I have a battery that was in my truck that took a hell of a tumble. The battery brace broke, the battery went flying and the bullet connectors were pulled out of the battery.

There is some minor damage to the case (cracks by the battery terminals and case split on the seam) and I am wondering if it is dangerous to tape it.

I don't know if one of the cells puffed or if it is just the case split, but it is split (or puffed) on just one corner of the case. I can squeeze it back together fairly easily. I am concerned about the the battery exploding if puffed cells aren't supposed to be compressed.

So, is this dangerous?

It should be ok, I've had a pack fail where the end of the hard case broke off and the cells had pushed an inch or so out of the case, I was able to push the back in and tape up the case and so far so good, but still for the first few runs at least closely monitor the pack for puffing and/or temperature.

they've got tape on them inside most of the time anyway. the soft packs I've seen have masking tape holding them under the plastic.

you might want to put more on it but I wouldn't hesitate to run that thing. puffing(gasing) is normal for a lipo. swelling is not puffing. when swollen it's more like a balloon. the cases are very tight to the cells anyway. so any puffing can often be seen.

the one on the right is often considered (wrongfully) puffed. that's not puffed thats swollen

Ok, what I was worried about was compressing it and it popping (exploding).

I was thinking of it like a balloon. If you compress it enough, it will pop.

I know lips are dangerous in certain circumstances (seen a video on YouTube of a kid smashing his cell phone with a hammer and the lipo struck back) but I didn't know if this was one of those circumstances.