From Optima's Website regarding RedTop Batteries (http://www.optimabatteries.com/publish/optima/americas0/en/config/product_info/automotive.html)

"OPTIMA batteries withstand the high underhood temperatures associated with these Performance vehicles. The sealed cells make the battery spill-proof, even if you install it on its side! This prevents external gassing and leaking which can damage engine components and limit battery performance."

Well, I disagree and here are the pics to prove it...

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--Jason

Are you positively certain that came from inside the battery?
If so, what voltage are you feeding that battery? Are you sure?

The only way I got one to "leak" was by overcharging it.....17.5 volts worth. That got it hot enuff to boil.
It actually spewed green shittage out the vents up on to the trunk lid....that is acid, BTW. I was glad it wasn't in the engine room.
I got a new one FOC.

Could the muffler underneath have raised the temp of the battery excessively? Is the muffler heat shield still installed?

The car is actually ShadyGrady's here on the board. I broke two motor mounts Friday night on my car during the SEC2006 drive and he let me continue with his track car...

The pics were taken that night when we arrived in Helen, GA (1.5 hour drive). We suspected an overcharge, but it is still being investigated. Fortunately Lewis Broyles brought a spare battery with him when he brought my car up the next morning, so Grady was able to run his car on the SEC drive.

I always here "Optima Batteries DO NOT leak." Well, in some cases they do...

BTW: Battery acid was all over the trunk lid too. We know it was acid becuase the battery was soaked and the fumes were horrible.

--Jason

Lotus 65 was over the other night and showed me his red top that had spit all over his engine compartment.
I never had this happen with mine.

something to watch out for...

Murphy's law says "Anything designed not to leak.....will." Optima is the lesser

of two evils. You could put in a acid resistant battery box.

The optima's do have vent holes but they don't vent vapors like normal batteries unless overcharged. It's more like they are leak resistant rather than leak-proof.

it could be that my mount was loose and the battery rocked on the tray some. that's about the only thing i could come up with for a reason... anyway, glad to hear i'm not the only one.
paul

I had a red top mounted on its side in my 911 - IT LEAKED! I changed the mounting location and set it up-right. No problems since.

Leak resistant means it will still leak,,,, but it doesn't want to.

We manufacture specialty battery chargers (www.morningstarcorp.com). The optima is a gel battery. The electrolyte is absorbed in a glass matt (often called AGM - Absorbed Glass Mat) I believe the two black pucks in the top corners are vents. I've never disassembled one of ours, but most batteries have them. If you overcharge the battery (or overheat it, but I have no direct experience there) it will outgass. If there happens to be gel in the way of the vents, it will blow the gel out. It shouldn't vent unless there is a problem though. They are just there to keep the case from exploding (which is REALLY messy).

SMD

I agree. I used to head the battery charger manufacturing here some years back. I also have to design lead-acid batteries into some of our products. Heat kills batteries. The heat may be internal from overcharging, or external, say from the exhaust system. Basically, that battery is in the wrong place to start with, it is exposed to too much heat I believe. Overcharging may also be a factor.

I looked at who wrote that flier and saw it was the past owner of Marlboro. Ya know, the dude who died of lung cancer.


Feel energized with Marlboro and Optima!

Top view. You can really see where the leakage occurred through the vents. Also, the battery had a sticker on the side that says "Non Spillable."

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Yeah as in it's gel filled, not taht it'll survive nuclear fallout.

There's a difference between non spillable and leak free.

b

Semantics. Those are used extensively in electric cars. They don't leak if you don't mistreat them. If you are planning to mistreat it then put it in a poly. box.

I thought one of the selling points of the gel cells was that you could mount them in any position? Looks like that is not true, huh?

depends on how 'jelly' the jel is...

b

I have an Optima red top mounted on its back, in my Audi. I had a hard time sourcing a new OEM spec battery, or even finding one close, because it fits under the rear seat. I measured the Optima, and it fits perfectly when it's laid down long ways, because the battery it replaced was a pretty squatty one.

It's been there two years with nary a problem. Well, last year I left my marker lights on in the winter time, and I took out my faithful Craftsman battery charger and left it go on 6 amps for a little longer than I should have. I got back and it sounded like some kind of viper had found its way into my car, it was hissing pretty good. Not only did it scare me, I wasn't fond of the idea that I'd have to go shell out a hundred bucks, let alone having to clean a bunch of acid from the battery well.

There wasn't an issue, to my relief, and there hasn't been an issue since. I'm sure I burned off some of the electrolyte and diminished the battery's peak power, but my Audi hasn't noticed. So, not only did I abuse the battery, I abused a battery in the reclined position, where I expect it would be most likely to do something bad.

My bet is that problems like the above in this thread are pretty freakish occourences.

so you should have charged overnight at 2 amps right?

I was just making sure I knew what to do in a similiar situation

Maybe that would work, I'm not exactly sure. I'll have to look at what Optima suggests again. I know they have these chargers that output amperage proportional to the charge level of the battery, like an alternator does, so you basically can't overcharge. I'm going to look into getting one of these to maintaian boat batteries and such. I guess that's the best bet.

2 amps should be good for maintaining a battery.

should give it enough juice to hold charge, and keep it warm during the wintertime.

b