--snip--
> How was it determined that it was the battery that exploded?
--snip--

Well.... when we went over to look at the thing after a couple of minutes of
no more surprises we found the battery was missing and in its place was some
debris of various sorts and the battery cables with the terminals still in
them. Judging from that and the fact that everything else that was supposed
to be in the engine
compartment was accounted for, we deduced that the explosion came from the
battery.

The sequence of events went like this: The Jeep pulled into the parking
space, the guy turned it off, they sat for a few more seconds then got out,
the passenger waited 'til the driver caught up to him at the front passenger
corner and as they turned to walk toward the building there was an
explosion. The hood took off forward of the vehicle, did a couple of
end-overs and landed upside down in the grass. The two dudes went flat on
their faces- I think in part because they just hit the deck but they both
said they felt the push from behind. IIRC, the battery was in the corner of
the firewall and the fender right in front of the passenger. There were all
kinds of scorches and splotches in the engine compartment but I remember
looking the guys over for acid burns and the like and not seeing any. Also
IIRC the guy said it was basically a new battery.

Cya,
Robert