"refilling" the battery - lost art?

[archemedes]

optima are sealed spiral cell, with a glass mat (I believe they are an agm type)

[NOMAD]

optima are sealed, not lead acid like old school
I just "topped up" my other car's battery with distilled water as the crank strength was getting low. I never thought of it as a secret, just "what you do" in that situation.

Funny the things you forget you had to learn at some point.

Yeah, batteries are too expensive not to try this at least once.

[archemedes]

optima are sealed, not lead acid like old school
I just "topped up" my other car's battery with distilled water as the crank strength was getting low. I never thought of it as a secret, just "what you do" in that situation.

Funny the things you forget you had to learn at some point.

Yeah, batteries are too expensive not to try this at least once.

thing is distilled water won't help anything (when the level gets low it is due to discharge, when you charge it it will then overflow) I see it almost every day (also not that many of the new batteries with caps are vent caps only, and are shaped so once popped they no longer stay on) checking the specific gravity is a good thing when you have a battery for it (interstate for instance has resealable caps) also if you don't get at least 5 years from a battery without maintenance you bought the wrong battery

[BMWDriver]

I have heard adding asprin to a low battery can give enough kick to turn over if needed, any truth to that?

i had a battery blow the top off once when i tried to start the car, had enough force to dent the hood.

[archemedes]

never tried an asprin, but coke has worked on some of the old battereis