Passenger Side Battery Boil-over.

4x4dually

4x4dually

Moderator
Got a yankee buddy up in IN with a rusted up dodge. When he starts his truck, the passenger side battery boils over to the point it pops the caps out of the battery.

So, what controls the charging? Does the alternator sense and regulate itself, or does the ECM control the charging? When he pulls that battery, the truck runs fine and doesn't boil out the driver's side battery.

He's put in a new alternator but I don't have any voltage reading from him. He said something like 14.5-15 amps but maybe he meant volts. I have limited info from the in-n-out phone call last night.

Anyone seen this and know where to start? I thought I'd ask the peanut gallery first. I told him to swap the batteries and see if the boil-over follows the battery. It might be faulty internally.
 
Texted him. He says that's what he thought and he bought a brand new battery. That side still does it, even with brand new battery.
 
He needs a new crossover cable. The ecm gets battery voltage off the driver side battery, if the crossover cable fails, it thinks it's not charging (which it's not charging driverside battery) and then boils over the passenger side. He realistically needs all new battery cables more than likely.
 
bateman said:
Well damn. New one on me but makes sense.
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Ask me how I know. I got a set of replacement cables from Gray's Performance and Offroad, but I don't think he makes them anymore. Geno's makes a set I've heard decent reviews on, but it looks like they're out of stock.
 
Resistance test the cables is pretty easy. Always replace both batteries at the same time. I know you know this.
 
You can buy the shit gray was building them out of from wirecare.com
He needs to check the battery temp sensors, that's part of the charging feedback loop as well. They should be discs in the bottom of the battery tray.

Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk
 
What truck is it?

Phil's correct, battery temp sensor on the LH battery also commands charging and the alternator on older trucks is connected to the RH battery. A bad cross over cable will cause this.
 
Phooker said:
Ask me how I know. I got a set of replacement cables from Gray's Performance and Offroad, but I don't think he makes them anymore. Geno's makes a set I've heard decent reviews on, but it looks like they're out of stock.
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Sounds a bit scary when batteries start making bubbles haha

BatteryCablesUSA.com. Is where I Built my own for like $100. Maybe it was $150 can’t remember but it was about half what the listed kits were.

Now if I could find a OE starter to rebuild and install I could wrap up the electrical crap.
 
BigPapa said:
What truck is it.
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'04.5 northern truck with zero metal in the rocker panels and fender wells.

:hehe:

I told him to swap the cross-over cables. Thanks for the detail, Phil. You'd think a group of automotive engineers would have the ECM sense BOTH batteries and compare the two and toss out a CEL if they didn't match....and a code to replace cables. How effin' stupid is that to read one side and charge from the other? There is a special place in hell for these idiots.
 
Jory, no offense but I don’t think the average engineer has the sense you do haha the ones I’ve worked with sure as hell don’t.
 
bateman said:
Jory, no offense but I don’t think the average engineer has the sense you do haha the ones I’ve worked with sure as hell don’t.
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It amazes me how the automotive world thinks. If these pukes would stop worrying about how to make the grills and headlights look so damn hideous and work on how to keep failures from the last two decades from happeneing....they'd be the No 1 selling trucks hands-down. Instead, they design in failure to keep warranty claims and part sales high. Asinine.
 
That needs to be chiseled inside a cave somewhere for future generations haha. I agree with every word.
 
4x4dually said:
'04.5 northern truck with zero metal in the rocker panels and fender wells.

:hehe:

I told him to swap the cross-over cables. Thanks for the detail, Phil. You'd think a group of automotive engineers would have the ECM sense BOTH batteries and compare the two and toss out a CEL if they didn't match....and a code to replace cables. How effin' stupid is that to read one side and charge from the other? There is a special place in hell for these idiots.
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See, you did something wrong there, you THOUGHT, that's where you went wrong. Make sure he gets the crossover cable too.
 
They don't design things to last anymore, and on top of that, the sensor that you are talking about costs more money so they don't want to spend that and take down profit on each vehicle. The most they can make and the fewer warranty claims is what they are all after. If there is failures in all of the vehicles at 20-30k out of warranty and for $15 more they can get a part that makes it to 100K out of warranty they won't. They build to line the shareholders pockets now, not for consumer loyalty.
 
06 DIESEL said:
They don't design things to last anymore, and on top of that, the sensor that you are talking about costs more money so they don't want to spend that and take down profit on each vehicle. The most they can make and the fewer warranty claims is what they are all after. If there is failures in all of the vehicles at 20-30k out of warranty and for $15 more they can get a part that makes it to 100K out of warranty they won't. They build to line the shareholders pockets now, not for consumer loyalty.
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A POS sensor that is supposed to monitor battery temperature....yet can have debris between it and the plastic (an insulator) case of the battery.....that when it does fail, can send one or both batteries into orbit, cause a fire, a crash, bodily harm, etc etc.

Like I said, "THERE'S A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERS"....and the software writers for SolidWorks.
 
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