Battery leads WARNING!

[DiTch 0]

rado had some issues with starting recently making me think that the battery was fooked! i was all ready to take the heavy duty battery back and swap it for new when i noticed negative lead from battery to metalwork had corroded through at the point where its crimped onto the battery negative clamp .. Seems that only one or two strands were left in the crimped part of the clamp and as i inspected it the feckin thing just dropped off ..... my Rados 1991 1.8 16v and i advise owners of older rados and newish rado owners {won,t hurt} check the leads

 

{MASSIVE FAILURE of battery negative lead}

 

what happens?

 

1. you drive round happliy all day starting and stopping no problem

2. you stop turn the engine off and go do somthing

3. BATTERY LEAD SUFFERS MASSIVE FAILURE

4. you get back in car and try to start engine , nothing happens?

5. every thing seems fine though?

6. the didgital clocks ok it didnt fade or reset when you turned the key

7. you heard the sound of the fuel pump working

8. you try starting again , nothing happens

9. you think you disarmed the immobilizer wrong,

10. no you didnt you did it right

11, you hook up a jumpstart pack and try starting again

12. engine turns over but slow / laboured

13. you think that the jumpstart pack flat too

14. so you rig up an extension lead 240v so that you can plug the jumpstart pack in to its charger while you use it

15. at this point you get a lucky break! the croccodile clamp bridges the break in the negative lead and battery clamp

16. car starts and you think feckin halfords feckin battery

 

 

this happened to me on my drive luckily

[Laughingboy 0]

Said it a few times on here, a very quick and worthwhile check.

 

I got my rado for peanuts as the guy thought the engine was toasted as it was barely starting and ran like a bucket of spuds. One power lead later (Made my own from left over 4 gauge amplifier cable!) and it runs sweet as you like. I've been told the valvers are real buggers for needing a good strong current so as ditch says, always worth a quick check of the leads!

[Henny 0]

yup, I've always advocated changing BOTH live and earth leads for the battery when you first get a second hand dub of over 5 years old... Deffo a weak point on 'em all... :|

[vwdeviant 0]

Ah... Wonder if that was my problem a couple weeks ago? Span over OK but didn't catch... Until the fooking recovery turned up and she went on the ruddy key! :mad:

[Henny 0]

symptoms tend to show up on cold damp mornings where the resistance of the cables is higher and the problem is more pronounced... ;)