semlin
curmudgeon
changed the positive battery terminal on the 80 last night. Started it last night and it worked fine. This morning I have a flat battery with the alternator indicator showing 1/4" below half way. I got a quick jump (it instantly turned over) and came to work with the jumper cables. I suspect the after market alarm could be the problem, but thought I'd check if I might have done something else wrong.
-I used a "mil spec" battery terminal from NAPA. Used a wire battery cleaner on the terminal and post and got a good connection. It was a tight fit and I had to tap it on with a mallet.
-I drilled out the factory starter cable lug hole to fit the 3/8" bolt hole on the terminal. There was not a big amount of metal removed and it is still plenty sturdy to my eye.
-replaced the fittings on the other three wires. There were two wires off a black box and one wire off a grey connector. One of the wires off the black box was such a light gauge that I twisted it round the wire from the grey connector and put them both into one connector. The connectors are heat shrink beldons from napa and I crimped them.
Any suggestions on what I did wrong?
the old terminal was so loose I could remove it by hand and it would not tighten anymore yet it always started unless I was offroad and it worked loose in which case jiggling it worked.
-I used a "mil spec" battery terminal from NAPA. Used a wire battery cleaner on the terminal and post and got a good connection. It was a tight fit and I had to tap it on with a mallet.
-I drilled out the factory starter cable lug hole to fit the 3/8" bolt hole on the terminal. There was not a big amount of metal removed and it is still plenty sturdy to my eye.
-replaced the fittings on the other three wires. There were two wires off a black box and one wire off a grey connector. One of the wires off the black box was such a light gauge that I twisted it round the wire from the grey connector and put them both into one connector. The connectors are heat shrink beldons from napa and I crimped them.
Any suggestions on what I did wrong?
the old terminal was so loose I could remove it by hand and it would not tighten anymore yet it always started unless I was offroad and it worked loose in which case jiggling it worked.