I really appreciate youtube users and vid makers. I was able to fix my van without taking it to a shop. I had no power to my car at all, thought it might have been the starter, fusible link or a bad ground wire. The problem was a bad connection between the battery to the starter. we had to take the wires off the terminals and got the corrosion off and tighten them back up. This saved me a lot of money because I was about to tow my car to a shop. This vid really pointed me in the right direction to what the real problem was. Thanks again.
Glad you disconnected that negative battery terminal first! When you were working on the positive clamp I saw your wrench touch both the positive terminal AND part of the car's frame! Would have been major sparks if the negative terminal was still connected at that point!
Eric you are the main reason I actually retain this stuff. I got to a technical school and when we started talking about parasitic drain and I actually replaced a faulty alternator the instructors were amazed. I took off my negative battery terminal before I even touched the alternator and the teacher was in awe. "You are the only student I have seen do it right". Then I refered him to your youtube channel. He said to keep learning the correct way by whatever means. Thanks.
Eric, I'm just going to come out and say it; you're the best. Thanks for making so many awesome videos for us to view and follow. I'm a DIY guy and you've saved me thousands of dollars and that translates to thousands of dollars saved for my friends as well. Awesome! Thanks man!
This is why I'm subscribed to Eric the Car Guy by far one of the best mechanic on RU-vid I have personally figured a lot of things and figured a lot of things out watching his videos. nice feeling when you can fix your own car
Thank you for your videos. Yesterday I had a had a no crank no start and all I heard was a single loud click from under the hood then all the power went out on the car. I used your videos to check the relays, fuses , test the battery and charging system and then did a voltage drop test. Turned out to be the cable that ran from the fuse box under the hood to the positive terminal of the battery (it was really rusted) . I had some room on the wire so I just cut off the corroded part and stripped it, cleaned the terminals and wires all up and it started just fine. So far so good. 02 Chevrolet Cavalier LS sport 2.2l DOHC
I knew when I clicked on your video that I would get every details of the subject. I wanted to know if my cable would be an issue even though it doesn't look that bad and your voltage drop told me everything I need to know ! The way you speak is clear and not too fast. I really like your video !
When I turn my key I get no noise except the dinging from the inside of the car. No clicking no trying to turn over. New battery, new starter, fuses are good. What could it be
Eric, my daughter's car is having the same problems and the battery terminals look this bad. I will clean them and see if that helps. Thank you for taking the time to post this video.
I typically avoid using those crimp-style terminals - the ones that just smash the wire between the terminal. The invite corrosion and can pull out over time. I typically use the moulded type of connector. Those are the ones that look like ring terminal connectors. You actually insert the wire in and crimp the entire end down, this seals the wire from corrosion. That black wire coming off the other side of the positive terminal is a fine example.
Dude, you are so awesome. I'm just like you, down to earth, AMERICAN, and are not afraid to show other people your knowledge, way to go. You help me lots. have a great holiday, sincerely, Alex Montero
One way to make those terminals work, at least a little bit, is to strip off some wire until it's clean, then solder the strands together. They'll act like a big lug, and they'll last longer with those stupid terminals. Coating them in dielectric grease ought to help after that.
Thank you so much for this video, it really helped me find out what was wrong with my car & why it would not start, I had a lot of corrosion on my battery & it needed a good cleaning. Thanks a bunch.😀
baking soda and water mix works great!!! it dilutes the battery acid and neutralizes it !!!! This works just as well as the spray you buy but waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy cheaper and I think everyone has baking soda at home
Had a charging issue in my Cherokee last month, terminals looked good, but when I took them off, small amount of corrosion on post. Cleaned her up and that was all it was. Glad I didn't order that Alternator I had already priced.
nailbomb3 this could have been me. I just happened to buy new terminals (quietly thinking my loose terminals were causing some kind of problem.) but then the clicking started to be more frequent... always assuming it was my starter going bad. After getting stranded at del taco (car cut off and click click no start, I replaced the starter and boom problem solved... for about three starts. Problem came back and ran across this vid. I literally put new terminals on a bad wiring job. Cleaned them all up and what do you know. My car starts no problem!! This dude is good
Glad to be back here. I have a different connection, but its not the original either, so staying away like the plague still applies. My radio goes off at times, ABS and such signs go off too and starting, I can tell has a weird start. Found out I have a loose connection because I have the butterfly negative wire. Couldn't see it, but I moved it and sound was going off in the car because I thought the battery "died".
😂 thank you Eric always my savyer when a problem crops up with my car iv learn so much over the years watching and studying your videos Anyway been having problems starting no lights no dash no crank etc every morning and trying to work out what could be going on upon looking at the battery terminals found the negative terminal had snapped managed to fix it for now but will need a connection when I get round to it Thank you again Eric
Sound advice. You don't stand a chance if your battery connections are not clean and tight. I liked the terminal cleaning device. Well worth having one and it would last a lifetime.
I had a 6 volt drop between my battery and the key side of the starter with intermittent no crank. I Chased many things for a long time, finally it was just a dirty terminal on one of the small wires! There were lots of small losses in the circuit but the terminal was true worst one.
Thanks for the info, Eric. One piece of advice: the terminal cleaning tool is tapered, as are the battery posts-----So you should only insert and use that tool from the underside of the terminal, so it will maintain the proper taper to the terminal.
Thank you for you great videos! I hope the notes I took help me figure out what's going on w/ my car. I took it to O'Rielys and their checker said it was a bad connection... I also took the alternator out and took it there to be tested and they said it was bad. A while back I accidently punctured my power steering pump resivoir which is right above my alternator. With all that fluid leaking down onto the alternator over time, do you think that could be what is causing it to go bad (this is the second time I've had to replace it in like a 2 year period, granted I got a used one as replacement last time, not new)... anyways I am going now to check my connections since that's what they said the problem was and here in the video you show me how to do that so THANKS.
When comes to connections i enjoy using some wire brushes and sand paper few times and my cars never fail on me ...batteries last longer and car loves it....show your car some love ....it will return the favor
Don't know what he would say but... use what fits! [top or side post] Positive and negative terminals [top post] are different diameters - don't smash and bash the wrong ones onto your battery. There are three basic variants. What we see in this video is an all purpose open clamp, which is a handy spare to have on hand around a farm or BFE, but... as you see, corrosion sets in quite easily. The second is a factory molded piece that can't be done at home - I like these for the most part. They usually come with a main lead, and one or more auxiliary wires destined for non-starter loads. The third is kind of like the first, but has a single threaded post on top which requires ring terminal lugs be crimped onto wires first - these are nice if you have a complex setup [like 4 wires on each post or some such]. Regarding the factory molded type, use the same wire size car mfr did, or one size larger if availability is a problem. Generally, I find most gasoline engines are served by 4 awg reasonably well, but not all starter motors are a direct 1:1 ratio. If it's geared down [say 4:1 or some such], smaller HP motors can be used and that's a different ballgame regarding feed wire size.
Thanks for the great procedure! It turns out my 20yr old car had the grounding stud painted over in the trunk by the factory guys. Seems the manufacturer had the intention of the nut shielding the stud from paint. Mine wasn't tightened down, so there was overspray on the backside of the nut, and the face of the body where the strap should clamp and make contact.... If it weren't for metalflake there may never have been any connection to ground! 5 minutes with the dremel and a brush bit, and this car is cranking faster than it ever has! From no crank, no click, to super-crank! As you showed I set my multimeter to mV and traced the +'ve and -'ve battery connections outward. With the car in "run", headlights on w/o the engine running the drop from terminal to clamp was 14mV, another 14mV to the body, and I quickly saw my issue.
Wow, I tend to forget there’s people out there who don’t know jack about cars. The 1st thing you check in a no start situation is the battery and cables!!!! If that’s not good it doesn’t matter how much money in new parts you buy it won’t fix the problem lol! That’s $300 they could had kept in their pocket or more.
I SO agree man, and i get the feeling there is a set of sub's in this car and a deck, if thats the case someone did a really shitty install and did not know what they are doing, but i would have at least checked what thos wire's were going to, and told the customer how bad that is.
I got a battery in 2016- just died on me now in 2020. I got it changed a few days ago at Autozone but noticed the guy who installed it didn't even clean the terminals. He kind of just blew on it. My car is still making a noise when I start it and I'm taking it to my usual shop to get the starter checked. I hope it's just the terminals! Thanks for the video, it's given me hope I won't have to spend $400-$500 on getting a new starter.
How would I replace the whole wire/cable? Not just the terminal ends. A few months ago I bought a used Toyota Corolla 2005 LE and it has had a few hiccups that I have taken care of but I want to get a decent battery (currently using a crap Wal Mart battery) but the length of the cable is a bit short as if it has been cut down. Plus it looks old. I assume it was a shore car as there is some corrosion. Other than that, and the muffler that I need to tighten, it runs well.
Sounded a little to me like the new (or rebuilt) starter might have an overrunning clutch issue (and/or a drive or ring gear issue). Overrunning clutches aren't routinely replaced by rebuilders as they're big $. They can, and often do act up intermittently in their early failure stages. Modern overrunning clutches are much better than days of yore, but a dunk in solvent can still kill one. Did I also hear the alternator belt squeal after one of the starts? As in a loose or bad 'v' belt?
Great video!!!! I love the content of your channel..awesome tips and tricks..I too hate those terminals. Not sure why they still make them, I also hate how most terminals are very soft metal. Gets me everytime.
14.4 is the normal limit but you're not gonna cause any damage until about 15.5 volts, but that rarely happens, when alternator fail it's mostly gonna under-volt, not over-volt. Between 13.8 and 14.4 is ideal and tells you that the alternator is in good working condition.
Probably the new cables are not cheap. And probably the owner of the car has some money issues. You can't just call him a moron. Have some respect! After all it's his car, and if it burns down, than it will be his problem. What Eric can do on a customers car is totally out of his hands. He can't change the wires, if the customer doesn't want it to. That's life. But the video still had it's purpose. Its another educational one. I liked it, just like every other of Eric's videos. ;)
This is a great video! Thanks for posting! My car is doing the exact same thing and because of this video, now I know what to fix, my terminal connectors are very loose
Eric, I put the key in with a two week old autozone battery and as soon as I turned it, (1) The dashboard lights which WERE really brightS, then kinda fade off and then no lights and then won't start not even a click. I remember 10 YRS ago with a different vehicle, per your "LESSON" of your video, CHECK the CONNECTION FIRST!, So I know 2weeks ago along with the new battery, autozone-guy suggested to change the POSITIVE terminal. So I went with it, I asked him, "How about the NEGATIVE?, I thought, here we are doing it, $4 to 10 bucks, WHY NOT?" So he says something like, "Still looks OK still has 3 years or so" So..we did NOT replace it. So today it happened as my first 2 statements above. Since 10 years ago something like this happened, I decided to get my little hammer and banged it/NEGATIVE terminal and even cursed at it, "Work, you S.O.B.!" LOL. So I am not expecting much,,,,but hey I put that thinking and effort, might as well put the key back in and turn it again. It went "Vrooomm!!" So obviously NOT ( 1)THE BATTERY NOR (2) THE STARTER, (3) NOR THE ALTERNATOR, BUT DEFINITELY the OLD, UNREPLACED, UNCLEANED NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL!! FOR I BANGED IT WITH A LITTLE HAMMER AND IT WENT VROOM! SO after almost 30 minutes on idle ,,,,I turned it off. Locking the Sienna Van, walking away,,,,I said to myself, "Wonder IF it will NOT START, again. So I got in the van and put the ignition, and I saw the lights very bright on the dashboard, as I turned, it dissapeared again and it WONT even click. DEAD as a door knob. So I called Autozone and tell them what is going on and agreed IF I GET IT GOING tommorrow morning..01-08-2021, I will drive to their store and this time to REPLACE THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL AND MIGHT AS WELL CLEAN IT LIKE YOUR TOOL IN THIS VIDEO. BTW,,,THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL IS AS TIGHT AS IT CAN BE. I THINK THE METAL IS OLD AND IT HAS A BIT OF CORROSION BUT NOT A LOT. BUT I KNOW ITS GOTTA TO BE IT. I Hope you agree with me and any tips would be very much APPRECIATED by me and my wife(her van) before I hammer the negative terminal and drive the Sienna Van to Autozone Sincerely thanking you Eric for your precious time, Mike
Wish I lived by you so you could work on my 09 maxima. A $281 alternator had now cost me $2300. First mechanic damaged stuff under the hood so now it's at Nissan getting fixed. Wasn't sure where else to take it. Initial repair $400 in parts and $821 labor, Nissan fixing their mistakes is $1100. Can't trust anyone anymore. Car is in mint condition too. 105,000 miles Very disappointing this happened to me.
What if it's not the starter or battery or ground cable/terminals for the battery? Currently having starting issues with my Jeep after I replaced the starter a month ago...
Can striped posts be a problem as well... The issue I'm having is my car won'tnt start, we have to mess with the battery cables for a while before it starts also we noticed the cords running to the starter from the battery is not tight... What should I do, do you know what may be the problem??? THANKS
I am not sure but would it be better to check the voltage on the starter by pulling the plug to the distributor so it can crank long enough without starting the engine and you get a stable read on the voltmeter?
What's strange is new earth lead, a new battery, new starter motor, and them not noticing that the postive lead is that bad, then they want you to just clean it up lol.
I watch his channel as well. But this is not his channel. So please don't do this! It's called trolling or flaming. Eric has a great and entertaining channel, and he doesn't deserve this. Show some respect for him, please!
Thanks for your videos Eric!!! Its totally helped me so many times restoring my own car and this particular video is currently helping me with my own starting issues! Im going to run this test tomorrow. Thank you! :D
I had no crank and no start. sometimes it would start and other times it wouldn't. I bought a new battery and starter, it was working fine. a couple of weeks ago it wouldn't start for 3 days, someone came to help and all he did was wiggle the terminal and it started. he tightened it up for me and said it wouldn't happen again, 2 days later it wouldn't start and still won't. my terminals are clean no corrosion, I don't know what to do. please help
Hi Jb, how did you correct this? That's the same issue I'm having right now. I bought a new starter and battery and my van worked for about a week but now won't start unless I touch the starter with something metal while someone turns the ignition. (My car guy wants me to buy yet another new starter b/c he said he checked all the connections but I really don't think he did; he just wants money.) I'm going to double check the connections and make sure they are not corroded.
My car intermittently doesn't start sometimes. I turn the key all the dashboard lights come on, air conditioner blows, headlights work, but there's no crank. I just wait a while and then it starts up again. Do you think it's a battery cable issue?
That was a bad connection from the positive cable wires but if the negative cable wires are frayed and the postive were ok, would it be tested the same?
I've had a 97 eclipse for almost 7 years and had a problem with the power wires. Mine was doing the same thing and upon research after fixing it, I learned that most of them have this problem at some point. It's just one of those things with these cars.
Reminds me of my old '98 eclipse. Full of problems and short lived, but was a good car. Seems its problems have carried over into our galant though o.o
Hi Eric; One of the reasons why the wires are discoloured/burnt is heat. The voltage drop you're finding causes the same power drawn by the starter to require a higher current. Bad connections also increase the resistance to the passage of current and therefore contribute to increased losses of power to heat. Heat generated in wires is mainly a function of current flow and resistance (the Joule effect). Also, a voltmeter with a MAX HOLD function is great for that voltage drop test :) Cheers!
My positive battery terminal wire is in half my friend and I are gonna connect it back together ..wanted to know would this be the cause of the green key coming on the dash ? My emobilizer,key, fuses, computer are good
Hey Eric question for you, is the whole engine supposed to be grounded out? I was checking the cooling fan switch using a connector with a jumper wire to make the fan come on. On a few spots on the motor, the fan would come on and I'm trying to figure out why the whole motor wasn't grounded out. I even put it on the starter body were it's bolted up and nothing happened, but it does come on when you touch it to the grounded wires on the engine.
Hello there, have. A problem with my truck battery, my friend forced to remove the terminal post at the battery and the battery post its loose, . Do I need to replace battery??. Thanks for answer
Hi Eric, I have 2.89 volts on a red wire, with no battery connected to negative cable or positive cable, 350 milli amps battery drain, between the negative cable and the negative battery post, tested with multimeter, no crank, but cranks when I hot wire at the relay, how is there voltage on a red wire with no battery connected.
My terminals were bad and the only symptom it gave me was trouble cranking once only.when I took it to Auto zone they said my alternator was great but my battery needed recharging due to the terminals but it was a good battery..also while I was driving it going high speed it jerked a little two different times My question is does it sound like it's only because of the terminals? The terminals were replaced today and so far it hasn't done it.. Someone answer please
have a chevy cobalt ss supercharge I accidentally touch together the battery posts and boom big sparks scared me! car doesnt crank at all now any thoughts about that
Just bought a Volvo 740. It starts whenever it feels like. Now I'm swapping spark plugs, cables to the plugs, distributor cap, rotor and battery terminals. It's a turbo, and driven somewhat hard, and these things are several years old, and I've heard they should be swapped once a year or so :P (not the terminals of course).
This has to be the funniest one of these yet. New battery new starter but hmm, I think we see the problem lol. Epic. "Since this is so loose, I can just take off my ground cable, this is very convenient" . Dude you owe me a new keyboard.
I got a 2001 bmw 740il, with no crank no start issues, but sometimes it will crank, but yesterday I had to sit for about 30min turning the key before it caught, what do u think might be the problem? ?
hey Erick I'm having a weird problem with my car, it's a 2000 jeep grand Cherokee, and my battery died after sitting for a few days, i replaced the battery and the terminals because they needed it but when i connected the new battery it created an ark, the fan came on, the lights came on, and the horn came on. What do you think, anything come to mind?
Those are cheap "repair" terminals. Something meant for a road side repair, not really a permanent replacement. They aren't all bad, but like Eric points out you have to clean them regularly.
Ok I know this is old but I noticed my car having a slow crank and the mechanic did a load test on Battery , Alt and started was good and they clean one battery terminal since there was visible corrosion but didn’t take the other off to look at it nor clean it. The other day I had left the radio on while the car was iff for about 10 minutes. When I started it I got service charging system alert . I have a 2017 terrain
How do you know if your car has an anti-theft battery installed or not? I have corrosion on the battery terminals in a 2003 Hyundai Elantra with a factory original radio. I wanted to deal with the corrosion issue but have been warned that if its an anti-theft radio it would need to be reset afterwards with a pin number. Checked all my original paperwork from car and find no mention of pin or whether its anti-theft or not. Is there a way to know for sure before I remove the cables?
