BATTERY??

Quick Pony · Dec 27, 2004

I think I may have found what's causing my electrical problem. I had the hood up and as I turned the key, the car would NOT start. But, I also saw smoke coming from the battery area. The small wire next to the larger wire going to the negative post was smoking from the pigtail. The other end was grounded and tight going to the chassis.

Can I remove the pigtail and have the small wire go directly to the negative terminal?

The battery I got yesterday (brand new 1000 cranking amps) is dead.

I'm charging the battery and will wait for a reply.

Also, anybody know the length of the battery cable that goes from the starter to the negative terminal? If I can get to it, I may replace the whole cable instead of just replacing the battery terminal.

Thanks in advance.

Larry (91 LX 5.0 Convertible)

gregpro50 · Dec 27, 2004

That is not your problem. You have a hot wire grounding out somewhere. The current from that is over-heating the small ground wire. Usually these problems are caused by improper stereo installation.

HISSIN50 · Dec 27, 2004

Quick Pony said:
Also, anybody know the length of the battery cable that goes from the starter to the negative terminal?

there is a [ground] cable that goes from the starter to the negative terminal?

sn9550 · Dec 28, 2004

Your starter is probably going out. This happened to my brother except the insulation, on the small chassis groung, caught fire. He replaced the negative battery cable and pigtail as well as the starter and it was cured.

jrichker · Dec 28, 2004

Do not remove the small ground wire unless you want MAJOR electrical problems.

Replace the negative cable and throughly clean all the contact places where things bolt to ground. Make sure that the small battery to chassis ground has a bright & shiny clean place to bolt down.

The computer & all the electrical systems are dependant on a good ground. Bad grounds = poor performance because it plays havoc with the computer's electrical power input.

The secondary power ground is between the back of the intake manifold and the driver's side firewall. It is often missing or loose. It supplies ground for the alternator, A/C compressor clutch and other electrical accessories such as the gauges. Any car that has a 3G alternator needs a 4 gauge ground wire running from the block to the chassis ground where the battery pigtail ground connects.

5.0 Nostalgia · Dec 28, 2004

gregpro50 said:
That is not your problem. You have a hot wire grounding out somewhere. The current from that is over-heating the small ground wire. Usually these problems are caused by improper stereo installation.

Can I get some more information about this? I have a draw on the #8 fuse on my 89 lx. All the lights in the cabin will not go off. I had Best Buy install a stereo (just a head unit) a couple years ago. This problem has been occurring for about that much time. I usually just leave that fuse out to avoid the problem. What should I look for?

gregpro50 · Dec 28, 2004

I hate chasing these electrical gremlins. You can try pulling the stereo and disconnecting all the power wires to see if that stops the problem. I had something similar happen and I had to pull out the factory amp and bypass those wires and it fixed the problem. I still dont know where the problem was, but it had something to do with the way the new stereo was wired in with the factory amp. It is hard to diagnose without looking at your setup. Good luck...

5.0 Nostalgia · Dec 28, 2004

gregpro50 said:
I hate chasing these electrical gremlins. You can try pulling the stereo and disconnecting all the power wires to see if that stops the problem. I had something similar happen and I had to pull out the factory amp and bypass those wires and it fixed the problem. I still dont know where the problem was, but it had something to do with the way the new stereo was wired in with the factory amp. It is hard to diagnose without looking at your setup. Good luck...

I can't stand chasing these problems either. I will pull the stereo and see what happens. Thanks for the help.

89lxsport50 · Dec 28, 2004

Quick Pony said:
I think I may have found what's causing my electrical problem. I had the hood up and as I turned the key, the car would NOT start. But, I also saw smoke coming from the battery area. The small wire next to the larger wire going to the negative post was smoking from the pigtail. The other end was grounded and tight going to the chassis.

Can I remove the pigtail and have the small wire go directly to the negative terminal?

The battery I got yesterday (brand new 1000 cranking amps) is dead.

I'm charging the battery and will wait for a reply.

Also, anybody know the length of the battery cable that goes from the starter to the negative terminal? If I can get to it, I may replace the whole cable instead of just replacing the battery terminal.

Thanks in advance.

Larry (91 LX 5.0 Convertible)

I had the same problem several years ago. The small wire actually melted into the battery case. It turned out that the main negative cable was not grounded well enough at the block. I removed the cable, cleaned the area it attaches to and scuffed it up good with sandpaper. I installed a new cable and the problem was solved. I still have my original 15 year old starter.

5.0 Nostalgia · Dec 28, 2004

89lxsport50 said:
I had the same problem several years ago. The small wire actually melted into the battery case. It turned out that the main negative cable was not grounded well enough at the block. I removed the cable, cleaned the area it attaches to and scuffed it up good with sandpaper. I installed a new cable and the problem was solved. I still have my original 15 year old starter.

Same thing happened to me. Although I didn't know it melted into the battery until I was in the parts store getting the battery tested. Acid leaked out and on my leg and it hurt.

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