[It's Just Eric]

Well, Just a few moments ago, I had to place a new battery in my electically challenged 89 fleetwood. Seems to be a draw on the battery due to short circiut or I need an alternator replaced. Im almost PRAYING its the alternator, because I really dont have the time to hunt down a bad wire. Anyhow...heres my question of the day:
Who the hell invented side terminal batteries?!?!
:horse: :banghead:
Now honestly here... Theres plenty of room under my hood for a post topped battery rather than theese thread in typed things. Honestly, they are alot less acessible where they are. It wouldnt be half as bad if GM used a bolt size that existed for theese things...and making them out of something more durable than talc would be pretty cool as well. I went through every wrench that I had and nothing fit. Ended up stripping it out and lostening the pesky bolts with a plumbers pipe wrench(Dont even ask why i couldnt find any of my 15 pairs of pliars... ever notice how you never can find the tool you need?)
Anyhow. yeah, just had to put that out there. :rant2:

 

[johndfw]

I right there with ya!
I think they are harder to clean, and they are almost always stripped.

Later

 

[It's Just Eric]

Lol, made it to work, but almost didnt make it back. Turns out that...heres a shocker... my negative battery cable managed to losten itself enough to not even be touching the battery terminals. Imagine my anger when I return to my car..parcked all but 2 hours...to find that not even a light comes on! Woohoo! its only the...wait, leme count... there was that time at Mcdonalds...um...the three times in my driveway..Ooh, ooh, that time on the highway...and now this.

Heres the strange thing... the car ONLY has electical problems in the winter or in cold weather. not even constantly under those circumstances either...its totally random. From what I can guess theres a bit of a draw on the battery and my alternator, as of last week, has stopped charging my battery all together. the only thing I can think of is a problem with the climate control. the blower fan works intermittently as well, im guessing theres a short somewhwhere on that circuit. Id go and look right now, but its late...Actually, screw that, im looking. thats what flashlights are for in the first place

Wish me luck

 

[the APEMAN]

Side terdminal batts are just fine if you know all the rules. Use an 8mm or 5/16" wretch to get the nuts turned. If that doesn't work then your terminal bolts have been stripped. Your local awful parts store will have replacements.
Take a good look at where the actual connection is made and picture a couple hundred amps flowing through there. See the 4 little tangs that stick out of the cable ends where they meet the battery terdminal? Are they free of corrosion. No? Clean them with a wire brush. Now look at the batt. See the little dents that they made in the batt terminal? Those dents should be avoided. Be sure to clock the bat cables a little differently so they have some fresh lead to dig into at re-assembly. When you put all the stuff back together coat everything with grease before and after. I use wheel bearing lube for this kind of stuff. Why? The grease keeps air away from the metal. No oxygen, no oxidation. Don't worry about wives tales about grease on electrical connections creating high resistance. If the connection is properly tightened the grease will squeeze out where the tangs are. Properly cared for these terminals will deliver enough current to start a 12.5:1 500 Cadillac on a hot day. The major drawback of this design is it makes jump starting difficult. Gotta use the rules there too......