Hi. I've got a serious battery problem at present and could really do with being pointedin the right direction so I can get it sorted asap . I had a small bang a while back tgat wax my battery bursting on top edge. Everything ran ok and the battery continued to work fine but I obviously changed it soon as and several months later all was ok. I checked the voltage from the alternates with the engine running which was around 14 volts and back to about 12.7 once switched off. Today the battery smells really hot and the vent was letting off gases so I'm concerned it's going to the same way. Is there an overload protection on these or is it maybe just down to a bad alternater perhaps. It's a fairly straight forward 2003 diesel model . Any help would be great. Thanks