Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
There is no valid reason the clamp should be "slipping off the post" unless there is either something wrong with it, or the battery post is mangled, or both. I think you've already correctly observed the root of the issue. Start there.
Cranking the starter is the sole and single operation with the highest current (amperage) draw out of anything you can do with your car. If either of the battery terminal clamps are making shitty contact, they won't be able to pass that current and you won't be able to run the starter. The other accessories in your car may indeed work just fine if you have a poor battery contact. Your AC blower, lights, radio, etc. draw maybe 8 or 10 amps in total, with everything on full blast. Your starter motor will happily draw hundreds. All of that current needs to pass through the battery terminal clamps first.
Take the clamps off, clean the insides of them with a wire brush (assuming they're the ring shaped type), clean the battery posts of any built up crud as well, reinstall, and ensure that you can firmly screw down both clamps. If the nut on either of them is stripped or they won't tighten down for any reason, either replace the nut or replace the clamps themselves. You can get replacements at any auto parts store and they crimp onto the battery cables.
There's supposed to be a special crimping tool you use for this but no one in human history has ever bought one of those. Rather, we just mash the shit out of the crimp connection with a pair of pliers. It'll be fine. You will have to uncrimp the factory clamps by levering the crimp apart with a big screwdriver or similar. If you're lazy and have enough slack in the cables you can also just cut the old ones off and strip the wire back a little more.
It may also be possible that your battery is on the way out. They don't last forever and they do lose capacity over time. Most auto parts places have a load tester they can hook up to determine if your battery is truly toast, or if it's marginal. That will require you getting the car there first.
Start with the battery terminals.
10-4. I think the slipping may be because my apartment has a speed bump directly in front of it(meaning I drive over it at least twice a workday) and the SC humidity is freaking ridiculous. But as soon as I get off work I'm going to try tightening the clamp nut. Fingers crossed that is the solution.
Check whatever mechanism holds the battery down while you're in there. Possibly it'll be a metal strut across it held up with some long threaded rods or a plastic wedge thingy that engages against the foot of it. If your battery is bouncing around in your engine bay unrestrained it's going to cause you problems. (Not least of which being occasionally shorting out against the underside of your hood, if it's a top post type...)
Video update.