Today I replaced the alternator and alternator belt. When I hooked the battery back up and drove around for awhile I reached back and felt the battery getting really hot. When I got back home I noticed the negative terminal was extremely hot and the sides of the battery had expanded. I also noticed that the negative terminal was only hand tight. Could the negative terminal been loose enough to fry the battery or could something else be the culprit?

 

This is a shot in the dark. The loose connection was causing a voltage drop that made the battery appear to the alternator that it needed charging and therefore overcharged it. Other possibility is that your new alternator is bad. It happens a lot especially with some of the rebuilt ones. Take it to an Advance Auto, Autozone, O'Reillys, etc and they will check battery and alternator for free.

 

Sure sound dangerous. I don't know what is causing it but I think 73shark is on the right track with getting the components check. Could be a massive short somewhere as well. Where is the battery located? Inmy '73it's in a box behind the seat and the cable runs underneath and could become shorted on the frame.

Be careful with it, Fiberglass burns fast and hot. Cheers

 

On my 76 it's behind the drivers side seat also. I'll check the cables also.

 

Hi Rick, did you notice the voltmeter reading while you were running the engine? I don't think it's the alternator but it shouldn't be ruled out yet, sounds to me like the battery is shorted internally, have the battery checked out and as an additional test you can substitute a known good one in it's place and run the engine, keep an eye on the voltmeter/ampmeter or better yet hook up your multi-meter to check running voltage.

 

Rick , you should be getting around 14 volts dc from the alt. A loose connection at the postwill cause the battery connection to heat up and cause futher damage. You could have a couple of cells gone in the battery. I would pull that battery and get a new one and make sure the connections are good throughout the system. $50 and peace of mind. Good Luck

 

I'm with the bad battery idea.
BTW, they can explode. Swelling is not a good sign. []