I’ve done this countless times on a number of different vehicles. However, this Lincoln MKX battery hookup does not look like any other battery hookup I’ve ever seen.
The two battery terminal posts are there, but the simple battery post cable connectors aren’t there. Instead, there are these strange monstrosities that don’t give me any clear indication of what nut to remove to loosen the connection to the battery post.
I know this shouldn’t be very difficult. I’ve searched on line and youtube for help and have come up empty.
Anyone out there have an 08 MKX and know what I’m talking about? Better yet, can you tell me what to unscrew that would make this job as easy as it should be?
that nut loosens the “wedge” that tightens the terminal. It’s the same for both positive and negative, though the positive terminal has more “stuff” hanging off of it.
If you have an alarm system or a radio with a theft deterrent system, check with the manufacturer’s instructions before unhooking the battery. Some of these aren’t very happy about having their power removed.
should be, yes. I couldn’t find a picture of the positive terminal. in the photo, you see that diagonal seam under the nut? When you tighten the nut down on that stud, the top wedge forces the bottom wedge to squeeze the terminal closed.
the car’s a few years old, so the pieces may be stuck together. a little gentle prying or tapping with the plastic screwdriver handle might coax them free.
and expect a spark or two when you reconnect the terminal. once power is restored all the modules wake up briefly and draw more current than you’d expect.
OK, thanks. I’ll give it a go this morning. The positive looks just like the negative, except there are more things coming off the terminal. It is really the strangest battery terminal set up I’ve ever seen.
The picture you’ve provided is similar, but it is also much simpler. the photo shows only one nut to screw off, so there isn’t much of a choice. There are three nuts for me to choose from, and all seem to be a possibility. I will see if this particular nut closest to the two wedges will solve the problem. I’ll post later with results.
if you accidentally contact a body or chassis component with your wrench while installing the positive terminal, having the negative terminal disconnected means there’s no circuit yet so no current should flow.
if the negative terminal is already connected and your wrench bridges the positive terminal to the body/chassis, the battery can dump hundreds of amps of current through the wrench which means it’s going to get real hot real fast, and possibly melt and start a fire.
Battery is out, and I’m putting the new one in. I decided to take a break first, because it took me over 2 hours to get the battery out.
The problem. I believe the problem was that the guy who owned this car before me decided to paint the posts on the battery, along with the battery cables while attached to the battery. So, even though I had the right nut unscrewed, and even though I thought I understood how this thing was put together (stupid design, btw, but that’s neither here or there), between the corrosion and the paint, I couldn’t get the damn things off!
About a half can of WD 40 (which followed a baking soda and water bath on the terminals) helped loosen things up a bit. but I had to scrape as much paint off as I could, while driving a screwdriver in between the post and the metal post holder on the end of each battery cable. Once I got enough space, I could wiggle and twist the thing. A pair of channel locks were used to maintain the grip on the thing while I used my other hand to push down on the battery. Finally, one popped off and then the other.
Why would anyone paint these things? He tried to match it with the color of the car, but it looked like crap, and he had overspray all over the engine compartment.
What a dick.
I hope all the bending and twisting of the metal cable ends doesn’t have any ill effects on putting things back together.
Ford. Why would you screw with the easiest thing in the world? One nut, one bolt… I don’t need these slanted pieces to move together!
they work fine when they’re not, you know, painted. As for why they use that wedge block, I think it was originally designed for models which had limited access to the terminals from the side, and it was easier to access from above. Then they decided to use the same one cross car line.
you answer your own question:
If I had to guess, someone probably told this person about that battery terminal spray that helps prevent corrosion, and he either thought that stuff was just paint or was an idiot who though paint would work just as well.
You are probably right. And since he never changed the battery, he probably never thought about it again. The white powdery buildup around the terminals (battery boogers) was amazing, so his trick did little more than cost me most of today, and some skin on my right hand.
One more question for you, since you seem to know this set up very well. There is a plastic “wedge” that seats the battery in place once it’s installed properly. There is a long screw that holds it in place, so the battery doesn’t shift while the car is moving. You must also remove this screw and block to get the battery out.
My question: I unscrewed the long bolt, pulled the plastic wedge out, and removed the battery. When I put the new battery in, I hooked everything up and the car started no problem. However, when I tried to put the wedge in to hold the battery in place, the long screw no longer has anything to hold it in… it’s almost like there was a nut on the underside of the battery tray that was holding this thing in place, and when I unscrewed it and removed the bolt and the wedge, the nut on the back (which I’m not sure is even there, and I can’t see anyway) seems to have disappeared.
Do you have the same set up with the long bolt/wedge, and if so, what’s that bolt screwed into?
My bolt has a washer half way down it to make sure it stays at a certain height. The bolt goes through the wedge, through the hole in the battery tray and now it doesn’t screw into anything. If I take the wedge out and just put the bolt through the tray hole, there’s nothing underneath to grab the bolt. I looked under the car for a stray nut, but I couldn’t find one.
It must have fallen off down underneath the battery tray somewhere. I looked for something like that, but no luck. The car is still in the driveway, so if that’s what fell, I’ll look tomorrow before taking the car out for a trip.