HOTRODD77

So, I went to leave last night and my car wouldn't start. I was very surprised, as I have had no issues/symptoms of anything being wrong at all. I pop the hood to check out the battery and was pretty shocked to see a ridiculous amount of corrosion on and around the pos connection on the battery; It looked like an f'in iceberg. Just a month or so back I was cleaning up a bit under the hood and everything looked fine?! Anyway, I cleaned up as much of the corrosion as I could so I could get the terminal off and then proceeded to get as much of the corrosion off the clamp and cable as I could.When I was using the brush to get in the clamp, alittle piece(metal ring) broke off of it. I went to turn the clamp to look at the underside and noticed that there is a crack just before the connector and some of the terminal has been eaten away. This is what I am left with. Anyone know why and how this would've happened so fast?




Here's my question. Would it be unsafe to hook the battery back up so that I can at least get it up to the dealership? I would be useless at trying to replace this myself...

wayne613

The S197s, all variations tend to heat up the battery.. Not sure if it's just space, contour of the hood, or some combo, but a heat shield for many is a must for the battery (after-market).

That corrosion is due to it boiling over (acid). While you're adding a heat shield(wrap) I'd replace the OEM anyhow with an optima red.

Should be fine just scraping it down with a brush as much as you can and re-attaching it, then just secure it as best you can for a temporary trip to where-ever.

Just fixed some young woman's car this way a few weeks back that had the same issue in a starbucks parking lot. Ate right through the bolt that secures it. Scraped it down, and just used a zip-tie with a pair of pliers to tighten it as much as I could for her to get it home, and get to a Pep-boy's later to get parts to fix it.

Worked fine as she caught me later in that same parking lot a couple days ago. Not exactly a first choice, but something like this should be fine for a short time.

If you're really not comfortable redoing the harness yourself, you will be paying out the nose for the dealer unless this is warranty work. As it's a '10, should be, if not, battery shop. And in any case afterwards invest in the $3.99 for a can of dielectric grease (to put over all electrical contact points, grounds included) at Pep Boys/Autozone and the $15 for a good heat-shield for the battery.

wildazme

same thing happened to my battery, i had to replace it with one of the regular lead battery terminal replacements.

ttocs

no reason to take it to a dealership. New battery terminals are cheap and easy to install so no need to rig it back together and hope it doesn't go bad and leave you stranded again.

HOTRODD77

Well, I was originally goint to just replace the terminal, but the way the factory terminal and the cable harness is in there I'm not sure how. If I cut the pos terminal off the cable is way too short. And then there's another cable that hooks up at the terminal as well. My extensive experience with batteries goes as far as having replaced a few lol. I've never had anything like this happen with any of my cars, including 2 other stangs. This is irritating a f**k...

wayne613

Are you not still under warranty? This will be a pain, as you're talking about 2/0 gauge wiring to crimp a new terminal onto/off of. Ya, if you cut it you'll need to replace it as there will not be any slack. That interconnect is the alternator line.

Milk warranty work while you can for things like this IMO, make them back what they sold and limit your personal cost/aggravation. Makes little sense to me to spend 20-40 bucks on what would be needed to replace this if you can just get them to do it for you for free.

Many do a "big 3 upgrade" anyhow as the factory wiring is done to be "adequate", not optimal. Search that phrase if you wish to know more, but for now I'd really just take advantage of your warranty in this case if you're not comfortable doing this/have the tools.

The12volt.com has many articles, diagrams, and overall info relating to this if you want to research things further.

HOTRODD77

Well, warranty was my first thought, as I am still covered. Just for one reason or another I wasn't sure if it would be covered. Not to mention the fact I certainly thought it would be an easier task before I actually looked over the harness(and the service dept. being closed for 3 days). So to the dealer it will go 1st thing tuesday morning. I'm still iffy about trying to reconnect the battery to that mess though( or that mess to a possibly bad battery?). Other than that the only option is to have it towed in. I'm gonna look again in the morning and decide.

Any thoughts on whether it will jack up my windows at all having to open/close the doors while they won't roll down/up?? Thanks again for the help so far.

wayne613

Shouldn't be a big issue from what I can discern from the 2 pictures. Just clean it up (contact points, outside don't worry about anymore since it should be replaced anyhow) with wire-brush/sandpaper best ya can, re-secure it, drive it in, done. I expect with a bit of the main contact from the one side gone that will get a bit warmer than normal, but should be ok for a quickie to the stealership.

And ya, that should definitely be covered unless you've replaced the battery yourself and discarded the original heat-shield or something. Likely you'd wish them to replace the battery itself as well, as it should not have done this.

Others have had similar problems with otherwise not being able to get power to the windows with the S197's(fuse, battery, etc). You just have to close the door far more gingerly supporting the window as you close it.

HOTRODD77

Well, put the battery back in and after a couple times trying she started! Let it run for a bit and turned it off. Now just keep my fingers crossed that it starts in the morning to drive it to the dealership...

wayne613

Only thing I would do is briefly check that eroded joint right after starting it tomorrow using a finger. Shouldn't be much of any load overnight, but running...Just to make sure it's not getting more than slightly warm from the amps being drawn with your less than ideal terminal. i.e. Less surface area = more resistance