Update on changing duramax batteries from Monday

Thanks for all the replies on Monday about changing the Duramax batteries. When I got home I had to jump it cause it was pulled up tight to the garage wall and I couldn?t get in there to work. So it fired up and I drove it out to the barn where all my tools are and shut it off. Pulled the 1st battery by the grill out no problem. On the back one it was hissing like a tea kettle. I had to remove a bracket that is above it and it was so hot I had to wear heavy gloves to touch it. Pulled the battery and it was smoking hot. I sat it in the shade for a few hours hoping it might cool down a little. About 7 pm I needed to run the old batteries back up to the auto parts store to get the core charge back and it was no longer hissing but was way too hot to touch. I was half way scared the thing might blow up on me. When I took it into the store it was hissing again and I was sure to warn the counter guys to be careful with the crazy thing. They didn?t seem to worried. When I left it was sitting right up on the counter with a half dozen customers standing around. I have had them short out before but this one was hotter than any battery I have ever seen. Even the hood of the truck to too hot to touch with a bare hand over that battery and it had been sitting inside all day.

That sure is weird ? Don't think I ever heard of that before. At least you warned them. They must never of had a battery blow up by them before or else they would of been more concerned !

Wow, that's scary! I have seen batteries blow up and it's not pretty! I think in that situation I would of immersed it in a tub of water and rinsed it with fresh water until all the acid was out of it. No way would I transport a sizzling battery!

Battery bomb!

Your guardian angel was on duty! I've never seen a disconnected battery boil, but if I did, I would stay way away from it!

Probably the safest thing you could have done would have been to turn on the lights and let them discharge slowly, then disconnect the cables once it was dead.

You may want to take the truck to the car wash and clean the bottom of the hood and all around the battery areas. Could be some residual acid left behind.

That never occurred to me. Thanks for the good advice Steve. I wondered if riding in the back of the truck back to town and getting bumped around stirred it up again.

My Duramax had sealed batteries from the factory, but I replaced with regular batteries. Unfortunately, rain water ran on and into the rear battery and ruined it. Next set of batteries, I placed an aluminum foil one-use baking pan inverted over the rear battery and that keeps rain water off the battery.

I think I'd get a plastic tray instead of aluminum ! It might touch a terminal.

I changed a set of duramax batteries a couple years ago, the rear one was just like that. Even disconnected it was boiling. Must get a lot of heat blown back across it.