While on my commute today, I had the misfortune of running over a friggin' car battery that was in the middle of my lane. No where to go and no time to stop;
was able to slow down a bit but I still ran it over. Pulled over and saw a dent and skuff mark on the AT pan but it looked dry. When I went out for lunch later there was a puddle of ATF under my car. The fluid was still above the add mark on the dipstick, and that's after driving about 50 miles and sitting parked for 5 hours or so. Have a few extra qts of ATF in the trunk so I should be able to limp home. Hoping its just the pan and not a cracked torque converter/transmission case.

(Not looking for any pity here but it was just weird to see a whole car battery in the middle of the road.)

UPDATE 12-Jul, 20:00: Added a few pics. The trans pan took the whole brunt of the hit. The pics don's show it very well but the pan is bowed-in about 2". The white stuff on the L side (front view) is probably where one of the Lead terminal posts hit. Looks like the impact broke the seal between the pan and case. It's a pretty slow drip. Lost about 0.5 qt of ATF over 110 mi and about 11 hrs. Good news is that the tranny/torque converter case looks intact. Didn't see any damage to the rest of the undercarriage either.

Picked up a new pan and gasket for $45. Will reuse bolts and torque them per FSM. Will also use RTV on both sides of gasket and bolt threads to ensure zero leaks.

homeyclaus - good point about the undercarriage getting doused with battery acid. I did hose it off. Owning a Nissan product in the NE is bad enough for getting rust. Don't want to speed up the process!!

BRJ

 

Gosh dang. WTF was a dang car battery doing in the road, lol. I hit a dang xmas tree in the middle of the interstate once, but luckily didn't do much damage.

 

It was getting charged.


Get it? "charged".


uh...

 

I ran over a deer once, thank god for my SFC's (which got bent)

 

if i was driving my max....i would have been pushing that car battery...or maybe upon impact, it would have blown up.....

 

Be glad you weren't on a motorcycle!

 

 

Just a reminder, if you hit a car battery at highway speeds, you will have cracked it and likely sprayed sulphuric acid all over the bottom of your car. That will eventually eat through things you probably don't want it to.

Hose off the bottom. With something alkaline if possible, then clean water.

Glad you're okay though!

 

That's ridiculous! Wtf is wrong with people?!

 

@OP: That's impressive damage. I hate lugging those things around and can't imagine what it would have done to your wheel if you'd hit it bang-on. =/

 

I was impressed on how beefy the pan is when I picked up the new one. Considering the forces involved, the orig pan held up pretty well. As you indicated, other parts of the front end would have fared much worse.

 

This reminds of the day when there was at least 10 of these pipes on the freeway and I managed to go around them in the very last second.




OP: At least you are okay and nothing major happened.

 

Thanks. Am hoping there's no hidden damage to the casing.

That pipe incident must have been a hairy one! I work in the steel industry and have seen first-hand the damage "unleashed" steel can do.

 

Glad it wasn't a diesel battery!!! Or was it a Maxima battery mine was missing yesterday?

 

Glad to hear the damage was minimal. It sucks when stuff like that happens. In my last car, I hit a traffic cone that was on its side with just the black base facing me. It was night, raining and I couldn't avoid it. Destroyed my fog light, lower grill and heavy damage to the bumper.

No construction for miles. No idea how a lone traffic cone made it onto the highway.

 

Holy crap, a BATTERY? Not sure how you actually cleared it with your front bumper.. hm

 

the other night i glanced up at the road and noticed a goddamn pine tree in the middle of the street. barely had the time to dodge the thing. its crazy when stuff like that happens. gotta be on point on the road

 

That sucks man. Could have been alot worse though

 

Wow lol... it probably fell out of the bed of a truck.

 

That sucks, haven't had any batteries only swerved on a chair, a BBQ Grill, a rear bumper, and smashed a 5 gallon paint bucket....Glad your okay and Damage is minimal...

 

Bent pan and broken seal is probobly all thats wrong.

 

Didn't look dropped, was just sitting there in upright position. Not sure though, just caught a glance before impact.

Yep, that's all it was. Back on the road since yesterday and no leaks.

 

I've hit two deer. I must say my third gen only lost a parking light. My fourth gen lost a headlight, corner light, hood, fender, radiator support, grille and ac condensor. Both incident were very similar as far as speed, deer size and impact location. I miss my third gen. Glad your damage was minimal.

 

wow, maybe that should be should be another benefit listed with the SFC's


the question is OP are u at stock riding height?

 

Didn't really need the RTV sealant....the gaskets and bolts are enough. Should be fun next time you drop the pan removing all the old RTV sealant.

 

Yep. Car is bone stock.

You're right. Had second thoughts after talking to mechanic friend. He said that RTV can actually cause pan to slip so I just cleaned things up and used gasket by itself - no leaks.

 

Ran over a tire once in the middle of the highway. took my injen filter right off...