[T3] Battery cables

[Dave Hall]

I once bought an aluminium cast clamp - it worked for a week then oxidation
stopped it.  If the original clamp is eaten away by acid, make sure the
replacement is nickel-plated brass, and solder the wire into it.  Jim's
advice on not hammering clamps onto terminal posts is vital.  The only times
I've seen corrosion on car battery posts have been on cars I have bought.
I've not had it happen on batteries I've fitted myself - but then I don't
hammer them on!
A smear of vaseline (petroleum jelly) is all I've ever used, and often I've
not even bothered doing that.

Take care with copper grease on battery terminals - I used that on a Jetta
battery clamp once after cleaning off some minor corrosion, and after a few
days use the starter motor wouldn't work. I cleaned off the copper grease,
and it was fine, with no further starting problem.  I've also had misfiring
after using it on spark-plug threads, so I now just use a drop of engine oil
on those.  Maybe different brands of copper grease behave differently, but I
now reserve it for muffler and brake fittings.

Dave
UK VW Type 3&4 Club
===================



-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org [mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org]
On Behalf Of Soren Jacobsen
Sent: 03 December 2015 00:47
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] Battery cables

On 12/02 15:34, liverbeat71 wrote:
> 
> Has anyone ever had hard starts or non starts due to a bad battery 
> ground strap or pos. battery cable? I've been unable to start my 69 
> Fastback for two weeks. Yesterday I hop in, turn the key, runs like a 
> a new car.Will swap out the  o.g.  worn strap/ cables. What the???

Worse than that, I've had total electrical system failure on the road due to
a faulty aftermarket positive battery cable.  Having your car die in the
middle of 65MPH freeway traffic is no fun, and quite embarrassing.  Jiggling
the cable got me back on the road.  This happened a few times before I
replaced the cable.  When I cut the old one apart, the reason for failure
was clear: corrosion in the connection between the clamp and the wire
strands.

Soren
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