[T3] I pulled my Interstate battery july 12th to check the level , found the Interstae MT-42 was leaking.

[William J]

 Has anyone ever had a battery leak? This is a first for me. I know others have had rusted out floors mine was not ,just surface rust. Also read some cleaned off surface rust and painted the area with some special type of paint.  

  I checked the level and the cell closest to the neg terminal was a little lower than the others . I added enough then placed a light near the area and saw that white crust about 3" oval right near the neg cable area on the floor pan . Still having the battery out I checked to see where the leak was and could see a wet area down the corner and along the seam at the top . I looked at the neg cable post fine then found I could lift the top corner of the case just a bit tried the pos side and all around and only the corner at the neg side post I could clearly see it could move so it's not sealed.and saw wet in the tops seam and down the corner of the case side . The level was not low enough so the plates were still covered . The charging system is 14.2 volts at the highest based on a DVOM and analog . 

 I scraped off most of it yet I know there is still acid there . It was a dry white corrosion about 1/16" thick .   I just mixed baking soda and water into a paste and let it sit a bit then used a small brush to apply. I don't want to use much water since flushing it all will go everywhere yet I know baking soda has salt in it . I am not concerned about the bit of surface rust it has I just want to stop the acid from doing damage that I didn't have before. It did bubble a bit the first time and I did it 4 times wiping with water soaked cloth to remove the soda. Then I scraped off any surface rust that was where the battery sits on the floor pan . It's had this same surface rust since I got the car and never got worse. 

 Now I have a 3" oval of bare metal where the corrosion was with maybe a small area of metal depression about .003" deep from the acid. It's always had half surface rust and half factory paint . I was just asking about how ofter people check the level last week. 

 Firestone did give me a free replacement MT-42 . I've never had a battery leak since I bought this car in 85 . I called Interstate and they wanted photo's and want the dealer to send it back to the manufactuer and said they will  compensate for the floor damage what ever that means. 

 Once it cools off out in the garage since it's been close to 100* in there I will get as much rust off and paint the area . Just some brush on primer might be good enough. 






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