MadStang
Well-Known Member
Something tells me it's not the battery. it's sat for about 5.5 hours and is still at 12.5... Next thing to check will be the alternator.
I like Scotts idea of checking the drain while its out. Just don't put it down on concrete, it drains it. Put it on a work bench or something. I am hoping its something like the battery though, not something more serious.
is it still a possibility the alternator is overcharging the battery? I remember under a heavy load (2k rpms going up a steep hill) I had the sulfuric battery smell like rotten eggs. don't know if that was my battery dying out or if the voltage regulator is malfunctioning overcharging the batt
unless you do a battery relocation at the same time, and the way it's looking right now.... I already have the box, just need a smaller battery to fit in it, then rewire that shit to behind the passenger seat... .
This is a wives tale. A real old one. There is nothing conductive to permit the discharge. It just isn't possible or true. I have left a lot of batts on concrete with no problems. Most of the time it is actually acid residue from the vent caps that permits electricity to flow between the two terminals with resistance that drains a little bit out . Got to keep the top clean. Also many people dont realize that even today the vent caps need to be pulled to check water levels. Refill with distilled only.
Sorry but batteries can go bad and "leak" voltage with nothing hooked up if they have been damaged in a number of different ways.
setting them on concrete "should" not drain them, you are correct since there are no connections made to it. How ever once it has been deep cycled a few times, and becomes damaged then it CAN loose voltage just sitting there with nothing connected. This happened to my last battery in my truck that was less then a year old. My alarms battery went bad and was dragging the main battery down and kept killing it in little more then a week. After the 3-4 time charging it, it would then charge up as normal, test out as good but if you just left it there and came back a few hours later it was a few volts short. It can happen and does...
I saw a battery that had a broken plate inside. Sometimes the plate would stay in place and the batt would charge and discharge normally, other times the plate would lean over and touch another. This would cause it to short out and bubble up (making that smell). We figured it out when we drained the acid to replace it and saw one plate leaning on another. Another thought is that after a batt has been heavily discharged, they start to cause troubles. I have read that the lead doesn't like to come back out of the acid and bond to the plates as well. I have seen bad alts kill a batt and vice versa.