Melted battery terminal in half

ronstang94

Member

May 10, 2007

204

1

18

Phx, AZ

Aug 27, 2009

#1

• Aug 27, 2009

• #1

car shut off going down the road. opened the hood and the terminal was melted in half, right in the middle, between the post and the wires on the negative side. pulled it away and it sparked and spit some of the molten lead on my hand. ouch

What happened? how do I fix it?

also, I dont know if its related or not but the car has an intermittent problem where it sputters, stumbles, starts dropping cylinders and then dies. wont start... 30 minutes later its fine.

Maybe its related? I have no clue

 

toyman

10 Year Member

Jul 19, 2007

1,944

54

79

Vernon BC

Aug 27, 2009

#2

• Aug 27, 2009

• #2

I would think that to melt the battery terminal post the positive lead from the battery is shorting to the chassis before the fuse box. It takes a lot of current to create that amount of heat and would be well above the highest rated fuse (60 Amps) or circuit breaker in the system.

 

BlownFiveLiter

have car, will race....wait, it doesn't run

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

3,133

18

108

Chicagoland

Aug 27, 2009

#3

• Aug 27, 2009

• #3

Has your car always lived in AZ? The reason I ask is, because mine did the exact same thing and it was corrosion inside the insulation. In your climate, it's probably not an issue like here in the midwest. In my case, the cable itself was just so covered with corrosion that it would cause a ton of resistance and melted the terminal clean off.

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

31,179

33

129

Aug 27, 2009

#4

• Aug 27, 2009

• #4

A loose connection could have built a lot of heat.

Go over the rest of the cable connections and clean them up. Add an extra motor ground if you don't have one.

 

Black95GTS

Active Member

Jan 8, 2004

1,644

3

38

Marlborough, MA

Aug 27, 2009

#5

• Aug 27, 2009

• #5

StangGT1995 said:

Has your car always lived in AZ? The reason I ask is, because mine did the exact same thing and it was corrosion inside the insulation. In your climate, it's probably not an issue like here in the midwest. In my case, the cable itself was just so covered with corrosion that it would cause a ton of resistance and melted the terminal clean off.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking.

Adam

 

D

Dropped95

New Member

Aug 15, 2009

24

0

0

Edson, Alberta

Aug 27, 2009

#6

• Aug 27, 2009

• #6

Major short to ground will do that, had a bad starter that did that, cooked the terminal right off.

 

ronstang94

Member

May 10, 2007

204

1

18

Phx, AZ

Aug 29, 2009

#7

• Aug 29, 2009

• #7

Fixed it. I thought something complicated and crazy happened, but it was easy. When I got my PA performance alternator I also got the upgrade cable for it. I routed it around the front end instead of over the engine. Right after the in-line fuse block it arced and welded itself to the frame.

I routed it there like 2 weeks ago, so it might have rubbed through the insolation or just arced right through it. Repaired the wire and put it in a better spot. Hopefully it doesnt happed again. Thanks for the help.

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

31,179

33

129

Aug 29, 2009

#8

• Aug 29, 2009

• #8

Is the charge cable fused appropriately (for the weakest link)?

If you use a 4 AWG cable, I would want something along the lines of a 125 amp fuse on it. A short to ground that doesn't blow the fuse is a problem.

 

Husky44

10 Year Member

Sep 27, 2006

865

104

74

Tacoma, WA

Aug 29, 2009

#9

• Aug 29, 2009

• #9

ronstang94 said:

I dont know if its related or not but the car has an intermittent problem where it sputters, stumbles, starts dropping cylinders and then dies. wont start... 30 minutes later its fine.

Maybe its related? I have no clue

Click to expand...

Interested to hear if this goes away now that you've found the other problem. I had an old Chebby pickup that did this to me. Starter was too close to the headers, and when it got really hot, truck would crap out and die. Truck would leave you dead on the side of the road. Once you got a ride somewhere, got some tools or a tow strap, and got back 30 minutes later, darn thing would fire right up.

Took me like 2 months to figure out what was going on and put a blanket around the starter. Problem solved.

Don't know if that's what was going on with yours; hopefully your new cable will fix this one, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

 

Chythar

Recently finished repairing my rear

20+ Year Stangneter

Aug 26, 2004

2,373

140

113

Foothill Ranch, CA

Aug 29, 2009

#10

• Aug 29, 2009

• #10

My guess on the stumbling problem is the PIP in the distributor. Also check you cap & rotor, see if they have any corrosion.