Quote:
Originally Posted by studeclunker
LOL, Oh gosh, they're everywhere on the truck, put there by yours truly! Why are they so bad?
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That's funny. Hopefully that type I gave a picture of are only in 2 places on your truck, neg and pos battery posts. I dislike them (insert various cuss words here) because they caused me pain, when I didn't know any better, and I misdiagnosed an engine-won't-turn-over issue. I replace the starter. The battery was new enough and tested good at the car parts store, and the battery cable and terminal looked OK to me. For some reason thinking a Chinese Skip White starter must be a good idea, and I put it on the truck. The starter didn't come with the correct bolts, I used washers as spacers due to the bolt lengths, and I couldn't figure out how to tune how much the starter gear engages the flex plate and how to figure out how to shim it so it sounded right. So I promptly
chewed up my flex plate, and had to replace that. Anyway, the starter replacement didn't solve the no start condition. I finally figured out that pinching the big stranded cable with those 2 small bolts does not make an adequate connection. There is high resistance and corrosion builds up inside the connection quickly. So, now I'm very picky about the battery cables and only get the kind with lead terminals that are molded on. I put the original starter back on and it works great. I'm glad I didn't throw it away when the Skip White starter arrived.
I was looking for pictures that I took a while back. I found them. This is the terminal that caused me grief:
This is the terminal on the battery cable I found in the local parts store, and it was pretty good for a little while, and cracked. I took these back to the store and swapped for a new one several times, and finally asked for a refund after I almost wiped out their stock. I do not tighten them too much. Just light finger pressure on the wrench, and the terminal cracks. OMG what crap the parts stores have. I checked O'Reilly, AutoZone, Advance, NAPA, you know all the usual places and they all had the same brand and the cables looked identical. All from the same Chinese factory. This is the picture from when I first put it on and I thought the problem was solved. I didn't notice the cracking, and it got worse as the days went by.
Finally this is
what I bought at the Chevrolet dealer. It works well, does not crack. I went in to the parts department at the dealership and explained my problem, and they called an older guy out of the back who had been working there since these trucks were something new. He knew how to search their part numbers and figure out the exact replacement GM part number for my truck. I am thinking I am good to go for the next 50 years.
