egg/sulfur smell from battery

[94FormulaBird]

so the cold weather tooks its toll on my fiances car battery the other day...was rough to start but would start...never needed a jump...i took the cables off, there was a little corosion, cleaned em up and it cranked a little better but was still sluggish...she went to walmart and they said they couldnt change it but sold us a battery...havent had a day off to change it... today we are driving around looking for places to rent all over west ashley and we were thinking damn this side of town stinks...come to find out it was the car..popped the hood and it looks like the battery is leaking...i rinsed it off...bout to go outside and change it...should i let it set over night, just run in, anyone had this happen before?

[Shane361]

Faulty cell causing overcharging? Is it the right size battery? If you run into this after changing the battery check out your alternator. Just guesses though....

[94FormulaBird]

the guy at walmart asked if it had been overcharged lately...we havent had it hooked up to anything..so Im guessing the alt may have done it...i guess after i get the new battery in Ill have that checked...anyway I can do it? or does a shop have to?

[94FormulaBird]

this battery that screwed up is only 2-3 years old...never had any issues

[Shane361]

My guess is that there was a faulty cell which caused over charging. I think your alternator is fine, replace the battery. Don't drive with it like this, I read they can explode. Others who know more will chime in. I just changed mine out, new in 11. -Shane

[04ctd]

most auto parts stores (advance etc) have a tester that can tell you where the problem is, if the batt is dead, the alt is overcharging, or if the starter is drawing too much juice.

[TurboWS6]

Once you change the battery fire up the car grab a multimeter and test the voltage it should be no higher than 14.5 volts. You can get a cheap multimeter from harbor freight for under 10 dollars if you dont have one already.

I'm with shane though probably a faulty cell.

[Shane361]

I also had an issue with a battery about 10 years ago in my Explorer where it was hard to crank due to a bad cell.

[Carlrx7]

any idea where to take dead batteries for recycle?

[MonteC]

any idea where to take dead batteries for recycle?

Charleston Auto Electric buys them.

[ForceFed4g63]

Charleston Auto Electric buys them.

Any idea how much they pay? I have 4 sitting around.

[DIGGLER]

10 bucks a pop in my neck of the woods. bigger batteries are worth more. (like for an 18 wheeler)