hopefully one of you all can help me here. yesterday my check engine light came on. and i noticed an odd humming sound from under the hood, sounded electrical. i got home and shut off the engine and popped the hood. the positive battery cable was severely corroded, the terminal was melted and the connector end of the cable with the bolt was melted as well. I cleaned off both cables and the battery. then i reconnected the cables to the terminals and tried to start the engine. the dash lit up, dimly, but i couldnt get it to crank up. the battery gauge is now showing low, where as when the check engine light came on earlier that day, it was right in the middle. i thought maybe i had to push the fuel pump switch, my mustang one would engage when the battery was disconnected, so i tried that, still no start, not enough juice. i thought maybe i had a bad connection, so i disconnected the cables and reconnected them, gave them a little tug and shake to attempt to find a good connection, still nothing. also, the positive cable is so messed up, (i know i will probably need a new one of those at least), that the bolt is stripped, completely. it was nearly impossible to get off the first time. now i can not get it to move at all. i need to at least get that bolt freed up, does anyone know any tricks or tools i could use safely to get the bolt off so i can get the cable off? also if worse comes to worse, does anyone know an auto parts place that might do house calls? you know test my battery, alternator, and cut off this stupid bolt at my house, cuz i really cant afford a tow, but i may have to tow it to my mechanic if i cant get this stupid bolt freed and if a new cable is not the answer to my dilemma. thanks for any help that anyone can provide!


Tyger9791
'96 Ford Explorer XLT "Tonka Truck"

 

First a good set of vise-grip pliers can get just about anything off if they are tight enough. If that doen't work you can try a small chisel and hammer. angle the chisel so that when it bites into the nut it will turn it in the direction to loosen the bolt. As for you battery problems, they are hard to diagnose from what you have said. First off I would say that there is a good chance your battery is done for and your alternator may be the culprit. When an undervoltage condition occurs(i.e. you alternator dying) heat is a by product and as you see sometimes it is enough to melt cables. Do yourself a favor, when you replace the battery cables get the biggest ones you can find. I currently have 0 gauge cables in my truck. The factory cables are quite small and the bigger the cable the less resistance you have. Good Luck!

 

I don't know that I would go banging around on a battery with a hammer and chisel...
Try your local parts store and see if they have a battery terminal puller. It looks like a little gear puller and it's made for pulling off stubborn battery cables. And my guess is if it was working OK before the meltdown and now it's not, one of the melted wires may not be hooked back up properly. Better check those if a new cable doesn't solve your problem. And it would probably be cheaper to get your truck towed than to have someone make a house call. Doctors stopped doing it because it was too expensive and too much hassle, so a mechanic who would come out would charge you big $$$ and tell you it needed to go to a garage anyway...

 

I had a cracked battery connector on my 92 that caused the car to lunge forward several times when I was stopped. First time I thought my foot had slipped onto the gas. Engine would go up to 2K and then settle down. When I stopped the car the windows wouldn't go up. That is when I found the cracked battery post connector. It appears that an electrical spike would reset the computer into thinking the engine was being started. This would cause the IAC to open up.