# Exploded Battery, now no power **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** batteries, dodge, electrical-wiring\ **Created:** [November 20, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161 "2019-11-20T02:09:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scbabbitt82\_160025](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scbabbitt82\_160025](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scbabbitt82_160025)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/1 "2019-11-20T02:09:03Z")
Good evening all. Hoping someone has ran into this before or has some insight. Had some intermittent starting issues with the car. Would run fine then a couple times would have nothing on the start. Still had power but wouldn’t even turn over. Jumped it in these situations and bam, back in business until the next time. Cleaned posts and connections good and the problem went away. Then it came back several months later. Same scenario, jumped it, same result. Had it in the driveway, tried to jump it several times to no avail. Gave up and said I’ll try tomorrow. Went out to give one more shot and BOOM! The battery exploded. Acid everywhere, it was a mess. After applying liberal amounts of baking soda and water to some areas, I left the car alone for the night. Picked up a new battery the next night. Opened the car door (exploded battery still connected) and had lights. Carefully removed bad battery and installed the new one and…nothing. Not a light, not a door ding, nothing at all. Tested to the fuse box under the hood and I have juice at least to that point. What changed? Where should I test from here? Thanks in advance! ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/4/1/41d80e59397d18c08fae203d8e2fbea2721d345c.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/2 "2019-11-20T04:09:49Z")
It’s possible that on your final jump start attempt the polarity got reversed. That could cause this symptom. If so the problem now is likely fuses &/or fusible links have blown and need to be replaced. ---
**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/3 "2019-11-20T04:15:49Z")
That is why you are supposed to make the final connection the ground on the jumped car as far away from the battery as you can get with the cable. ---
**Author:** ![Scbabbitt82\_160025](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scbabbitt82\_160025](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scbabbitt82_160025)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/4 "2019-11-20T11:56:03Z")
No, not possible. Additionally the final attempt at starting was not a jump ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/5 "2019-11-21T01:24:42Z")
Unlikely to be fuses or fusible links then. ---
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/6 "2019-11-21T01:52:27Z")
But regardless what order it occurred reversed polarity when jumping will do some damage to quite a few components. ---
**Author:** ![Cougar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cougar/32/21348_2.png) [@Cougar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Cougar)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/7 "2019-11-21T16:26:05Z")
Make sure the main battery ground and chassis ground lead connections are making good connections. If they are good then you need to make sure power from the main under the hood is getting to the ignition switch. ---
**Author:** ![Scbabbitt82\_160025](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scbabbitt82\_160025](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scbabbitt82_160025)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/8 "2019-11-21T17:52:26Z")
Cougar, my thoughts as well. I’ve tested a ways through the system under the hood. I guess I have to keep working back. I do have some concern that there may be a PCM issue at the root of all this. ---
**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/9 "2019-11-21T18:15:21Z")
I had one car I had intermittent starting problems with. I had cleaned and tightened both battery cables and it happened again. I had the hood up and when I tried again, I saw a spark jump between the post and cable clamp. I replaced the cable and all was fine. That could easily explode a battery. Try running your jumper cable from the ground terminal of the battery to a metal part of the engine block and see if that restores power. ---
**Author:** ![Cougar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cougar/32/21348_2.png) [@Cougar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Cougar)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/10 "2019-11-21T18:53:45Z")
As far as I know, the PCM doesn’t have any control of the starting system, but with some of today’s cars, anything is possible. ---
**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/exploded-battery-now-no-power/153161/11 "2019-11-21T19:33:22Z")
It can if there is a theft prevention feature. Tester posted this in another thread- ![8fbbc6ef1e094780af7421adc936ce535bdefbaa_2_560x500](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/7/8/78a670cc958d5c7aeb2f1eb532d860acd2d52f61.jpeg)