Extending a Battery Cable?

[CharlesW]

The positive terminal end suffered some cosmetic damage from a leaking Delco battery in my van a month or so ago. It appears that replacing the cable requires changing a complete wiring harness. That seems a little much. Has anyone had experience with just replacing the side mount terminal end. It seems like I remember seeing some clamp on terminals at an auto supply store, but I don't remember hearing any information as to how they work.

Charles

PS: I did search

[CharlesW]

Originally posted by ejant
They do make a cable end that replaces the Delco type end that you cut off the existing terminal. Cut back a half an inch of insulation and place the strands into the clamp. Works well.

That's what I wanted to hear.
Thanks,
Charles

[dboat]

my experience is that they work fine.. but do a lot of prep and spray the stuff on it that prevents corrosion.. these type seem to get that type of buildup on them easier and faster..
Dana

[ryeh2o]

You might need to find a press to compress the lug onto the wire.
Check your length of cable also. If it is just the right length to fit on your battery post, try using a dremmel tool to cut the old lug off, clean strands, and reattach new lug. We sometimes solder larger lugs on with plenty of acid paste to clean, then solder.

[CharlesW]

The cable length is of some concern to me. That's why my subject line had extend in it. The dremel tool on the old cable sounds like it might very well be my option. I was considering buying a 12" cable and trying to splice it in to the old cable. It is likely that some sort of splicer exists that can be soldered to insure it doesn't come apart. Possibly even a clamp type splicer.
When I start looking for the parts, I will have a better idea as to the alternatives. From the information I received from your responses, it would seem that repair rather than replacement is an option.
Thanks again.

Charles

[Avalanche]

Your battery cables are not a part of your wiring harness. The cable may run in some conduit to a power junction or to the starer, but it should be replaceable as they are a normal wear item. Do not attempt to splice or extend a cable, especialy a positive cable. Any junction or connection in an electrical system is a source of resistance and resistance means heat. While cranking your engine a great deal of juice flows through those cables and the spot you repaied will be prone to heat stress, corrosion and will drain more juice from your battery than needed due to the increased resistance at the repiar. At the least you could find yourself stranded and at the worst you coud cause a fire. Be safe, cables are cheap.

[CharlesW]

Thanks for all the responses and advice. I decided this morning to tackle this project and do whatever was needed to correct the problem. As is often the case, the problem was not all that difficult to take care of. While trying to find out where the cable was routed and how to remove it, (still don't know), I tried some WD-40 and a wire brush to clean the terminal. The WD-40 and brush cleaned the whole thing up so well that I put everything back together and it now looks good. Gotta love that WD-40.

Charles

[laynlow]

I would be very cautious of using a cable that was attached to a leaking battery. Often, the cable itself will also corrode inside the jacket and the damage cannot be seen. Battery cables don't last forever, I recommend changing them. I usually buy an OEM cable from the dealer so that I get the exact length I need, and any branches are already in place.

Some vehicles are tougher than others to change; it depends on how the cable was routed. I have done my Explorer and a S-10 Blazer. Neither was too bad. A Haynes manual should give you a fairly complete step-by-step.

Here is one of mine. There are only four connections, and you can see the length is short. YMMV.