refill your batteries!

GriffX

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My car was starting very hard after some days of rest, so I tried to charge my battery.
But the ctek refused to charge the BXT-40R at 12.45V, desulfatation and error. So taking the battery out of the car thinking of buying a new one, I heard some gurgle from the acid. So I opened the cells and refilled it with lots of destilled water. In two chambers the plates were dry on top.
After refill, the ctek worked flawless.
Is it like new? No, but I will get some more time out of it. I wish I had done this some years ago.
 

Juice

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And that i why I prefer sealed AGM batts!
 

GriffX

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But the original battery BXT-40R or BXT-96R have normal wet cells.
 

Juice

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There is no issues swapping to a sealed lead-acid batt.

If you replace the starter with a high torque/gear reduction light weight one, you can use a lithium battery. But those are definitely not as reliable or last as long as a lead-acid. Ive done this temporarily for track events to shave weight.
 

GriffX

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Ok, I bought the car with the OEM battery, why not use it as long as possible? Filling up with distilled water was done within 10 minutes.
 

LikeabossTM

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Ok, I bought the car with the OEM battery, why not use it as long as possible? Filling up with distilled water was done within 10 minutes.
Yes, use it as long as possible. Do not throw out a good working battery.

You're welcome, the more you know.
 

Iceman62

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I haven't owned/used a battery w/fill caps since the 80's...time to get w/the current century in power. >.<
 

GriffX

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I'm sure you haven't noticed the hidden filling caps. The Motorcraft have two wide caps, 3 cells each. You pry them off with a screwdriver very easy. The warning signs are printed on it. Some other brands have caps with a slit or cross to open them, sometimes hidden below a paper label.
 

Juice

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I'm sure you haven't noticed the hidden filling caps. The Motorcraft have two wide caps, 3 cells each. You pry them off with a screwdriver very easy. The warning signs are printed on it. Some other brands have caps with a slit or cross to open them, sometimes hidden below a paper label.
Yes, there are fill caps on some batts, but they are not supposed to need any maintenance/meant to be removed after the initial acid fill.
 

GriffX

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Depends how you define lifetime of a battery. ;)
Yes, the new types consume much less water than in the 80's, that's why I haven't opened it until now. I have an other car with a fully sealed battery (exide?), you can see the different acid levels in the cells from outside, but I would have drill holes in it. And it lost approx. 30% of its original capacity.:(
 

Juice

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lol, I was paraphrasing the advertising jargon on those batteries. One thing ppl forget is the impact of the charging system on the battery. A weak charging system will drain the battery more than needed, and battery life is directly related to the # of charge/discharge cycles. (and we have deep cycle, starting, and hybrid batts, ex: Optima blue, red, and yellow tops) On the flip side is if the system is slightly overcharging, which will boil away water. Both circumstance will reduce battery life, and you may not even have any symptoms and the car always start and drive just fine. Once the charging systems became PCM controlled, battery life was definitely extended due to tighter voltage control.
 

GriffX

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I'm not a fan of this PCM controlled batteries. If you need a new one, you are constrained to a type the car manufacturer predefined. No free choice and you need an interface in you dash to enter the new type. It would not surprise me if some premium car manufacturer would force you to enter the workshop for programming.
 

Iceman62

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Pretty sure my Motorcraft battery says "maintenance free" on it somewhere, but not pulling the cover to verify. Yes, there are removable fill covers, but no need to remove unless you're curious on what it looks like inside the casing.
 

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