Hey Nick!
I hope he replaces his battery STAT or we may not be hearing from him for awhile. Most folks don't realize the danger of these batteries if they start to swell. I know personally of two cases of friends in the RC hobby that lost their homes, totally, to batteries on chargers that were not being observed during charging and weren't inside the special ceramic jugs that most RC folks using non-NiCad batteries use nowadays.
I still use the old but very dependable NiCads for my blimps and in some of my older RC planes, but in the drones I now fly I have no choice but to use LiPo's and I always charge them inside a ceramic vessel under supervision. IOW, never leave them alone. I know that isn't the same with our cell phones and laptops but those too have started enough fires out there too.
I did find this link out there.....probably the same site the OP found on taking care of a swollen battery. I love his suggestion that "when you prick the envelope of the battery, be sure to hold your breath so you do not breathe in the toxic vapors". It's on the Net, it must be true.
How to ‘fix’ a swollen MacBook battery | Leaves caution behind
Cheers!
Pat
PS! Scroll down to the last three comments on that site: here they are, two from an incredulous viewer and an answer from the blogger:
zellerzeller says:
January 21, 2014 at 12:49 pm
You should amend your safety disclaimer. As following your fix might blow someone up someday…
Lithium is flammable, and it is potentially explosive when exposed to air and especially to water. As swelling occurs due to the overcharge, native lithium is already deposited in the cells. Opening them is the same as playing Russian roulette.
Reply
zellerzeller says:
January 21, 2014 at 12:51 pm
Source I’m from a family of chemists/electrochemists
Reply
David says:
January 21, 2014 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for the cautionary note (and I think I have always made it clear this could be risky), but on the other hand, there have tens of thousands of views of this post and no reports of fires or explosions so far…