‘69 Battery dead, possibly heat damaged?

[UH60L]

So, my '69 has been running and driveable again since April 2016.  Back then I bought a new battery for it from the local Knecht's auto parts store.  Never had an issue with it.  For 2 years it seemed to charge up and crank strong even if the car had sat for a month. 

I went out to the garage about a month ago and attempted to fire up he car, but it was dead.  Showed 12.4 volts, but wouldn't crank.  I charged it up and drove the car without any problems.  A week later I tried again, cranked about 1 revolution and then dead.

I noticed my brand new battery tray appears to have corrosion in the right rear corner.  So I'm wondering if the factory exhaust is doing damage to the battery since they are only a couple inches from each other?  Maybe the corner of the battery is melting?  It does get pretty hot in the engine compartment...

Unfortunately my finances have reached the "ramen noodles and hope the rent gets paid" stage, so I can't afford a new battery right now...

[Ghoste]

I would be inclined to think the corrosion was from battery acid and that the battery was just plain dead more than anything else.  Do you know how old it is?

[UH60L]

Bought the battery brand new in April 2016, so 2.5 years roughly...

[70 sublime]

Think I would un hook the battery and check that there is not something drawing a little power that is killing it over time

[TexasGeneral]

Not to beat a dead horse but.. Do you have an ammeter or has it been replaced?
(Personally hate ammeters on these cars)

[JR]

It's free to take the battery out of the car and have the auto parts store do a load test. You can also do an amp draw check yourself for free.

Doing those two things will tell you if it's an electrical problem, or a bad battery problem.

[UH60L]

Not to beat a dead horse but.. Do you have an ammeter or has it been replaced?
(Personally hate ammeters on these cars)

I put a painless wire harness in it and I bypassed the ammeter.

[b5blue]

Ah, check connections/wires/grounds and take the car to a parts store for a readout. Advance Auto by me here in FL. has a nice tester that gives a printed readout, for free.