My truck is almost a year old with 12,000 miles and while changing oil yesterday i noticed the passenger side battery has been leaking and corroded the hold down bracket.

So I could clean it up, get rid of the corrosion, check to see if the battery was overfilled from the factory and move on, or I could go to the dealer and ask them about replacing the battery and the bracket under warranty. Does this warrant a stop by the dealer? I guess I'm just wondering what you guys would do. Thanks, here's a pic

 

Yes... Take it back to the dealer for a replacement battery and bracket.

 

I agree with Troy

 

Take it back..I would have them checking the charging system to see if it is over charging.

 

My 2011 did the same thing on drivers side. I didn't notice it until I was getting ready to trade it in. Mine corroded all the way across the bracket.

 

Doesn't look like leaking to me, looks like normal hydrogen venting. At least I've observed this on many batteries I've owned in the past. Happened on my old Saturn Sky and Wife' Subaru. I don't know about Ford's warranty (never looked in my owner's manual) but most manufacturers don't warranty batteries past 90 days for OEM. Doesn't hurt to ask though.

 

I just went and bought new brackets and got new "maintenance free" flooded batteries... I didn't want to bother with warranty.

In an automotive environment, I don't need to worry about maintaining batteries, which is why I went with the sealed top. The other reason was that I order enough industrial batteries (forklift/telecom/switchgear) that I got two Group 65 900CCAs for a good 'ah don't worry about it' deal.

 

Thanks for the replays everyone. I might just have them take a look at it and see what they say. Thanks again.

 

Mine did the same thing. I wire brushed and repainted but it will happen again. Interested to see if the dealer gives you a 'deer in the headlights' look or actually fixes it.

 

Mine have been slowly leaking for a year.
The bracket is fine but I'm just now beginning to see corrosion on the posts.
Cleaned some of that off two weeks ago.
Batteries were installed at the factory May 2010.

 

Clean it up and spray some Fluid Film on it from time to time. Every Superduty I have owned or maintained did this to some extent and it is always the right battery. It is first in line on the circuit and seems to take the brunt of the charge/discharge. I seriously doubt that the average dealer will even consider it anything less than normal maintenance.

If it makes you feel any better, I don't recall ever having a problem with premature failure on the right battery from this. It is more or less just a cosmetic inconvenience.

 

Interesting. I dont want to have this problem and Im not a battery expert but I though pretty much only maintenance free batteries existed today. Over charging cause this? What effect might that have on a sealed battery or a battery like the yellow top Optima gel cell for example? The thought of battery corrosion leaking all over under my hood does not excite me.

 

It's the hydrogen gas that flood-filled batteries vent whenever they discharge. That's what causes the corrosion on metal. On my RAM and F150, I use battery terminal protectant which is roughly the same thing as fluid film. It leaves a thin layer of grease to keep the hydrogen from coming into contact with the terminals. It works and only needs to be sprayed every 6 months to keep-up protection. It's very effective and a lesson I learned when I owned my Saturn Sky. It's even worse on that car because the battery chamber has very poor venting for the hydrogen, so it lingers longer and corrodes the terminals even more. However, Ford's trucks tend to have more room for venting so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just the parts immediately close to the vents on the battery would be subject to corrosion. You could get an aluminum tie-down and when that corrodes, you can just buff it out. Or do just as others have and clean and re-spray them (that's what I did for my wife's Subaru).

Technically, "Most" batteries are "Maintenance Free". That doesn't mean that they have an unlimited life or that they don't vent hydrogen though. As for the Optima batteries you're siting, they use a different chemistry called "Absorbed Glass Mat" or "AGM" for short. They don't vent as they are a dry-cell battery, no liquids floating around. In transit, these tend to have a much longer life versus the flooded acid batteries that are typically on the market. I love AGM batteries but they are pricey compared to your typical flood-filled battery. Also on my wife's subaru, we swapped out her OEM battery for an Optima when it was giving up. The Optima did not vent at all as I mentioned earlier and there were no real corrosion issues. I still sprayed the terminals with that battery protectant to keep the copper from turning green. I don't like all that "Patina".

 

 

Not exactly my definition of well maintained. I am constantly pouring a baking soda solution on my battery terminals to keep corrosion down. Just part of having flooded cell batteries..