How to bring your weak or dead car battery back to life.

[whitehot1]

I have done this to 2 batteries in the past week and it does work. The one battery i've had for about 7 years and it started to not hold a charge on one cell and the other battery was given to me by a friend that was going to throw it away because it was dead and wouldn't hold a charge it had 2 dead cells when i checked it. Both batteries are working good now and holding charges of 12.55 for my old one and 12.76 for the other one that was given to me.

But anyway here is the info on how to do this and it's easy all you really need is Epsom Salt and Distilled water and a container to drain the acid out of the battery into.

As a side note I mixed 10 teaspoons of epsom salt to each 1 1/2 cups distilled water and poured it into the cells until they were filled.

How to Recondition a Car Battery at Home | eHow.com

 

[whitehot1]

I hooked up a spot light to the battery that was given to me that i reconditioned and to discharge it for a recharge.

I just checked it and the light is as bright as when i hooked it up a hour and a half ago and has a reading of 11.95 volts.

 

[whitehot1]

I checked the battery again this morning with the spot light being hooked up to it for more than 12 hours. It was down to 9.87 volts so i unhooked the spot light and let it set for half an hour,then i checked it again and it was reading 10.55.

I put it on charge again and now it's up to 11.88 volts after 2 hours.

I'm not sure this is really neccessary to put the battery through this but was reccommeneded by the site to help the epsom salt clean the plates off.

Overall not bad for a battery that was thought to be no good at all and was checked out to having to dead cells and going to be thrown away. And with just epsom salt and distilled water and some time on a battery charger it may have a few more years of use left in it.

 

[Grunk]

Have you tried to actually start a car with it. I think most battery chargers can get the voltage back to 12.5 volts however if the Cranking amps are not 600+ the battery will not be able to start most cars.

 

[1 RARE T]

You do not need 600 amps to start a car.

 

[whitehot1]

Have you tried to actually start a car with it. I think most battery chargers can get the voltage back to 12.5 volts however if the Cranking amps are not 600+ the battery will not be able to start most cars.

Yeah my other battery i bought new 7 years ago that wasn't holding a charge and showed a bad cell, i did the same procedure to it and it's working good and holds 12.55 volts after sitting unused for 4 days and starts the regal just fine.

 

[wb's87]

how do you do all of this on a sealed battery??

 

[whitehot1]

how do you do all of this on a sealed battery??

This info is in the link i posted in the beginning of this thread.

If you have a sealed battery, find the "shadow plugs" that cover openings to the battery cells. You'll need to drill through these. Drain any fluid out of the battery and then use a plastic funnel to pour enough of the Epsom salt solution in to fill each cell of the battery properly. Insert plastic plugs in the drill holes or replace the battery caps and then shake the battery to make sure the Epsom salt solution is well distributed.

 

[Grumpy]

it will be funny when it ****s the bed and your in the middle of east bum**** or at the drags .. BUT hey ya didn't have to replace a 7 year old battery !!

 

[whitehot1]

it will be funny when it ****s the bed and your in the middle of east bum**** or at the drags .. BUT hey ya didn't have to replace a 7 year old battery !!

There will always be those who for one reason or another that are affraid to try something new no matter how well it works because they just can't believe.

As far as replacing the 7 year old battery thats not really a problem but if i can make it last for however much longer it will i will do so, so lets get the clock running and see what this will do.

When i get this old battery that was given to me with 2 bad cells fully charged up i'm going to put it in my runabout daily / sometimes driver and see how long it will last. Oh and i will take the spare good battery with me in the trunk until the reconditioned battery proves itself to be reliable.

 

[alwayscode390]

Thanks for the tip ---

 

[whitehot1]

Well what do you know.

I went out and started the buick up with the 7 year old battery that had a bad cell and wouldn't hold a charge.

It started fine and the scanmaster battery reading was 13.8 to 14.2 this is with underdrive pullies and no volt booster and after sitting for the 5th day now without being charged.

I didn't discover this method or come up with it but i did find the information on the web and so far it has worked like they said it would.

For $3.00 worth of Epsom Salt and .75 cents for a gallon of Distilled water and a little time draining the battery acid and refilling it with the salt and distilled water and putting it on charge for a day thats not a bad deal i think.

Give it a try for yourself and see what you think, what do you have to lose.

 

[whitehot1]

Just another update after adding the Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate) and Distilled water mix, of 1/3 epsom salt to 2/3 distilled water, heated to around 150 degrees to help completely dissolve the salt before adding to the battery. It took 1 gal. to fill both batteries at a level just above the plates.

My 7 year old battery hasn't failed to start the car after doing this treatment,so far.

The readings are 14.3 at the battery and alternator and 13.8 to 14.2 on the scanmaster while running.

If you have an old dead battery laying around give this method a try and see what you think of it.

 

[Red Regal T]

There will always be those who for one reason or another that are affraid to try something new no matter how well it works because they just can't believe.

As far as replacing the 7 year old battery thats not really a problem but if i can make it last for however much longer it will i will do so, so lets get the clock running and see what this will do.

When i get this old battery that was given to me with 2 bad cells fully charged up i'm going to put it in my runabout daily / sometimes driver and see how long it will last. Oh and i will take the spare good battery with me in the trunk until the reconditioned battery proves itself to be reliable.

I don't "know it all", so thanks for the tip. It's certainly worth a try.

 

[Rivical]

You sir, Are Freakin Awesome!!!!

Now I'll have a bank of good batteries to store power in... and if I can figure howta make my own high power inverter to run the house...

 

[John Larkin]

I tried it on an old lawnmower battery that had been dead for 7 years. I got 8 volts out of it but it depleted quickly and never truly recovered. Oh well. It was an inexpensive try.

 

[BuickMike]

If there is a hole worn in the plates between 2 cells this will not help. If a battery fails a load test miserably this will not work. If the battery just can't hold a charge very well then this will probably work. I'd never do this in a car I need to depend on, but it would be alright for a battery that is used in a project car.

 

[whitehot1]

If there is any physical damage to the battery this method or any other will not work.

A good example of a battery to use this method on would be a battery that has a weak charge of between 10 and 12 volts and has a charge of 2 volts between each cell as checked with a volt meter.

There are a bunch of videos on youtube of guys using this method and even having good luck bringing some really low voltage batteries back to normal condition.

 

[LC2 ROD]

So what do you do with the fluid that comes out of the battery?

 

[liv4gnz]

throw in in a sewar