Battery Contents Spewed All Over Engine Bay!

[Bluegrass]

Went to check/change fluids, only to discover my battery has spewed it's guts all over my engine bay! Looks to be dry. I have no idea how long its been like this.

How totaled is my car? Time to get a 2019?

I know stock batteries can be troublesome with these cars. Has this happened to anyone else? Best way to clean this up and check for damage?

Thanks!

[radroach]

You're going to need to put something on that to neutralize the acid while washing that.

[Silverz]

Never seen that before. What kind of temperatures do you get in your area?

Is that your oem battery? Mine doesn’t look like that?

Has any of it eaten into anything? If not, you might just need to good a good cleaning. Make sure to get it off all the wires and stuff.

[Tcoat]

In 45 years of working on cars. Having owned a couple of dozen junkers. Being the guy that people would ask to look at their vehicle. I have never ever seen anything like that. Are you sure it was the battery? Why is it yellow? Does the car still start?
Doesn't look like it would do the damage you would expect from battery acid. I have blown a couple up over the years and it was just clear acid that left some really clean marks on everything except bare steel bolts that rusted almost instantly. If sure it is from the battery just mix some baking soda with some water and wipe it out. Then cover the alternator, fusebox and what is left of the battery with taped on plastic and rinse the whole bay out.

[Bluegrass]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses! Will definitely try the baking soda/water combo to neutralize and clean.

Car starts fine and drives great, hence I didn't notice till I popped the hood.

I assumed it was from the battery looking at the splatter pattern. It is odd though, looks like someone shot a paintball gun off under the hood.

I'll update after trying the baking soda/water. Any other general engine bay cleaners you all would recommend?

[Silverz]

Do you charge the battery a lot. Could be from overcharging. Or just a badly sealed battery.

Definately change out the battery as soon as possible.

[highway7]

That's not the stock battery



Battery could have been overfilled with water

[N1rve]

That's not an OEM battery -- but a replacement battery. Take it to the Toyota Dealer who installed it for you and show it to them. Might have a faulty battery and see if they can clean your engine bay for you since they installed a faulty battery.

[guybo]

Toyota TrueStart batteries are crap. The pattern of the material looks like the battery did it, but it's yellow and the battery still works, it's not bloated and the caps are in place. So it doesn't look like the battery did it. If you have pH paper, wet a little of that stuff and see if it's an acid.

I'm wondering if some other fluid didn't blow up over there and spray looking like it came fromt he battery area. I'm with @Tcoat

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Bluegrass

Thanks everyone for the quick responses! Will definitely try the baking soda/water combo to neutralize and clean.

Car starts fine and drives great, hence I didn't notice till I popped the hood.

I assumed it was from the battery looking at the splatter pattern. It is odd though, looks like someone shot a paintball gun off under the hood.

I'll update after trying the baking soda/water. Any other general engine bay cleaners you all would recommend?

I suggest you place a bit of baking soda paste on a couple of places to see if it fizzes or just taste a bit of the yellow residue to see it it's acetic.

If it is battery acid, just clean it up with baking soda and water, like mentioned.

I used to use a product called Gunk, to clean my engines, back in the day when I gave a shit whether they were clean =


humfrz

[Sapphireho]

Only time I've seen something like that was oil/water mixture from head gasket.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Only time I've seen something like that was oil/water mixture from head gasket.

OH Shit that is exactly what it looks like!

[BirdTRD]

Have you popped the battery caps and looked inside? It certainly looks to be coming from the side of the battery but the color is throwing me. Maybe someone put the wrong juice in the battery, hence the failure and strange color.
Here's to hoping it's not a head gasket.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by BirdTRD

Have you popped the battery caps and looked inside? It certainly looks to be coming from the side of the battery but the color is throwing me. Maybe someone put the wrong juice in the battery, hence the failure and strange color.
Here's to hoping it's not a head gasket.

That is just it. The battery still works and the car starts. If the battery threw that much bizarre coloured crap it would not still be working. Battery acid should be a blackish translucent sort of colour. I have seen battery acid react with different surfaces and that reaction can look odd but if that was acid it should not be identical on all the different materials. It would have varied depending up the reaction with each.