caused the positive plates to disintegrate? Why are the separators
black? Why is the case rotten when less than a year old? Why did the
sealing compound crack on top and cause the electrolyte to slop? Why
did one of the terminal connectors get loose and make a slopper? Who
is to blame for it, the car manufacturer, the manufacturer of the
battery, or the owner of the car? Why did this battery have to be
taken off the car, opened up and rebuilt at 5 months old, when the
battery taken off a car just the day before had been on for 30 months
and never had been charged off the car but once? There is a reason;
find it. Locate the cause of the trouble if possible, remove the
cause; your customer will appreciate it and tell his friends about it,
and this will mean more business for you.

Eliminating "Shorts"

If you have decided that some or all of the plates may be used again,
the next thing to do is to separate any plates that are touching, and
put the battery on charge. It may be necessary to put in new
separators in place of the defective ones. Examine the separators
carefully. Whenever you find the pores of the separators stopped up
from any cause whatsoever, put in new separators before charging.

1. Sometimes the negative plates are bulged or blistered badly and
have worn clear through the separators, Fig. 214, and touch the
positives. In cases of this kind, to save time and trouble, separate
the groups, press the negatives lightly, as described later, assemble
the element with new separators, and it is ready for charging.

2. There is another case where the groups must be separated and new
separators inserted before they will take charge, and that is where
the battery has suffered from lack of water and has sulphated clear
through the separators, Fig. 201. The separators will be covered with
white sulphate. Chemical action is very sluggish in such cases.

If you find that the separator pores are still open, leave the
separators in place and proceed to separate the plates that are
touching. How? That depends on what insulating material you have
available that is thin enough. If nothing else is available, take a
piece of new dry separator about 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch square, or a
piece of pasteboard the same size. Use a screw driver or putty knife
to separate the plates far enough to insert the little piece of
insulation as in Fig. 216. Free all the shorts in this way, unless you
have some old rubber insulators. In