Bulging er capacitor

[4krow]

Found a bulging power cap in a piece of equipment of mine. Just the top is bulging, and it is a new Silmic II 1,000uf, 25v, 85c degree cap. It is rated twice the voltage, so I am wondering if there are any ideas about this.

[Doc B.]

Is the bulge actually bare metal? Some caps have a plastic insert over the top that can look bulged, but it's actually just plastic popping up a bit. If you push on the bulge and it gives that may be what is happening. If the bulge is indeed hard you might want to check to see if the cap was installed backwards by mistake. If it is in correctly and you feel really adventurous you could measure the voltage on the + terminal of the cap and see if it is higher than the voltage rating on the capacitor.