I found corrosion under the battery to the point that the horn shorted out. Does this mean the battery is leaking acid? It is a "72 month", three year old battery. I also have an extra brand new Walmart (johnson) "36 month" that I could swap it out with. Should I do so?

Hi

Kkurt's comment about 15 minutes cranking - I'd be wary about that, starter motors are only designed to run for very short periods - the owner's handbook states "no longer than 15-20 seconds". The reason, I'm told, is that a starter motor has no cooling built in, unlike an alternator, and that it has a huge current draw & heat buildup. Armatures apparently melt. You may get away with it in cold weather, possibly.

Alan

Hey,

Those 15 minutes where intermittent cranking with the necessary pauses between.
And that was an extreme case....!!!

I was very conscient of the possible overheating of the cranking design.

The real cause at that time was that my headgasket was blown.
At that time I didn' t know: a lot of cooling water in the engine etc
So not ignition at all... cranking and cranking until it took off.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
My volvo discharged then more water in the atmosphere then a nuclear facility -)-)-)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Know it runs as smooth as at 100000 km


I know very well that a starter moter is only designed for 2-3 seconds operations, a 10 000 times.

My point is: the battery was top condition and helped me


good luck

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240 '88 B200K wite sedan 255K km Europe virgo+all turbo gauges

before you do anything , neutralize the acid residue and clean it off.
Mix up some baking soda and water and soak down the area. after a while rinse it good with water.
You should be able to take the battery to where it was purchased and have it checked out
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel

Not necessary,

the state off a battery is wath capacity it still has after using.

If you can crank for 10-15 minutes, then it is still perfect.
A while agoo, I flooded the engine, and after 15 minutes of cranking, finally it started. lucky me.
In cold periods, the capacity reduces a lot.


the cause is that the sulfuric acid always gets out of the battery in very small amounts trought the venting holes of each cell in the battery.
due to cornering, and comes under the plastic basket

I had this also.
I removed the plastic basket, cleaned everything dry.
Covered everything down there with tectyl.
Can' t corrode anymore down there.

regards
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240 '88 B230K wite sedan 255K km Europe virgo+all turbo gauges