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Arnold
Dodge Dakota
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8/07/2008
14:19:28

Subject: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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My truck have being sitting in the garage for a year without driving. Last week I drove it out of the garage and back in, everything seemed normal. Then next time when I tried to start it up (a few days later), the positive battery post emitted smoke up in the air and all the dash lights went off with nothing happening, other than the alarm going off (even though it's in valet mode). I disconnected the negative cable from the battery to shut off the alarm, reconnected it back, turned the ignition on, all lights lit up, then turned the key to start, and smoke is coming out again and same thing everything dies with the alarm going off. I measured for resistance between the negative/positive battery cables (with them being disconnected from the battery) and it showed no resistance. I don't think it's normal, there must be a short somewhere. Any ideas of where to look at or what could be causing this? Remember, the smoke came out of the positive post when turned the key to "start".

Also, it maybe related, I don't know, but I noticed that sometimes (not always) after running the truck and shutting it off, the brake tail lights stay on forever (pressing the brake pedal made the lights go off, the last time it happened). I was actually trying to diagnose this problem, but found out now I have a new one.

The truck is a '97 Dakota 3.9L Auto RWD, if this helps.



LOL
Dodge Dakota
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8/07/2008
14:40:33

RE: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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"My truck have being sitting in the garage"
owwww yeah

gotta love it!



Arnold
Dodge Dakota
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8/07/2008
14:54:46

RE: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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What's so funny? If you have nothing to say, then skip this thread. Thank you.



dakota49
Dodge Dakota
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8/07/2008
21:27:42

RE: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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It sounds to me like your positive battery cable may be loose, the thing to do would be to remove the post, clean, then replace and be sure its good and tight, since you have the ground cable off it would be a good idea to clean it as well.
As for the brake lights staying on, its probably just the Brake light switch, you may be able to readjust it, when the brake pedal comes back up, it should come against the the switch and turn off the lights. Just be sure you don't adjust it in the wrong direction, cause it could cause the lights not to come on until the pedal is down very far, or maybe not at all. Its fairly easy to readjust, just have somewone watch and let you know when the lights go off. Another idea, you could just pull up on the brake pedal every time you let off the brakes.
Good Luck
Dakota49



Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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8/08/2008
08:29:35

RE: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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Your battery probably has an internal short, is venting, and may be an explosion hazard. Keep it disconnected. What is its voltage with engine off?



Arnold
Dodge Dakota
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8/08/2008
12:16:18

RE: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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There is no internal short (I checked). The voltage was 12.6v before the smoke, and then dropped to 12.3v. I recharge it from time to time when I need to start the truck. It was recharged recently and worked fine. Nothing was done, that's why I'm surprised something like this would start happening.



daddio
Dodge Dakota
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8/08/2008
12:28:15

RE: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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it sounds like the post could be loose inside the battery case. i would take Bob's advise and leave it disconnected.

i would pull the starter and get it checked out and thoroughly inspect both cables to start. something is drawing a lot of current when you turned the key to start if it smoked. i would not risk a possible battery explosion. have you ever seen one or been around one that has exploded? it is not for the faint of heart.



Arnold
Dodge Dakota
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8/08/2008
13:02:30

RE: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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I'll try to give it another look this weekend when I have time. Maybe the battery is just old. What about the fact that pos/neg cables have no resistance between them? Is it the same on everyone else's Dakotas? This doesn't look right to me. My other car shows resistance between these cables.



harry from ct
Dodge Dakota
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8/08/2008
20:22:09

RE: Smoke coming out of positive battery pos
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if you have an auto start and alarm like one of my dakotas....if the battery shorts out and starts going dead it gives a false signal to the alarm ie auto start system..and it tries to start the truck and smokes the starter and the battery.........so replace the battery as soon as posible and in the mean time take off the positive cable......so it doesnt smoke anything.....hope i was of help.....



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