I drive a 94 Mustang convertible (which I love), but in the past month has developed an odd problem. Two months ago, there were problems with the battery terminal (negative) making a good connection with the car’s connector… thingy. Me and my fiance cleaned the connector with Coke and an old rag, and reattached it, and it seemed to work fine for about a month. About a month ago, the connector started coming loose, and I noticed that the round part of the connector had actually cracked in two, preventing it from getting a good grip on the terminal unless something (such as a jumper cable alligator grip) is holding it there while starting the engine. This is how I’ve been starting the engine for the past month or so, and while it only adds about a minute and a half to my commute, I’d love to be able to start my car without popping the hood.
I have two questions about this:
Any ideas on how much it would cost to fix this? I’m a poor college student, and I’d love to hear anything in the $20-$30 range, but I doubt I’d be that lucky.
Could I fix this myself? I’ve soldered copper before (both jewelry and electronics) and I own a blowtorch. Could I solder the crack closed and be done with it?
The perfect fix is to replace the negative battery cable. On this vehicle, though, it looks like it would go well over your desired budget to do that.
I seriously doubt the broken cable end can be repaired so as to be reliable. However, usually it’s possible to replace the cable end. It’s a very cheap part, and usually not difficult to install. It’s necessary to cut the old end off of the cable. Do this as close as you can, so as to leave as much length of cable as possible. Then about 1/2" of insulation needs to be stripped from the cable, and the exposed wires clamped into the replacement cable end. Although it’s technically labeled a temporary fix, it can last quite a long time.
that fix will work fine, I replaced a cable end and drove with that cable for like 8 years.
just make sure when you clip the old end off you also clip off any corroded wire (it will have green crap all over inside the insulation) shouldnt be more than an inch or 2.
I’d like to throttle whoever came up with the notion of using coke to clean battery terminals.
Yes, it dissolves the corrosion. THEN it creates an invisible layer of sugary insulating badness which penetrates into what was formerly a good connection. Between the connector and the battery termal, or between the wire and a replacement end.
The proper way to clean terminals is with the purpose built cylindrical wire brush sold for about a buck at any automotive parts store.
The value of coca-cola as a beverage is disputable. As an electrical cleaning compound it has caused nothing but trouble.