Fenix E01 popped and (presumably) died - Need advice

(Sorry for the poor pictures) http://imgur.com/a/Fizae

As you can see I have a damaged Fenix E01 with white goop oozing out from the bottom of the head. It had been powered by an Energizer alkaline battery that was brand new when installed, with an expiration date of 03 2015. I last used the light 3 or 4 days ago and it has worked flawlessly since the Oct 23, 2011 date of purchase. When I attempted to twist the head to the on position this evening I was unable to turn the head. I grabbed some pliers and used force to twist the head off. Just before the head completed clearing the threads I heard a surprisingly loud "pop", and as I examined the head I noticed the white goop starting to seep out. There appears to be no damage what so ever to the Energizer battery. I'm not going to test it in another device for obvious reasons but the shell appears unharmed and free of any type of foreign material.

EDIT: Oh, one last thing. There was not "burning" or other "hot" or mechanical smell when I took the head off, if that helps or matters.

Obvious questions.
1. Can I wipe the head clean and try powering the battery on. I'm a little reluctant to even mess with it at the moment as I assume the goop is potentially harmful. I assume the LED was destroyed. Gas buildup??
2. Has anyone used Fenix's warranty service? Good? Bad? I read over their policy and it says to contact the dealer for a warranty claim. I purchased from Amazon and I'm guessing they won't deal with the matter from a repair standpoint, but they might simply replace the unit. I know some battery manufacturers will cover incidents where there battery causes damage, but I doubt I have a claim with Energizer.
3. Can I have some recommendations for single 3AAA alternatives. Naturally I'm a little reluctant to purchase a Fenix again if I can't get any type of warranty service. I'm well within the 24 month warranty period but you never know.

Ironically I have AAA eneloops that I purchased at the same time as the light but I had a single AAA battery left from a 4 pack in my desk and decided to use it first then switch to the eneloops when it gave out. It was in the lite since the Oct delivery. If it was a gas buildup, Eneloops don't discharge gas (from what I've discovered on the forums), so had I used one in the Fenix I wouldn't be looking for advice now.

Thanks for any advice offered.

Well, batteries do vent gases at one point or another, so it is possible that the positive air pressure in a hermetically sealed light could have been the culprit in preventing you from taking the heads off. The goop you are seeing is whats potted inside the head to prevent: [1] water entry and [2] damage to the ferrite core inductor from lateral shock.

Threads depicting third party modifications of the light will have had to warm the head with a heat-gun or a similar apparatus to such a degree that the potting agent becomes malleable. However, in your case it somehow failed to cure, resulting in it being squeezed out from back pressure. Other than that I can yield no logical explanation for your E01.

I'll bet though your E01 can still function normally once you wipe away the goop and clean the contacts.

Quoted for reference from: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?197045

chimo said:

Here are the pics.

The pill

The driver

Inside the head. Note the LED o-ring groove.

Other data:
Resistor in series w/ LED is: 1% 2ohm
Drive current: 25.22mA
Boost freq: 79kHz
No mark on the inductor
Switcher IC top mark is: 3033
Schottky top mark is: SJ
Ceramic cap is under my thumb

Click to expand...

I'm no expert but I would clean up the head and try again. There is lots of advice on these forums about not using Alkalines and i have followed that advice and use Eneloops or non-rechargeable lithiums in my lights.

I have used Fenix service - e-mail them and refer to your pictures and this thread. They will probably try and refer you to their dealer network but if you persist they should sort you out. A new E01 won't bankrupt them!

I'm sure Amazon will see you right but in cases like these I often prefer to contact the manufacturer direct to make them aware of the problem so that they can hopefully reduce the chances of this happening in future.

If you must use Alkaline cells check them every 3-4 days. I removed the cell when it was just barely starting to leak. Eneloops are the best cells to use IMO.

Thanks for the tips and advice. Much to my pleasant surprise the light still works. Cleaned the contact points as advised and it fired right up. And the head twists much easier then it did before. In fact, I considered that a negative about the light originally - the need to use what seemed like a lot more torque to activate the light then seemed normal or expected. That issue is gone. I put in an eneloop and I'm off an running again. Still very weird that it popped and oozed but perhaps no harm no foul. Cheers!

On the quoted image on post#2, the white thing the the potted LE right? What if the thing used to pot the LE was the one that oozed out?

That was precisely my assumption, the potting agent did not cure properly, as if there was a liquid pore inside the driver bay. Since the light works, it is entirely possible that QC would not have seen this coming, nor would have known of the minor [but irritating] defect