positive battery terminal failure

I own a 2001 venture w/50,000 miles on it on 08NO04 it wouldnt start on me. It was totally dead, I made sure the terminals werent loose and was able to jump it and get it home.

Anyways to get to the point when I went to disconnect the battery, the positive side mount lug fell off (with the bolt still in it). I thought this was just a fluke,I have never seen this before.

Tonight, the same thing happened to my 2001 2500HD silverado. Ironically earlier in the evening I had to jump my friends Ford because his battery went. I made some Ford comment to him about it of course and mentioned that I should probably check mine out this weekend.

Both of my vehicles had the stock AC Delco side mount batteries in them. Is this that common of a problem, or am I just that lucky? I do not think that a 3-4 year old battery should fail in this manner. Just fishing out there for input.....

Thanks,
Ruff

the AC Delco sidemounts are all doing this, leaking battery acid out the positive termial, and have been for a few years. i don't know if they every fixed the problem. hope that battery is still under warrenty

Yeah, mine was an aftermarket battery but it did the same thing. It started, all the dash lights were blinking like crazy. I just said WTF and called AAA. As soon as I went to disconnect the battery so I could check electrical stuff the damn thing fell out. Easiest diagnosis I have ever made. :-)

Same thing happened to me with a 2002 Venture; stopped for gas one day, and when I went to start it everything went haywire; I pulled the positive battery cable and it came right out of the battery.

Had to buy a new battery on the road, and the dealership reimbursed me since I was still under warrenty.

Wonder how much longer till they admit they have a problem and recall the batteries?