Help Changing battery cables
 

Hey everyone, I'm pretty sure I need to replace my battery cables on my 98 V6 a few times now I've gone to start the car and it was just dead no power at all but if I wiggle the cables a bit it starts fine. My question is this can I change the cables myself or is this more complicated and difficult then what someone should do in their driveway and is there a "how to" somewhere I tried searching the forum but had no luck (although that may just be that I didn't put the proper criteria into my search)
Thanks for any help

Yes, you can do it in your driveway. You probably don't need new cables. Since they respond to wiggling, that suggests the battery connections and/or the opposite ends could be loose or dirty. Most common is dirty/loose/corroded battery connections.

The battery connections have to be disassembled to get to the corrosion unseen on inside of cable connections. Start by disconnecting the cables, negative side first. Clean with appropriate solvent. Especially the negative side.

Some people like to grease the outside and/or inside of the connections to protect from corrosion. I do both.

I like to check the connections for corrosion every time I check the oil and clean as needed.

The connections opposite the battery are more likely to be loose than corroded. to tighten them, disconnect the battery, negative battery terminal first, then try tightening. Don't forget to reconnect your battery when done. You can do this job while the battery is disconnected for terminal cleaning.

I hope this is useful.

Thanks rbowmar, it's actually just the negative that needs to be "wiggled" and not even wiggled so much as just pushed down on slightly so I'll try just cleaning the cables as you suggested and maybe replacing the post terminal since they're only $4 and brand new clean ones couldn't hurt (unless I screw something up lol).

Thanks again for the quick reply

The negative terminal on my '04 was corroded beyond hope and I looked into getting just that cable.
Turns out, the harness was available from the dealer with the negative, positive and oil pressure wire (that was broken as well).
Put the front of the car on jack stands and it's easy to see where all the wires terminate.
The new harness had the supports pre-installed and it was an afternoon job to install.
You just can't beat good grounds and fresh connections.

I'm going to try the cleaning tomorrow hopefully that works since I don't have jack stands here and besides the Ford dealer here is pretty useless so I'd have to order any parts like the harness you mentioned online somewhere.

Even if you replace the cable later, learning cable maintenance will serve you well for as long as you own automobiles.

If you intend to continue working on your car, may I suggest that you make an investment in a couple of jack stands and a decent jack? The set can be bought for about $100. Add a socket set and miscellaneous hand tools and you can fix nearly anything on the car. The first time or two you don't pay somebody to repair your car its all paid for... Don't get the super cheap ones.

We will help you through the tough parts.

Good Luck.

thanks rbowmar, cleaned the cables today with no real problem (one of the screws on the connector was a bit stubborn but eventually loosened enough to get the cable free) the only problem is I won't really know if it fixed the issue for a long time since it was a intermittent problem the loss of power only happened 3 or 4 times over 2 months so even though it seems to be working fine now I can't say for sure until some time passes.
As for the jack stands they are a good idea I have ramps that worked for my last car but the front of the Mustang is too low to drive up them so I'll have to look for some decent stands.

Thanks again to everyone that gave suggestions.