5420 Battery blew up on me today

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I was making some adjustments on my sickle bar mechanism and I was having to start the tractor about every 10-15 minutes for about 30 seconds at a time to adjust the 3 point up and down. I did this 3 or 4 times. I reached for the key (while off the tractor on the right side) and it went POW!!! Sounded louder than my 357 magnum. Luckily the hood was down and the side shields were on. It kept the acid from splashing on me. I was worried about an electrical fire at first as a bit of smoke was coming out. The battery is a John Deere OEM replaced about 3-4 years ago. It blew a big chunk out the left side of the battery and the top has a big split and is raised like a fault line. Somehow, it must of had a direct short in it. I know heat is hard on batteries, and it was probably still about 99 degrees outside.

This is the first time I've ever had a battery literally explode on me. I'm just glad the tractor wasn't in my nice barn or that someone didn't get hurt.

I flushed it with fresh water for about 15 minutes after taking off the side covers and raising the hood. Made sure I thoroughly sprayed through the radiator and cooler. I need to find out when I bought it and see if there might be some warranty left and since it EXPLODED on me, if they'll make it right and give me another battery.

 

[Edward. S]

I was making some adjustments on my sickle bar mechanism and I was having to start the tractor about every 10-15 minutes for about 30 seconds at a time to adjust the 3 point up and down. I did this 3 or 4 times. I reached for the key (while off the tractor on the right side) and it went POW!!! Sounded louder than my 357 magnum. Luckily the hood was down and the side shields were on. It kept the acid from splashing on me. I was worried about an electrical fire at first as a bit of smoke was coming out. The battery is a John Deere OEM replaced about 3-4 years ago. It blew a big chunk out the left side of the battery and the top has a big split and is raised like a fault line. Somehow, it must of had a direct short in it. I know heat is hard on batteries, and it was probably still about 99 degrees outside.

This is the first time I've ever had a battery literally explode on me. I'm just glad the tractor wasn't in my nice barn or that someone didn't get hurt.

I flushed it with fresh water for about 15 minutes after taking off the side covers and raising the hood. Made sure I thoroughly sprayed through the radiator and cooler. I need to find out when I bought it and see if there might be some warranty left and since it EXPLODED on me, if they'll make it right and give me another battery.

My battery is on my right hand side of my stairs on my cab unit. Hopefully those stairs do a good job. Dont want this happening to me.. If your looking for a good decent battery check out interstate batteries. I have a few of them on my tractors they work pretty well. Better than JD OEM. I have 2 on my Hino. Work well too. Mostly everything that needed a new battery has interstates in them. Except my 6420. Darn thing wouldn't fit.

 

[creekbend]

I am only a "backyard" mechanic, not a pro, but I can handle most maintenance tasks on my vehicles. The same thing happened to me around 12 years ago. I only turned the ignition once on my pickup and boom. The battery blew up, creating a sizeable dent in the hood. Your description was totally accurate. It sounded like a twelve-12- guage going off. If has only happened to me once and I am glad for that. Don't know what caused it. Happy Tractoring.:tractor:

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I'm 51 years old and although I've heard of this, I've never had it happen to me or any of my buddies.

 

[creekbend]

I'm 51 years old and although I've heard of this, I've never had it happen to me or any of my buddies.

I just turned 60 and it has only happened to me once. It will sure wake you up. It's a good thing that this is rare and doesn't happen very often. Happy Tractoring.

 

[netwayne]

Hey Kyle....just curious...was the battery a sealed maintenance free battery or one that you could actually open to check cell levels from time to time?

I ask because I was recently trying to trickle charge a battery on our horse trailer and noticed the charger was getting pretty hot. I decided to stop the charging attempt and check out the cells and sure enough, one of them was extremely low on fluid. I topped it off with fresh distilled water and was able to get a good charge on it without the trickle charger getting hot. The experience reminded me of the need to be checking those battery fluid levels more often. I know you were also operating your tractor at the time in hot conditions which I'm sure played a factor. Again...was just curious about the battery fluid levels if it wasn't sealed.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

It was sealed type. Here are some pic's.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

So the battery was purchased in Dec 2005, that makes it almost 6 years old.

 

[mjncad]

I had the battery explode on my 1983 S-10 pickup around 1994 or so as I was driving to work. Yes, they make a loud bang, and at first I thought it was a tire blowout; but I didn't get the typical jerking motion from a blowout, which told me the battery exploded.

Check out your tractor's electrical system; because my S-10's system never was right afterwards.

I hope that was the one and only time I ever experience a battery explosion.

 

[irvingj]

I believe the source of the explosion is the hydrogen gas that's released as a battery charges... though where the igniting spark would come from is another matter. Almost sounds as though maybe some of these maintenance-free batteries can generate an internal spark under the right circumstances.

Years ago, we had a battery explosion in the shop I was working in, as one of my co-workers hooked up jumper cables --or was taking them off after a charge, perhaps. At any rate the battery blew up, while he had his hands under the hood. We rushed him outside and hosed him off immediately; fortunately his eyes didn't get hit.

We cleaned up the car afterward, and everything seemed OK. About a week later, however, the owner of the car that had been in the next bay over came in, asking what had happened to his paint while we had his car-- there were spots all over the roof and one side of it, except for a good outline of my co-worker where the paint was untouched!

Needless to say, that customer got a free paint job, and my co-worker got a new set of clothes....