Leaky Acdelco Battery
 

Yea, this is kinda a mother fuck.

The other day while cleaning the engine bay, I notices the positive terminal has an excessive amount of crusty battery dust, its actually bulging the rubber on the terminal boot. Driving to work the car started to get a stumble and the dash lights were flickering bad and the radio cutting in and out. Stopped, restarted with no issues and was fine, go fig.

The green dot thats has been that was for like 7 years is now black. So I guess its time for a new one. I was researching AC Delco batteries and seems that there is a few people that have had this happen to them.

Generally I dont like engine bays with an out of place battery, just looking guady. But if ACDelco has a crap product, I guess i'll have to get something else, and maybe put a cover over it.

I did put a UD pulley on the car but I guess that didnt help lol.

So are you saying a 7 year old battery is giving you issues and thats odd? Maybe I misread that. usually UD pulley do more harm than good for batteries since it makes everything work with less.

Sounds like a good time to get a replacmed the die hard plats are good but pricey thats what I have changed too.

Not saying its odd but in my daily drivers, never an issue but w/ the UD it does make other things work harder/less efficent.

I was thinking Diehard too, I can stop by any sears and pick one up. I saw they had the Gold North Series.

**Note: I guess mine main gripe is that its leaking acid out after 7 years, its not techically dead, yet. This morning was the 1st real scare.

Who needs a battery anyways?

The positive terminal of my 5 year old AC Delco completely came off out of no where.

I'd consider yourself lucky, most people I've seen with factory acdelcos go bad, they just up and stop working all together, out of nowhere :nod:

^ +1 Mine was completely out of the blue. It seems these batteries just drop dead after about 6 years.

Mine made it 10 years, 98 to 2008, before it rolled over and died. Wouldn't start the car one morning. Never leaked tho.

I've had 2 leaky delco batteries in my car, (original one, and then it was replaced under warranty)

I now only run optima red tops (no leaking)

if you must run a delco, look at the agm ones from the vette if the terminal polarity is correct (designed not to leak, since the pcm is right under the battery on the C5's)

Ryan

Update:

Btw thats exactly what just happend to mine tonight.

I basically had a decent scare w/ the car Friday in the beginning of the post.

The flash forward to today. I decided to get a battery for Advance Auto. Then to my buds house to swap it since it was on the way, at best a 5 minute job.

I get there and I see a guy I havent seen in a few years and used to be at a store close to an old job about 45 minutes away. So we got to talking and I got their brand, no Red top Optimas for my car avalible. Oh well.

I go out side and my car "clicks" and bearly starts and when it does, its just fucking shitty, stumbles and just doesnt want to hold idle. Fuckin great.

My bud comes out and I am like dude, whould you mind if I borrow some tools? He is like no prob.

Grabs what I need, also some spray stuff to neutralize the caked up acid. We get the hold down thing off, the negative terminal, then work on the positive.

We move it back and forth and then bam the positive terminal pulls out. I m like WTF!!

But with some vice grips we got it loose, clean the terminal bolt and down in the battery tray. Not too much damage but enough. Rinse it with water and put the new one in. Blam, starts right up and not an issue since.

So I guess that AC Delco was enginnered to fail @ 6-8 yrs, what fuckin junk.

I've had problems with 3 different 'factory' ac delco batteries. Same problem... they all leaked acid everywhere. That along with finding metal shaving in brand new ac delco oil filters I won't buy anything acdelco now. Crap... my autozone and costco batteries have been 100x better then the crap acdelco.

I dont see how you can say that a battery that only lasts 6-8 years is crap. The leaking acid thing is junk, but if you get 6-8 years out of a battery that is good.

Get a dry cell battery.


I am suprised someone is complaining about such a "short" life span. I have never had a battery that long.

I used to work at a Saturn dealership and the AC Delco batteries used to leak all the time. I thought that they had redesigned them, but I guess not. I had a AC Delco battery leak so bad on my 99 Z that I had to replace the whole positive cable. I had to cut the cable off because there was so much corrosion on the bolt. I tried cleaning it but i couldnt get anything on it to turn it loose. It sucked. I now have a Diehard battery.

mine did after 5 years or so----------RED OPTIMA ALL THE WAY. :D

If you got 7 years out of it that is pretty damn impressive.

And yes the leaky terminals are a very common problem. I'm among the masses who was removing the neg cable one day when the entire terminal broke off in my hand. Yuck!

This happened to me but the battery was a replacement. I see it as the nature of cheap end lead acid batteries.

Now I have a battery marked as spill-leak proof.

My factory posi had a hole in and so I ended up revamping all the conductors in my car with a larger gauge!

Keep in mind that the stock battery is a 5 year battery, so you guys who are complaining about your batteries dying after 5-7 years are full of it. My stocker lasted 5.5 years (no leaks)--I say that's a pretty good run.

ACDelco has always done me right. Close behind them is Die Hard Gold. I considered a red top when my stocker died, but it seems like super over kill for a stock car.

All I can say for the people who think its crazy to have a battery last. I've had batteries die due to a problem such as a draw on the system and the constant charging and recharging killing it.

Just a suprise with just that battery broke due to age.

Now for you, I wouldnt go as far as calling someone "full of it" but at the same time I didnt know you made the batteries. I've owned a few cars since new a 97 Buick LeSabre which has 140k on the clock and still uses the stock ACDelco battery, a 2000 Hyundai Accent for daily driving abuse and has around 114k on the battery and STOCK CLUTCH!!

So when some one tells me im crazy, I seriously doubt that. I think with these cars, there is a great strain on the unit and tremendous heat where it just kills the battery.

Read the various manufacturer's documentation on their typical automotive lead acid batteries. The intended lifetime is typically 5-7 years with a typical warranty of 3 years and free replacement within just under 1.5yr. Many last longer than that, but that is their intended operating lifetime.