battery fire

[Braindoc2be]

Hey Gang!
I'm pretty new to owning a Healey. I have a 1967 BJ8 and, last week, experienced a fire in my trunk. I was driving when the car suddenly died, then I heard a "bang!", followed by smoke pouring out of my trunk. When I opened it, the battery had blown out the caps (it was maintenance free Die Hard) and the negative battery cable was on fire, as was the surround for the gas filling tube. It appears that the long bolt that holds the battery down on the side closest to the front may have somehow grounded out the negative battery cable. I am not sure, but was hoping someone could take a pic of their trunk, including the battery and the mechanism for holding the battery down, so I can compare and see what really happened. Unfortunately, its one of those things you don't pay attention to until it rears it's fiery head!
I appreciate your help.
Thx,
Brent
Braindoc2be@yahoo.com

 

[RAC68]

Hi Brian,

Sorry to hear of your fire. Can you verify your car is a positive ground car and that the generator (or alternator if installed) is consistent with that grounding orientation as is the battery. I ask this because I have seen where a change or upgrade of some electrical components was done without making sure it was done consistent with actual car polarity and blowing the battery.

Good luck,
Ray (64BJ8P1)

 

[Braindoc2be]

Ray, yes it is positive ground with a generator. The negative terminal was toward the front of the car and the positive cable goes to ground.

 

[Braindoc2be]

Here is a pic of the trunk. I tried to capture the pertinent details

 

[British_Recovery]

What battery (group #) and did you have the original type metal bracket? Posts of battery should be on the far side, away from the bracket.
Bob

 

[Braindoc2be]

Hi Bob. Honestly, I don't know much about the battery. It was in the car when I bought it and the guy from the towing company disposed of it for me (I was concerned because it was leaking battery acid). The posts were, I think, in the middle of the battery. The negative was toward the front and the positive the back of the car. There was a rubber strap that went across the battery with a long bolt on each end to attach somewhere and hold the battery. If you blow up the pic, the rubber strap with the bolts (one broken at the end) is in the pic. It looks like one of the bolts attached to the front left of the battery at the bottom of the fuel filling shroud (you can see the broken piece in the pic). I am not sure where the other attached, the firemen came in and snipped the positive battery cable and yanked it all out.

 

[Braindoc2be]

Sorry, here is a pic of the pre-fire trunk I found from the ad when I bought the car:

 

[Braindoc2be]

I guess that answers what my trunk looked like pre-fire, but now I'm at a loss as to what caused the fire and short. I guess this wasn't the stock setup. I am not sure what that broken bolt behind the shroud is in the post-fire pic and if it was involved or not.

 

[LarryK]

If you watch the car show "Gears" he addressed the problem of buying cars from these fancy car dealers. In the picture from the Museum, it shows black leads to both battery terminals. Just that alone can lead to problems. When you fix the fire damage make sure the + positive cables are red, and the - cables are black. Might not seem like a problem, but when mechanics unfamiliar with these cars, things get mixed up and create fires. These cables are available in both colors and cost the same. You will find the + side has the larger pole.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

From the picture, my guess is the battery was loose under the clamp. It slid forward and the long mounting clamp made contact with battery post

marv

 

[AH100M]

Unfortunately, black cables for both positive and negative were standard from the factory so you may have to compromise originality here or change them out if you're participating in a concours where the judging is tough.

 

[tahoe healey]

See the Moss catalog for pictures of the proper setup.
TH

 

[Keoke]

" I'm at a loss as to what caused the fire and short."

Your original assumption seems correct to me .

Perhaps the battery clamping bolts were not tight enough and the battery slid forward.
Additionally, an over sized battery may have also contributed to shorting the battery .
A group 24 battery

Austin-Healy 1957-68 ​

G24L/B ​

10.25x6.75x9​

750cca ​

[ fits well in the Healey.

 

[Braindoc2be]

Thanks everyone for the help. I am going to hop onto Moss and get the right bracket and put it on a group 24 battery, after I fix the rest of the damage.

 

[DerekJ]

Looking at the photo it appears that the cable from the red capped post (presumably positive) back tracks behind the battery to the front of the car whilst the negative terminal nearest to the front of the car has its cable routing back to the cut-off switch. At least it looks that way to me in the photo. If so it was installed as though the car was negative ground.

 

[DerekJ]

Re my previous comment. It may be just that the positive cable is too long so it loops around and appears to go behind the battery. I think I can now see the negative cable disappear through a hole in the rear bulkhead so it probably was set up as positive ground.

 

[Keoke]

Thanks everyone for the help. I am going to hop onto Moss and get the right bracket and put it on a group 24 battery, after I fix the rest of the damage.

Be Sure and make up a concentrated spry of water and baking soda so you can neutralize all the acid deposited on metallic parts in the Boot.

 

[RAC68]

Hi Brian,

It will be difficult to identify the cause of your short but it is clear we are unprotected by this type of short. A while back, I installed fuse protection on every main circuit in my BJ8 but the high amperage battery circuit being fed by the generator/alternator and feeding the starter. Although I had designed an approach, I never implemented it as it was more complex then I felt comfortable with. Maybe this is the time to resurrect this design and maybe it would help to protect this area of vulnerability. This approach would provide full unprotected battery power when starting the car but would provide circuit breaker protection during all other active times.

Good luck,
Ray (64BJ8P1)

 

[British_Recovery]

Here are two photos - BT 7 and BJ 8 with a group 27 batteries and positive ground. Battery size is a good fit for the Bakelite tray.
Bob

 

[British_Recovery]

BT 7