Yesterday it was 70 degrees outside, so I decided to do something constructive. One of Vic’s battery cable connectors was acting up. Every once in a while, I’d try to start it, and you’d get a quick connection, then nothing. If I opened the hood and just tapped the cable, it would connect again. Since that connector had already been replaced a while back with a lead one, I figured I’d buy a new, non-lead connector and fix this little issue.
 |
| Old connectors... original 14 yr old one at left |
It was pretty simple removing the offending lead connector. The hard part was trying to crimp the new connector to the copper cable. I tried using pliers, but couldn’t get much bend out of them. So I just made sure all the copper was inside the new end, and taped the begeebers out of the junction.
Then I looked at the other cable. That one had the original, 14 year old connector, but half of it had disappeared and was only about the width of a wedding ring. I decided that it would be too hard to try and replace it, but while I was reinstalling it to the battery, SNAP!! The thing finally fell apart. That meant I HAD to replace it.
I cut off the factory insulation, and found out my low budget crimping technique was just that. The correct way to crimp the non-lead ends was far better than what I could do with pliers… and very difficult to remove. Long story short, I had to use a small saw I found in the cellar to hack the connector off. Then I removed a little insulation from the cables, shoved them into the new connector, and taped it all up.
Then came cleanup, which included putting a zillion sockets away. Finally, I started the car. Fired right up, but the car’s clocks were showing different times! The stereo said it was 1:07, the factory dash clock said 12:07! It was actually about 1:35PM…
I sure hope my repairs hold up. Time will tell…
 |
| New cable ends... will they work??? |
No comments:
Post a Comment