaking out of vents slightly. Battery was HOT to the touch. I unhooked it, continuted my trip home, and battery gauge went right up to where it should 14.7 or so.

I took my battery and truck to the local AutoZone used the battery and alternator tester. Battery tested good, alternator tested great too. I told them since battery was under warranty to swap it with a new one, they did, put in truck seemed fine, drove home everything good. Went to work next morning, same thing happened as before, hot, acid leaking, etc. Unhooked battery good on drivers side. What is going on here? Thanks in advance.

 

So the battery was replaced and the new one did the same thing? A battery sulfating like that is sometimes a sign of being over charged.

 

I had the very same thing happen to me. I had the voltage drop to about 8 and the battery was seeping acid all over the top.
Replaced Alternator and problem solved... 14.7 volts and no battery issues.
I do not understand why low voltage would make them "boil over" I would thing high voltage... But what do I know.... If you are going to replace the Alternator, be prepared to go to the bank for a small business loan. They are really really proud of these, and to boot not available just anywhere.

 

i had the same thing happen to me. the thing that was wrong was the cable that runs from the drivers side battery to the passenger side battery wasnt connected so the battery on the passenger side was recieving too much of a charge... connected that and gota new battery and she is fine. check the connection between your drivers side battery to your passenger side. there is a cable that connects to negative terminal clamp and runs to the passenger battery.

 

Optima or Odyssey, problem cured.

 

Thanks everyone for the input, luckily it was the positive cable that goes from the drivers battery to the pass battery (thanks for the hint paroxysym). There was a little corrosion that could not be seen from the outside, as in, I had to take the nut and lug off to see it between the lug and the terminal end. You could see where the spark was arcing. I cleaned that up good, and put terminal protectant on, works great. I drove 160 miles today, no problems with it thus far, so I am going to say it is solved, because before, the problem would show up intermittently but quite often.

 

Same thing happened to me. I replaced the battery and has not happened again. One thing in my case is after the battery was unhooked 3 hours latter it was still hot and hissing.

 

You may want to check the grid heater solenoid/relay. It is located just below the pass battery. If the solenoid is shorting intermitaly it will cause the passenger battery to boil....bad cables will also do the same, so hopefully that fixed your issue.

 

The other possibility would be that the other battery has a dead shorted cell. This can attempt to draw down the other battery, while overcharging the remaining cells on the battery with the bad cell...

 

Thanks guys, yeah I forgot to mention that I checked that other battery and it tests good. I will keep an eye on the situation, and check the heater grid solenoids if I have any trouble.

 

Yes and if you don't notice the overheating and go to start it... boom. Then you will get AGM batteries.

 

Sounds like the right bat was electrical disconnect from left one. The volatage sense for charging was coming from left battery, but alt was only finding circuit to right battery. The futher left battery was discharged the harder alt tried to charge right side battery.

 

mine is not wired that way. The battery charges through the l/s battery and the right one is just hooked through the cable. A bad cable would only cause a single battery system.

 

Must be the 99's are different.