When "start" Does Not...

Bought '94 GT early May. Didn't like the spliced-on battery cables when I nosed around underhood, but WTH, it started easily. Some previous owner (or his mechanic) had chopped off about a foot of each battery cable, at the battery, and added funky splices the likes of which I've never seen before. Today, checking them, one splice fell apart! The original Ford cable down to the starter is enclosed in protective outer covering in addition to it's own insulation. Figgered I'd better re-do negative also. Here's what it looked like:



The fine-stranded wire protruding at right was snipped off the Ford original cable. Nice, heavy wire, but filled with white corrosion. Note the powder in the little black box which was wrapped around the splice. In time, such a joint is bound to fail to be able to carry starter current. If the engine starts quickly, no long cranking periods, it might take a mighty long time to fail. However, given conditions causing some extended cranks, a joint like this gets HOT. When that happens, it's electrical resistance increases a bit permanently due to more corrosive action. Eventually, even though the engine and vehicle run fine, the alternator being the source of power then, an attempted start will result in little more than a grunt, then nothing.

When that happens, the first place to go looking is the battery terminals and cables. imp

karthief said:

The things people do to save a buck.
You did run that ground wire to the fender apron between the battery and the solenoid when you replaced that hacked up ground cable right?
Of course you did!

Click to expand...

Actually, I didn't do anything yet! Spent the better part of this AM trying to find what I believe to be better parts than O'Reilly and such sell. Went and got some #1 stranded copper welding cable, for starters. Cable sold by parts stores is largely garbage, lots of insulation and little copper!

I'll be back later, with pics. imp

I finally decided, after finding some 1/2" X 2" flat brass bar stock back in my corner, to make up my own, super-duty butt connectors. Each end different size, as I found the original Mustang battery cables were AWG #2, whereas I bought cable of #1 size. Tricky turning the square chunks round, without messing with a change to my 4-jaw chuck. I through-drilled the square pieces lengthwise, small hole first, then large hole halfway. Used next letter-drill size up driven into the small hole, chucked it up with a center, and had a round turned part in 15 minutes.

Before inserting and crimping the cable ends, they are of course tinned with solder. This makes for far-better mechanical crimping than squeezing the mushy stranded wire; tinned is like a solid one-piece conductor. Crimped using a dulled cold chisel. Here's the connectors:




And here is the original Mustang battery ground cable, the first two inches or so half-eaten away, white powder sifted out after I stripped off the insulation. Went back far enough to get nice, shiny copper wire. Keep in mind that the cable ends had already been replaced by the P.O.S. contraption shown in the OP.