Loose battery terminals sure cause some havoc!

[wander2039]

This is a first one for me.. proof positive the Focus is indeed haunted by my late sister. Drove the Focus 20+ miles to another campus yesterday morning with no problems, started and ran fine. Got in to drive home and it started fine but as soon as I got on the highway a relay started clicking. Every time it would commence to clicking the radio and dash would go on/off like crazy. Not sure how it made it home.

Got home and tried going to class later and it was dead. The battery was showing 12.6 volts but on examination part of the circuits were showing 7.7 volts and a few lower. Signs of a loose wire in my book couldn't find a single one though! Even tried adding another ground. Took the battery cables off for the night so it wouldn't blow up, both were tight and no corrosion. Put them back on today to figure it out but today it was fine, started right up. The battery is a 2011 from Sam's and in good condition and the terminals haven't been touched since then. Taught me a lesson should of did the simplest thing first. I've seen horribly corroded terminals have issue's but clean one's.. wouldn't of ever figured it out!

I'm going assume that was the cause.. technically could of been a stuck relay also. Have those at work all the time.

 

[dailydriver]

Are you saying that the actual lead terminal post was not torqued tight enough into it's threaded receptacle??

 

[OtisBlkR1]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Are you saying that the actual lead terminal post was not torqued tight enough into it's threaded receptacle??


Unless im half blind (and i am) he never made mention of a threaded terminal, there are still plenty of post/terminal setups out there.. Not picking a fight, just pointing out my observation.

 

[wander2039]

Ford's use post not the screw style. It was clearly tight.

 

[Donald]

SO what was the problem. Even though it looked clean it was not getting a good contact?

Maybe the post is loose?

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: Donald
SO what was the problem. Even though it looked clean it was not getting a good contact?

Maybe the post is loose?


I'm confused too.

That's what I was thinking as well.

Unless the smooth round connector was bent out of shape somehow (into an oval??) that only a small part of it's sides were contacting the terminal?

 

[SteveSRT8]

We once had a Silverado that came brand new with a bad connector on the positive terminal of the battery.

It created a laundry list of weird symptoms that rarely were repetitive enough to diagnose. FINALLY we got lucky one day and removed the battery for testing.

Modern vehicles can be quite sensitive...