battery damage

January 19, 2007 10:59 AM

How much will Battery fluid damage the interior of a car?

I changed the batter in my girlfriends car a few days after christmas. There was nowhere to dispose of the battery (we live in the city), so I put it on the floorboard in the back of the car. I guess i didnt stress the importance of getting it out of there promptly because i got a call from her today saying it was all over the floor of the car.

I dont know how long it has been leaking, but it has already started to deteriorate the carpet. How much potential for damage is there? Could this continue through the metal? I have read the best way to neutralize is with baking soda, can anyone confirm this?

Thanks in advance.

posted by jmugrapler to Travel & Transportation (8 answers total)

A lot. Cover the area with baking soda to neutralize the acid and then rinse well. That will help prevent additional damage. As for continuing through to the metal, that seems likely unless your carpet is backed by rubber. Can you pull up the carpeting?
posted by caddis at 11:09 AM on January 19, 2007

Best answer: Yes it can eat through a lot.

Mix baking soda with water in a spray bottle. Squirt everything until it stops foaming.

When it is neutralized, get a wet/dry vac or a steam cleaner and give it s good once-over.

Then I would start from the beginning again just to be sure.
posted by Seamus at 11:09 AM on January 19, 2007

Best answer: Do get the carpet up, to make sure the baking-soda solution gets all the way to the metal floor.

Battery acid is very strong. It will create holes in your jeans (you may not see them until after the next wash), and in any other cotton the stuff contacts. Wear rubber gloves and whatever other plastic or rubber gear you can. Don't touch your face until you've washed your hands.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:19 AM on January 19, 2007

Could this continue through the metal?

Oh, god yes. SELF LINK WARNING This was just from years of fumes/tiny leakage. It gets much worse. This is, after all, sulphuric acid we're talking about. My '95 Oldsmobile is beginning to look much the same under the battery, if not worse.
posted by IronLizard at 11:28 AM on January 19, 2007

and by rubber gloves he does not mean surgical gloves or kitchen gloves, but the kind that are advertised as chemical resistant - Butyl rubber or Nitrile rubber. Home Depot has them.
posted by caddis at 11:43 AM on January 19, 2007

Best answer: The auto parts store also has a foaming spray meant to clean the battery box of stray oozing acid or white crust, which might also work to help neutralize the crap in the carpet. But baking soda is probably fine too. It's nasty stuff though, definitely wear hand protection and do not even think about rubbing your face or eyes while working on it.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:28 PM on January 19, 2007

I did that once, to an old car of mine, and after a month, I moved the battery to see a fist-sized hole in the floor, and the street staring up at me. Luckily I was moving the battery out of there because I was junking the car, but still -- it was scary holding that thing in my hands knowing what it did to my car.
posted by thanotopsis at 2:09 PM on January 19, 2007

I have had a similar problem, but I didn't use a spray bottle with bicarb soda & water, I used a bucket full,and just poured it over the effected area. Once it stopped fizzing, I rinsed it out.
posted by tomble at 7:19 PM on January 19, 2007