Melting cable ends do I need to replace my battery cables?

[gt1009]

Yup, I'm having a lot of trouble with the cable ends on the front battery. I put on heavy duty ends, and they worked for a while. They are both toast now though. I think it may be because I lost one of the bolts that holds the battery in place to a fire (don't ask) and now when it slides foreward it shorts out to the tray, which in turn shorts to the chassis, which I believe could be causing this problem. However, I saw a thread a little while ago that reminded me of this problem, and everyone said replace your battery cables. Just wanted to make sure that I didn't need to do that too.

 

[thedeliverator]

I'd say you need to fix that battery tray problem before it shorts out and causes another fire/battery explosion! It's certainly not helping matters.

I needed to replace the cable ends when I got new batteries, when I inspected the cable it was badly corroded from acid exposure. I decided not to cheap out and with the help of the parts counter guy, we built a new battery wiring harness from pieces.

 

[acmunro]

I would also suggest repairing the battery box first. Next I would clean every contact you can (battery, terminal ends, where the terminal ends and cable go together if universal type) make sure the cables are clean and tight at the junction points on the firewall behind the battery and at the starter. This should help and it doesn't cost that much to do. If cleaning and tightening everything doesn't help you might want to check your starter to make sure it is not pulling too many amps. Good Luck

 

[EZFEED]

Another good thing to do in this case is to insulate the box/tray after you've repaired it. Mask off the area then spray a several even coats of rubberized undercoating or truck bedliner material to the tray. If you use undercoating be sure to get the harder textured stuff, not the flexible.

This not only insulates against shorts but also protects against corrosion from acid spillage when you are bouncing around on the trails offroad.

Also when you clean your contacts as stated in the post above, be sure to grease up the contact areas. This will seal moisture out.