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Dead Battery That Isnt Dead

.40CalPatriot

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Westminster, CO
Ok so last week I get off of my bus and get in the heep to head home. I turned the key to acc. to roll my windows down as I always do. After the windows go down without any problem I go to fire the ignigtion and get nothing at all.:huh:
So I call my GF and tell her to come on over to the Park N Ride to give the heep a jump. While I am waiting for her I start to think what the issue may be. So I pop the hood and wiggle the battery cables. I get a little spark from the negative cable, so I jump back in and it fires right up without any hesitation. So I just forget about it and go on with my weekend. Now that I think about it it is weird that the windows went down without any problem but when I turned my stereo on it had lost all of it presets like the battery had been dead all day.

Fast forward to yesterday. I get off the bus once again and it did it again. I popped the hood open wiggled the wires and it fired right up again. Both ends of the cables are tight and will barely move. I know that the ground cable is basically toast as most of the insulation is gone and it is covered in oil. Could that be the source of my problems? Any ideas?
Sorry for the long story. Thanks in advance! :wave:
 
Clean and replace cable.
 
probaly the connections are corroded go to wallu world and get new terminal clamps and a terminal brush and clean them up and put a new ground wire on it also the bond from the engine to the body not much money for it
 
Yep, bad cables. Replace 'em both.
 
Clean and replace cable.
It is tops on my list. Which reminds me......

probaly the connections are corroded go to wallu world and get new terminal clamps and a terminal brush and clean them up and put a new ground wire on it also the bond from the engine to the body not much money for it

The only corrosion in the on the top terminals and I only use those for accessories, such as my subs and lights. The engine is hooked up on the side terminals. .....Jim do you still have some of the welding cable for hooking up a winch? I purchased Dutch's backbone and should be getting my winch soon.
 
It is tops on my list. Which reminds me......



The only corrosion in the on the top terminals and I only use those for accessories, such as my subs and lights. The engine is hooked up on the side terminals. .....Jim do you still have some of the welding cable for hooking up a winch? I purchased Dutch's backbone and should be getting my winch soon.

You have been pm'ed
 
Probably had a good enough connection for the low amount of draw that window reg's needed, but not a good enough connection for the kind of juice the starter needs. Went through this a while back, just replace the cables now, and save yourself some trouble later on down the road.
 
Yup I had this issue before too. Just replace em. The terminals may be tight but I would guess the negative cable is corroded inside the connector to terminal. Or they are corroded in the wire. Once you replace em tear the cables/connectors apart to see if you can find what it specifically was
 
You could do what i just did.. got some welding cable from Hypoid and installed in about an hour. Got some cool brass terminals that i don't have to take off it just has some wing nuts and a bolt that goes through the terminal. Got two of em for 4 bucks.
 
It is tops on my list. Which reminds me......



The only corrosion in the on the top terminals and I only use those for accessories, such as my subs and lights. The engine is hooked up on the side terminals. .....Jim do you still have some of the welding cable for hooking up a winch? I purchased Dutch's backbone and should be getting my winch soon.
Yep, Jim has your back. You need to make a trip to Golden soon.

I've been fooled by connections that "look" OK. Don't take anything for granted.

P.S. I've read that Optimas won't leach electrolite the way lead-acid batteries do. I don't know if that is fact or crap, but my clamps have stayed clean.
 
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