Hi Folks,

I have been getting my S40 back in shape now that spring has arrived in Chicago, and last night I noticed that the stock battery was getting low.  I have been thinking of getting a big crank, but haven't taken the plunge yet.

Well, last night I removed the battery and filled the cells with distilled water, but I didn't notice until too late the the first and last cells are now both over filled.  It was hard to tell what the level was in the light I was in until I was finished and tilted the battery to shake it up a little.

So now both outside cells are around 1/4" ABOVE the high mark on the case.  This leaves little or NO room before the top of the battery case.   I am concerned that if I left it like that then when the battery got hot the electrolyte would expand and cause a mess of problems.

So I took the two caps off of those cells and was planning to let it sit for a few days to see if I can get some of the water to evaporate.

I have no idea how long it will take, but I will be checking on it when I get home.  Obviously there will be no open flames or sparks in the area, but I want to ask you experts if this is the right way to go about dealing with this issue.

I thought about maybe getting some kind of hypo-needle to remove some fluid, but decided to try this instead.

Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Your cells all connect to a common overflow gallery that leads to the vinyl tube that runs down to pavement level
(carefully routed as per owner's manual and shop manual of course).

When expansion takes place the two overfilled cells may put some bubbles of fluid into the gallery.  Some of the bubble volume will go into the next cell, some into the next cell and some may actually make it to the clear vinyl tube that runs down to pavement level.

In any case, the problem is self-correcting -- don't sweat it.  Ignore it.

Small amounts of acid exiting your battery in isolated "large bubble form" happens all the time anyway.

Oldfeller

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If you're not charging, then there shouldn't be much danger of explosion as hydrogen is released as a product of electrolysis.

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I wasn't charging the battery when I blowed'erUPP. I was running a grinder on the header, shooting sparks past the vent tube & she said"Kerblammy!" . Sounded about like a 22 shot. Cracked my battery & caused me a lot of tropuble cleaning & treating the acid exposure with baking soda & water.


 the caps were off too so any hydrogen should've floated off to neverland to meet mj.

1/4" is not much, I wouldn't worry (much)

If anal, use straw technique and get over it.

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I wouldnt sweat 2 cells slightly overfilled.

Naaah, me neither. I can see battery water level easy enough by shining a light behind the battery & looking thru it. I save my matches for checking fuel level. Hard to see in that tank,,  

pssst... throw those antique, nasty, explosive, leaky, caustic, self discharging pos's away - AGM the bike and forget about this water level, trickle charge stuff

all you do is flat'n one side down on the cable connection - 10 second issue

Reelthing wrote on 04/08/08 at 09:02:43:



Thanks for that link - it's exactly what I was looking for!