Something goofy happened to my Charger over the weekend

[jeryst]

I pull the 69 Charger out of the garage on Saturday, and decide to take it for a ride to do a few errands. Along the way, I stop at a buddies house to see if he wants to go for a ride.
He says sure, so he hops in and off we go. We tool around town for awhile, doing some things I had to do.

I need to run back to my house to get something I forgot, so when I get to a nice straight stretch, I punch it, to clear out the carbon a bit.

All of a sudden, the car backfires a couple of times, and I see a big cloud of black smoke in my rear view mirror.

Then the motor dies.

Luckily, I am near a trucking terminal, so I coast into it. Gauges look good, but as I come to a stop, my buddy says "I see smoke".
Sure enough, there is smoke coming out of my engine compartment, and I can smell something burning.

We jump out of the car and I yank the hood open.

I look down and see smoke coming from my battery, then I notice that my battery hold down is touching the positive battery terminal.
The hold down is so hot, it is melting through the plastic battery case.

I yank off my shoe, and hit the hold down, knocking it off of the battery terminal.

Apparently, when I put the battery back in the car after charging it, something distracted me, and I forgot to completely attach the battery hold down.
It was still attached on the one end (grounded to the car), but the other end was loose, so when I punched it, the hold down flew backward and hit the
positive battery terminal, instantly welding it in place, and causing a major short circuit. Now what are the chances of that?

After it cooled down, I secured the loose end of the battery hold down (other rod and nut were still sitting on the fender).
Hopped back into the car, and it fired right back up.
We finished doing my errands without any further incident.

[tan top]

  you was lucky !!   

[FlatbackFanatic]

  thats for sure!!

[Hemidog]

I thought the hold down was rubber coated?

[1970Moparmann]

I thought the hold down was rubber coated?

I've seen both ways.  If I'm correct, the originals were not, new are.

[Chargerrtforme]

Wow. Keep the insurance up to date. That was close.

[Plum Crazy 68]

Too much Beer and Family members can be the distraction when working on a car.  Be careful.

[elacruze]

I look down and see smoke coming from my battery, then I notice that my battery hold down is touching the positive battery terminal.
The hold down is so hot, it is melting through the plastic battery case.
...the hold down flew backward and hit the positive battery terminal, instantly welding it in place, and causing a major short circuit.

Now what are the chances of that?

Just about 100%, as you've discovered  

Growing up, I don't think I ever talked to anyone who hadn't had this happen, although much more often it was a Chevy grounding the Hot post to the radiator due to the rusty battery tray and wood/rubber straps attempting to restrain the battery in some POS teenager's car. It happened only once to me, fortunately the battery slid back away from the radiator before we stopped. My solution was...to rubber strap a piece of wood to the radiator where the battery hit it...

<edit>

Expect that battery to fail in the near future, as extreme amp draw for more than a few seconds can warp the plates and cause them to ground internally. Keep a watchful eye.

[Drache]

Do you have a fire extinguisher in your car? If not maybe it's time to get one just in case?

[hemi68charger]

Whew !!!!   

[HANDM]

Had a similar situation with a Ramcharger that I had, I was out braffin when the hold down snapped, throwing the battery into the manifold. Didn't notice till a bunch of smoke came puring from under the hood. Looked and found the battery melted to the manifold and spewing it's water all over the frame. Put it back in place, fired it up, drove home, hosed it all down and sold the truck for a thousand a couple weeks later

[twodko]

Ditto what Drache said!

[mauve66]

Had a similar situation with a Ramcharger that I had, I was out braffin when the hold down snapped, throwing the battery into the manifold. Didn't notice till a bunch of smoke came puring from under the hood. Looked and found the battery melted to the manifold and spewing it's water all over the frame. Put it back in place, fired it up, drove home, hosed it all down and sold the truck for a thousand a couple weeks later

so thats what was wrong with the truck.................

[mopar73]

you were fortunate indeed!

[Sublime/Sixpack]

Yep, you lucked out! Especially that the battery didn't blow up in your face when you lifted the hood.

[MoparManJim]

Man, that was a close call bud,

Back around 8 years ago, when I had my charger running. I remember my dad was driving, we just got back from town and he back the charger up in the driveway to where we would usually part the other car at. My dad being a wait for it.. wait for it.. being a Ford person wasn't aware of Dodges pressly mopars. He went to shut the engine down and as he reach for the ignition it just up and stalled. He looked strange for afew minutes and all a sudden we seen smoke coming out from under the driver side hood edge and back portion of the hood corner as well. I quickly jump out of the changer and dash to the front to pop the hood as my dad was getting out of the car as he had arteristis. I got the hood open and he yanked the battery cable off the battery. Turns out the dang Bulk head connector fried just when the car came to a stop in the driveway. The battery cable was toasted up to the bulk head and melted the pos connector clear down! I took the connector off and apart later on and ran the stuff straight through the small opening and to the other side of the connector pos wire. Like I told my dad afew days later, lucky we just got back home that day and was in the driveway when the issue happened. It could have been worst we could have been in town in traffic or something.  

So I know how you feel man bout the battery issue.