Pre-Purchase: Battery Acid

[silo]

Have been looking for a used LC 200 and came across one in good shape. Looking at the engine bay, while looking quite good otherwise, it did show signs of a battery having sprayed acid within the engine compartment at some point (top plastic of the radiator was bubbled a bit, there was a decent sized area in the hood insulator above the battery which had disintegrated). This raised a question I'd never considered: how much of a concern is it when a battery goes sideways inside the confines of an engine bay given all the hoses, belts, cables and what have you?

 

[bloc]

Have been looking for a used LC 200 and came across one in good shape. Looking at the engine bay, while looking quite good otherwise, it did show signs of a battery having sprayed acid within the engine compartment at some point (top plastic of the radiator was bubbled a bit, there was a decent sized area in the hood insulator above the battery which had disintegrated). This raised a question I'd never considered: how much of a concern is it when a battery goes sideways inside the confines of an engine bay given all the hoses, belts, cables and what have you?

There could be significant corrosion of the body work under and around the battery. I'd need to get a close look to assess the viability of repair.

The other question is why did all that acid get everywhere? Charging systems going haywire and killing batteries isn't something well-known to this board. I'd wonder about a front end accident that crushed the battery and sent its guts flying.

 

[KLF]

I've seen it happen when a fan exploded.

Maybe it was getting a jump start and the cables got hooked up backwards?

 

[ToothDr]

Keep looking.

 

[Sandroad]

You’re right to be concerned. Batteries are very very unlikely to spray acid, though I did see one explode in a parking lot when hooked up backwards as mentioned my @KLF

I agree with @bloc it needs to be looked at for collision damage. And get someone to look at acid collateral damage to the things you’ve mentioned.

And whatever happened probably was not good for the truck’s electrical system.

 

[Tex68w]

I'd pass.

 

[silo]

Thanks all — I appreciate the feedback.

 

[silo]

Thought I'd include a couple of screen grabs from some video I have of it, in case that's revealing in any way...