Hot negative battery post and no power

[pt1965]

a month or so ago i experienced a dead truck and realized the negative cable was loose, no problems for since until yesterday same thing. i wiggle the cable a little while hitting the key fob and power is restored. so do you think the loose cable situation compromised the cable over time?
so, i am looking for a replacement and theres 10 variations out there. Mine has the main cable going to engine block and a split off that runs all the way towards front headlight area, then a separate short cable going to a bolt on firewall. it seems the same cable at different stores is listed at both 32" and 65". rockauto lists a standard ignition and a acdelco that seem to be the same, and i have only been able to find the std version at oreillys locally. probably pickup today.

just wondering if anyone else has esperienced this?

 

[Big Mama]

The loose ground cable can start to make poor connections but I’d also look at the other end, where the cable attaches to the block. You may want to take the cable off the block and give them both a good scrubbing and reattach including some dialect grease. It’s kinda rare for the cable to be bad but you never know.

 

[Jeff Groves]

Did you look at the battery connector itself? Years ago I had a Dodge Dakota that I had to tap the negative connector on now and them. When I got around to actually trying to fix it? I found it had melted some from sparking I guess. I had to replace the battery.
Moral of that story is.....
Well no Moral just a truck bed full of "I TOLD YOU SO!" from SWMBO.

 

[pt1965]

thanks yall. connections are all clean and tight, but wouldnt hurt to disconnect other end and wire brush it. its odd that when the truck is dead the negative terminal is hot. my mechanic says he thinks it can only be caused by a short somewhere on the positive side. unless the cable itself is bad i dont see anything wrong with the wire going to the starter either, but he cant look at it for a few days when i'm scheduled to get some suspension work done. i hope nothing gets fried in the mean time!

 

[Doubeleive]

thanks yall. connections are all clean and tight, but wouldnt hurt to disconnect other end and wire brush it. its odd that when the truck is dead the negative terminal is hot. my mechanic says he thinks it can only be caused by a short somewhere on the positive side. unless the cable itself is bad i dont see anything wrong with the wire going to the starter either, but he cant look at it for a few days when i'm scheduled to get some suspension work done. i hope nothing gets fried in the mean time!

It would have to be a pretty serious short to make the ground cable hot, that should make it easy to find

 

[Big Mama]

I misread the hot negative part. Wes is right. If the negative is hot and you have a no power situation something is bad wrong. Can you swap in a different battery to see if it happens again?

 

[Kraig]

If you’re worried about something burning up in the meantime, disconnect the battery

 

[BG1988]

a month or so ago i experienced a dead truck and realized the negative cable was loose, no problems for since until yesterday same thing. i wiggle the cable a little while hitting the key fob and power is restored. so do you think the loose cable situation compromised the cable over time?
so, i am looking for a replacement and theres 10 variations out there. Mine has the main cable going to engine block and a split off that runs all the way towards front headlight area, then a separate short cable going to a bolt on firewall. it seems the same cable at different stores is listed at both 32" and 65". rockauto lists a standard ignition and a acdelco that seem to be the same, and i have only been able to find the std version at oreillys locally. probably pickup today.

just wondering if anyone else has esperienced this?

cable is probably bad
high resistance makes heat

 

[pt1965]

i have ordered a new one, but i have looked at it and i dont know how i can get to the mounting location of the one ground that runs to the front w/o removing some stuff. its tight to just get my hand in there. why does it have 3 grounds coming off of it anyway?
strange tho that i had the 3 instances of no power on monday, i havent done anything to it, and yesterday and this morning its ok.

 

[BG1988]

i have ordered a new one, but i have looked at it and i dont know how i can get to the mounting location of the one ground that runs to the front w/o removing some stuff. its tight to just get my hand in there. why does it have 3 grounds coming off of it anyway?
strange tho that i had the 3 instances of no power on monday, i havent done anything to it, and yesterday and this morning its ok.

more paths to gound electricity likes the path of lest resistance...

 

[pt1965]

ok, had shop install new cable. hopefully that was the problem. i have noticed something tho. i seldom pay much attention to the battery gauge, i have never thought they were accurate or useful,just something taking up space. but, before cable replacement it always read over the 14volt mark witch is at 12oclock. now it shows what i assume are normal fluctuations like it will be at 14volts or higher when its warming up and goes down slightly below 14volts while driving.
i sure hope the problem is fixed!

 

[Doubeleive]

ok, had shop install new cable. hopefully that was the problem. i have noticed something tho. i seldom pay much attention to the battery gauge, i have never thought they were accurate or useful,just something taking up space. but, before cable replacement it always read over the 14volt mark witch is at 12oclock. now it shows what i assume are normal fluctuations like it will be at 14volts or higher when its warming up and goes down slightly below 14volts while driving.
i sure hope the problem is fixed!

if the problem persist's let us know so we can share whatever information is found with others, good luck!

 

[Floep]

The wire is not making contact in the terminal needs resoldering. another problem was the original batteries had inside them connecting straps that were not conected properly, defective welds. Remedy is new battery

 

[hagar]

If your negative cable is hot when dead, your ground isnt working properly and is creating a crazy resistance.

A friend of mine was helping me get my turbo Silverado ready one spring. The battery was toast so he threw in a new one, but hopped onto helping me with something else before finished, and left the negative half loose.

We fired it up, went for a rip, made it a block and all my gauges started bouncing. Started heading back and when I pulled up the driveway, smoke was pouring out from under the hood. We grabbed the extinguisher, and popped the hood. The wire harness was burning like one of those little kid firework snake coils you light the end of.
It burned all the little individual ground wires in my harness.
I wouldn't even risk it if it's getting hot.

 

[pt1965]

update! replace negative harness with ac 2284641 for perfect fit. i just took a weekend trip 6 hrs away and no issues!