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Help!!

Brooke Mason

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VX SS
Hey guys, I need your help! My partner took my 2001 vxss to work yesterday, when he left he drove it up a really steep hill and after that it started playing up. The abs light came on and then all dash lights, also all gauges temporarily died. The car didn't jolt or skip a beat nor did the radio, indicators or lights stop working. I instantly thought the abs module was on it's way out so I drove it up the road and back. Once home I noticed the battery had swollen and was hissing and for some reason there seems to be a backflow of power coming from somewhere. The car was fine the day before ‍♀️. My thoughts now are a stuffed amp regulator or a loose power wire on the back of the alternator? Auto electrics hurts my head.. Anyone that may have experienced this before please help me!!!
 

gossie

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May I suggest very strongly your de facto needs to take your vehicle to where it needs to be fixed as he/she has damaged it, and must pay for it.
 

accentstencil

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The voltage regulator on the alternator sounds like the culprit. The symptoms you described usually mean the alternator is overcharging. I would not be driving it until it is fixed.
It might also be a good idea to disconnect the battery and remove it from the car.
 

Calaber

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The hissing is caused by the battery contents being overcharged and "boiling", the hissing is the hydrogen gas created by this process trying to escape. This also explains the swollen battery case. Old style batteries, which had filler caps for each cell, had a small vent hole in each cap to enable this gas to escape in a controlled manner but modern sealed batteries might not vent as easily. I agree that the alternator regulator is faulty and there is too much charge being fed into the battery. One warning. That escaping gas is highly explosive so until all gas has bled off, keep any flame or electrical spark, as "might" happen when disconnecting the battery, well away.
 
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