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This battery ground cable is only around 6 years old.
My 55 has been starting hard. I bought a new battery. The old one was 6½ years old. With the new battery it started right up. I ran some errands. The third time I went to start it it cranked real slow and I couldn't start it. After sitting 10 minutes it did start but it still cranked slow.
One guy says it could be the starter or generator. I don't think it's the genny. On the short trip I took with no lights on I don't think a new battery would have been dead so quickly.
So what do you think? I. Getting a new cable made today, rather than start pulling stuff out to rebuild.... start simple.
But why after 6 years would this cable corrode so quickly?
Hey Abe!
Yeah myself, I would replace it. But that is just me. It just seems that once that corrsion starts, it like a cancer that could creep its way through the cable. The added bonus is that if you did have problems after the cable been swapped, you'll know that chances are its not the cable.
I do like Rusty's idea about using the terminal protection spray either way if you replace the cable or not.
As an electronics guy, that cable would already be in the garbage. The corrosion is likely to have creeped into the strands of the cable.
As a teenager working on a farm, I noticed corrosion like that on a tractor battery. The owner told me to go ahead and use the tractor, he’d look at it later, a few days later he came running out of the barn screaming FIRE. We connected a rope and pulled the tractor out of the barn, a few minutes later it blew, flames shooting 5-6’ up out of the tank. When it cooled down we saw that the cable had loose strands shorting against the battery clamp. Spark…boom.
My auto electric guy has already made one. There as a shop in town that over the years rebuilt the genny and starter in my 54, replaced the starter in our Dodge Caravan and built two sets of cables for me. The owner retired and sold the business to his longtime employee. Within two years he closed the shop and worked out of his house in the boondocks. Now I found out he is driving full time for Fed Ex and just doing electrical work on the side.
I was going to meet him today when he got home from work. He as going to make a cable while I waited. But our upright freezer in the basement conked out so I had to run and buy a new freezer and then try to get it in the house (it was too big so it is now in the garage) and then help my wife move foods from one to the other. So tomorrow morning I'm going to his place to pick up the cable and leave the money in the jar.
I'll report back tomorrow. He recommends using that red spray and putting those red or green donuts on the posts.
Sorry to hear about your freezer Abe. But I am glad you could find one. In my area people talk about the lack of appliances in the appliance stores. And if they have the new freezer, washer, dryer, oven, dishwasher, how expensive they are right now!
About why a 6 year old battery cable can get so corroded, I honestly don't know why they do that. Maybe someone can chime in on how that happens?
Sorry to hear about your freezer Abe. But I am glad you could find one. In my area people talk about the lack of appliances in the appliance stores. And if they have the new freezer, washer, dryer, oven, dishwasher, how expensive they are right now!
About why a 6 year old battery cable can get so corroded, I honestly don't know why they do that. Maybe someone can chime in on how that happens?
Freezer: Lowes and Home Depot said we can order one and it will be in in March 2022. I bought this one a guy that had new appliances in his barn. He sold on Marketplace. Cash only sales.
Cable: my electric guy isn't sure why either. He did say battery acid and copper don't mix well as we all know.
Kind of started thinking about battery cables a little bit and you reminded me about something. My son has a 2013 Chevy Malibu he bought from his Grandmother when she went into assisted living. Nice car, low miles, but he called one day and asked me to come over because it wouldn't start. "Just drove it only 20 minutes ago and now it won't start, just clicks" I get there and found a big wad of corrosion on his positive battery terminal. I told him there is your problem. I offered to take it off and clean it, but he doesn't like Dad touching his stuff so he was going to get it un the shop for an oil change the next day anyway. I told him, to see if they could find or at least order the OEM battery cable and install that, not the temporary, clamp on the cable, roadside repair clamp that you see all over. What did the shop do. Install that very cable clamp. I need to check it. I bet it's already starting to corrode!
Also got to thinking if controlling that corrosion is what GM was after when they came up with side battery terminals.
Hooler, interesting thought about the side terminals. My electric guy asked if I keep my battery top clean. I said no it's under the passenger floor board. Even though there's a battery shield in front it still gets road diet and dust. Now her this, he DIL works at another auto electric shop. At that shop they say I'd your battery top is dirty it will drain the battery more quickly..... What do you think? I'll make a point to check my batteries more often and take rag and clean the top.
PS: on my way to get the new cable. But had to stop and get coffee to break a 20.
Abe, cut open the insulation on the old one and show us what it looks like. It would be interesting to see how far the corrosion traveled.
That is unless you are saving it for an emergency spare.
Glad the new cable got it going Abe!
As far as why the corrosion happens here is what Google came up with:
The most common cause of battery terminal corrosion is hydrogen or electrolyte leakage from the battery. It can also be caused by an alternator slightly overcharging the car battery over a long period of time. Chemical reactions with copper clamps are not rare either.
I always wondered about the Hydrogen part. The gas that the battery discharges as it is charging. If you are worried about overcharging you could test your battery voltage. It should be around 6.3 volts when the engine is off. And around a volt higher when the engine is running at around 1500 RPM.
About a battery discharging if the top is dirty. At first, I didn't think there was anything to that. But I have an old book at home titled Automotive Electrical Systems. Authored by Walter Billiet and Leslie Goings. (A handy reference book to have around..) So I looked it up. In it under Battery Self-Discharge, it states:
"The battery loses some of its charge due to external current leakage. If the battery top is wet, dirty, or acid soaked there will be a slight loss of current between the battery terminal posts and from the ungrounded post and the nearest ground.
So it sounds like that 2nd shop is right.
I guess I am going to start cleaning off my battery top too.
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