? for the battery gurus...

http://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/WP_EffectOfImpurities_0612.pdf

This is what I would do.

I would dump the acid into a plastic bucket hoping the washer would come out. If it did, I'd then dump the acid back into the battery.

WEAR SAFETY GLASSES when working with batteries!

-Tom, W3TLN

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Go get corks. Wedge them into every filler hole except the one that has the washer*. Use a PLASTIC tub. Invert the battery the washer will flow out. Tilt the battery if necessary to get it to fall out. Use a turkey baster bulb to refill the battery.

*You may have to do a little tapping. They must not come out until you tell them to.

WEAR GLOVES
USE SAFETY SHIELD EYE GOGGLES
Have a big bowl of already made baking soda water solution at hand.

Why didn't I think of that! :)

I was leaning towards the magnet btw.

Go get corks. Wedge them into every filler hole except the one that has the washer*. Use a PLASTIC tub. Invert the battery the washer will flow out. Tilt the battery if necessary to get it to fall out. Use a turkey baster bulb to refill the battery.

*You may have to do a little tapping. They must not come out until you tell them to.

WEAR GLOVES
USE SAFETY SHIELD EYE GOGGLES
Have a big bowl of already made baking soda water solution at hand.

brirene,

If it didn't explode already, leave it alone. If you can fish it out with a magnet, fine, do that. Have some baking soda handy to neutralize the acid that will be on everything.

The active plates of most batteries are separated by pieces of fiberglass. The piece will either rest on top until it dissolves or it will slide between and still not be much of an issue.

Good Luck

Matt

Hopefully Mexicowanderer will chip in here. What he doesn't know about lead acid batteries isn't worth knowing.

But I don't think you did it any good!

Well that's encouraging ^^^^. :) Any other opinions? If its just the battery going bad, soon, or later, I can live with that. Thanks again, everybody!

Yep, its gonna croak to an early death,....8-10 yrs from now it'll be history ! :)

Metal, eh? sounds like a battery killer to me. The plates are arranged +-+-+-+-+-, and lead acid batteries eventually die because as the lead gets plated back onto the plates, it tends to form needle like crystals that eventually grow long enough to short out the cell. You just dropped in a piece of loose metal probably plenty big enough to short it out by itself. If it didn't settle into "the right spot" already, it is just waiting to get shaken into that spot.

The problem is, if you can't see it, you can't retrieve it either. Sooner or later it'll make contact, and when that happens, the battery dies.

On the assumption that that washer was steel, it is also likely being eaten away by the acid. This is both good and bad, because of course, it could get eaten completely by the acid before it shorts out the cell. But that's bad, because it will mess up the chemistry of the cell, too.

Sigh. All I can say is, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

Metal. Cell cover is recessed and I didn't see it until too late.