So i was poking around under the hood and noticed alot of crap on my battery around the vents. Heres a picture



Should I be worried about/do anything about this?

I haven't added water to the battery or anything. It came with the truck and I haven't touched it since I bought the truck. Its a motorcraft tested tough max manufacture date 7/07 i believe....

 

clean the top off with baking soda and water then pop the caps off carefully and make sure they are full...if not fill with distilled water to about 1/2 below the top

 

keep an eye on your volts guage. if you can take your truck to autozone and they cand do a "full electrical check" its real bottom of the barrel but its enough to tell you what your altenator is throwin out and your batt is taking

 

Can they do it on my 92 or is it too old? I've run into that problem before with my 89 Cherokee...

 

Looks like your battery is overcharging a bit

 

Just got back from having it tested and everything came back good.

Battery:
Voltage: 13.29
Measured: 1023 CCA
Rated: 875 CCA
Temp: 98 F

Starter:
Voltage 11.79V
Amps: 0.0A
Time 906mS

Charging System:
No Load: 14.50V
Loaded: 14.44V


So what now? Should I pop the caps off and add some distilled water to replace the vented electrolyte?

 

Gassing is normal part of a lead acid battery.

Pop the tops off and make sure the plates are 100% covered with electrolyte. Add distilled water if needed. By your numbers I doubt your low on electrolyte.

Clean the top off and your terminals if you dont like the ugly battery.


I would pull it and check the tray, if its got the same stuff clean it and spray it with battery box paint.

 

Well this problem has reared its ugly head again. I'm now getting intermittent starting with the telltale clicking of the starter when its not getting enough juice. I cleaned the battery, cables, and terminals really well with baking soda solution and a wire brush. I made sure not to short the battery with the water while I was doing it. But it didn't help, its still being a pain in my ***...

What now?

Edit: and when I popped the caps the electrolyte levels looked good...

 

Might have a bad cell... They can go in a matter of minutes... One minutes its fine 5 minutes later your battery is dead. Take the battery back to autozone and have them test it again and charge if needed