Lately I've had an issue with a fan belt squeek... almost all the time. Been going on for a long time actually, and I just keep replacing and tightening the fan belt. Annoying.

Yesterday on my way to town, I heard an odd 'gong' noise... sorta like something hitting the underside of the hood. Didn't seem to cause any problems or happen again, so I sorta forgot about it.

THis morning, It was rather cold... below zero. So in order to avoid breaking the key off in the ignition, I started the car with a jumper wire at the solenoid. While I was under there, I found the source of the 'gong' noise... seems one of the covers had blown off the battery.

Putting two and two together to get five, I'm figuring that my battery must be getting overcharged and boiling, which would account for both a squeeky fan belt, and the battery almost exploding. Does that sound like a likely diagnosis? Could it be in the wiring, or the battery itself, or most likely just a bad alternator/regulator?

Car in question a '66 wagon with a delco alternator conversion. Only part I find odd is it seems to me if it were overcharging, the amp light would be on... and it behaves perfectly normally.

Thanks for any thoughts...

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-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC