Century battery leaking

[hardsteppa]

Century battery leaking

so i bought a new Century battery back in July, and noticed on the weekend that it's leaked, making some nice corrosion into the passenger rear seatal area and boot. Cleaned it up, and more leaking evident today. Stopped back to Supercheap today, and they ask, has it been dropped? No...it's safely secured in stock mounting area (boot, in R33). Is it overcharging? No, according to my apexi and defi digital gauges it's exactly in the prime charging range. Has it been overfilled? no buddy, apart from a small topup yesterday after I noticed it leaked, it's as I bought it. They say, well that's the only reason it would ever leak. I say, you're forgetting about manufacturing fault. They're now saying, can't do anything unless I give them back the battery and they send it back to Century for further testing (who, call me sceptical, will likely claim there's nothing wrong with it) meaning if i want to drive in the meantime, will have to buy another battery (NOT a Century). I ran a Supercharge battery without any issue until it suddenly died about 6 weeks after the 3 year warranty expired, on exactly the same setup and my alternator is a fairly new Bosch, so wouldn't think there's anything wrong with my setup. Anything else to cover or check, before I call my legal dept about launching a claim for refund of purchase and damage to my car?

 

[junkie]

Check charging voltage at the terminals, should be under 14.6.

Electrolyte level should be about 1cm above the lead plates, and not touch the bottom edge of the filling tube.

[Missileman]

Try contacting Century directly, they might offer a solution?  http://www.centurybatteries.com.au/contact-us

I like Supercharge, I've had quite a few of them and they have all lasted years over their warranty.

If you want the ducks nuts of batteries, I hear good things about Odyssey Batteries...http://www.odysseybattery.com/extreme_batteries.aspx

Edited September 27, 2016 by Missileman

[tridentt150v]

I use an Odyssey..........tried full river and braille but the odyssey gets the nod.  Had to make up my own clamps and such like is all - I hate commercial plastic/flimsy battery holders anyway, they never last.

 

Was thinking of going lithium ion next time, but the Odyssey is so good I may not bother.

[89CAL]

Go to another Centry distributor and see if they can help? Even another supercheap?

[hardsteppa]

Yep stopped into a place yesterday and dude was very helpful, will be following up further for a refund. Century battrry is sitting in a plastic container now in a puddle of battery acid, definitely not just a bit of weeping.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

In performance cars I always recommend sealed batteries such as Optima Oddessey etc.

[hardsteppa]

well i'm a fair man...a very well hung and fair man...so credit where it's due, did take it back to another supercheap and after they saw the amount of leaking, had no trouble giving a refund on the spot so good on them. Matter now closed.

[kingtube69]

I bought a century battery because my 7 year old optima shit the bed finally (physical issue)
I'm a bit worried after reading this..............................

Didn't go optima again because where the hell would I source one late on a Sunday before a public holiday

 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

lol...

Anyone Optima did get a bad wrap about 10 years ago when all their batteries were made in Mexico.. LOL yes LOL

Then they've changed their plant to elsewhere and their quality returned back to where they were before 10+ years ago..

[kingtube69]

9 hours ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

lol...

Anyone Optima did get a bad wrap about 10 years ago when all their batteries were made in Mexico.. LOL yes LOL

Then they've changed their plant to elsewhere and their quality returned back to where they were before 10+ years ago..

It is genuinely an awesome battery, copped so much abuse through the years that I've owned it. Looks like acid started slowly leaking around the terminal, I went to remove the battery yesterday and the whole terminal bent in the case. Would definitely recommend but back on topic lets see how the century goes 

[Dark26]

Double check your voltage at the battery terminals with a multimeter while the car is idling for a few mins. I once had an alternator fail and it would now and then spike to 17V at the battery for a split second. This was on a carby car though so it may not apply as I'm guessing you would know straight away with an ECU if it was spiking to 17V haha.