Strong rotton egg/sulphur smell

CumminsCrazed

CumminsCrazed

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Dec 16, 2007
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Ok so 1 have one bad battery(pass) in my truck and my second battery(driver) needs to have a charger on it at night so itll start the next day (is going bad quicker than id like). Well this has been goin on for about 3 wks as i havent had money to buy batteries.

Anyway, today i go out to go somewhere, start my truck and take the charger off it. I smell a rotton egg/sulphur smell emitting from the drivers side battery. I have smelled this some in the past week but not nearly as bad as today. So i go ahead and make my arrends. I stop at one place to run in and leave my truck running. I come out 5-10 min later and my cab is FILLED with this rotton egg/sulphur smell. Ive never had this happen yet, and everytime i stop for a stop light or stop sign i smell it as soon as i start to go again. When i got home i shut the truck down and opened the hood and stuck my nose down by the drivers side battery at the corner of the "cap" on top of the battery. I could smell a VERY strong rotton egg/sulphur smell coming from that.

What is causing my battery to make this smell and is there anything i can do to stop it.
 
That smell is battery acid. The only way to fix it is to replace the battery. When you apply brakes it takes alot of juice (abs brakes, lights, etc..) causing battery to get hot and boil. Had it happen in my civic horrible smell had to put new altenator in it along with battery.
 
Sounds like battery is over charging. Once a battery in our trucks goes bad the other is not long to follow. Both batteries need to be changed at the same time.
 
Careful, that smell is Hydrogen gas and can cause the Battery to Explode. Rich
 
Just so you know, the smell is probably Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S). Commonly called "Swamp Gas". This is what WikePedia has to say.

At higher concentrations it is lethal, at low concentrations it can make you sick and at very low concentrations it just smells bad. It is a nerve gas and will soon remove the bodies ability to smell it by paralysing the sense of smell as well as paralysing respiration / cardiac functions etc.... Basically, if you can smell it then you should be OK.

I have never heard of a battery making H2S, learning something today. Ussually when one boils it makes H2 and sulfate gases. Battery acid is H2SO4 mixed with good old H2O at the proper concentration. Sulfate gases are very irritating, but don't smell like rotten eggs. Any charging of the battery produces H2 and overcharging likely produces sulfate gases. With "so called" sealed batteries this should really be minimized.

Sure it is the battery and not a something laying under your seat? :hehe: Just kidding.....

Jim
 
This is not a normal condition it is usually caused by an alternator overcharging the battery or an internal short. If the smell is strong dont do anything to the battery until it airs out with the hood open. All it takes is one spark to ignite which can be caused by hooking up jumper cables or disconnecting the battery. I have seen them blow the whole top off of the battery.
 
NoSeeUm said:
Oh yeah and it is somewhat flamable.....

Jim
Click to expand...

And VERY ignitable. As mentioned before 1 spark and it's over.

If you can't afford batteries right now, then park the truck and unhook both batteries.

You can get by with only 1 battery for a while tho.
 
The one dead battery may be causing voltage drop and commanding the alternator to overcharge the one good battery. How do you put fuel in the tank about 100 bucks but you can't swing 70 bucks at walmart to get a cheap battery? Cut out your beer money, eat ramen noodles, sell some extra junk on ebay, and get it fixed before you really hurt yourself or your truck.
 
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