In article <83563e079323e@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, "GasUsed2b35centspg" <u43225@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> Calab wrote:
> >
> >You can do one of two things... Buy a replacement clamp and repair the
> >positive wire, OR they make lead post covers that make the post larger
> >and then you can clamp over that.
> >
> >I vote for replacing the clamp.
> >
>
>
> Thanks for your responses.
>
> Should I have any problem starting the car with my Prestone jumper
battery,
> which has never failed before (even when prior batteries were completely
> drained)? As I said, I just noticed that the clamp was off this
afternoon,
> and I hadn't driven the car in a day and a half. At the very least,
I'd
> like to drive the car back to the service station and let them fix or
replace
> the clamp at no charge
>
> If I pull off the loose positive clamp, should I take off the negative
one
> too, before I use a wrench to tighten the clamp nut?
>
> I read another post here stating that the negative post of the battery
> controls the rest of the car (alarm, lights, etc.). If that's true, can
this
> battery recharge itself or will I need to replace the battery?
When wrenching on the battery, it's generally a *REALLY* good idea to
pull the negative clamp before doing anything on the positive side -
When the negative side is hooked up, any contact between the positive
post and the body of the car equals "dead short" - The level of
"interesting" that results from creating such a short can vary from
"look at all the pretty sparks" to "Wow... I didn't know a wrench could
be turned into a puddle of glowing hot liquid so quickly. Boy, it really
sucks having a wrench turn to liquid and dribble through your
fingers..." or a near infinite number of variations between those
extremes. So yes, it's a good idea to disconnect the negative side
before you put a wrench n the positive side. Since the negative post is
already connected to the rest of the car, it doesn't matter if you bang
the wrench against the body while tightening (or loosening) the bolt on
that side.
As far as the "negative side controls the rest of the car" - I don't
recall seeing that post, but if that's what got said, whoever wrote it
was talking out his ass about something he clearly knows *ABSOLUTELY
NOTHING* about.
As for the rest of your trouble, like others have said, get that clamp
tight. And don't be horribly surprised if the alternator is toast - As
stated elsewhere, the alternator can do some really odd things when the
load presented by the battery isn't in the circuit like it should be. As
an example, I had a cable shake loose on a washboard road one night
while doing my paper route. Within a matter of seconds, I lost every
light bulb that was powered up at the time - Both headlights and all of
the marker lights fried, the dome light popped, the bulb in the radio
puked, and I had to replace every one of the "light up the instrument
panel" bulbs. Fortunately, the vehicle was an older rig with no computer
to be fried by the massive over-voltage, so I was able to drive it home
once daylight came and I could see to drive, but I have little doubt
that if it had a computer module in it, that would probably have cooked
off and outright killed the vehicle.
--
Don Bruder - dakidd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- If your "From:" address isn't on my
whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text
"PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without
my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd>
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