My buddies 97 F150 is dead in his driveway. No power, no lights anything. Been like this for 3 weeks. So tonight, I came over tried to jump it ti no avail. We went to get a new battery at WalMart and we we came back, I hooked up the neg and then tried the positive. When I touched the pos to the post, it sparked and melted the post. So I took off the negative, Put the positive on and when I touched the negative it too melted the post. I have never seen this before so I was wondering if anyone knows why or how to fix this. Thanks Paul
Its doing that because there must be a wire touching somewhere drawing all the current... Like laying a wrench between the two terminals. Search the POsitive cable and look for a place where it's touching metal... then look and see if the insulation is still there. You will probably have to replace the pos wire. but its probably the one that goes to the solonoid on the fender, as it melts right away, if it was the wire going from the fender to the starter then it'd only melt when you hit the key. Good Luck, Wireing can be a real PITA
it sparks because you are completeing the circuit ... the battery dont care which connection is made last to complete that circuit. i dont want to offend you ...but .... if you dont yet understand the basics : maybe you should save yourself/others from possible injury/death and/or larger repair bills and have someone who knows more about electricity to look at and fix the truck. never be afraid to ask "why". i fixed a truck for a guy one time that had the same syptoms ... the nut that held the positive battery cable to the solenoid had come loose and the cable pivoted down and shorted out on a bracket that was too close. keep us posted on your results.
The battery is definately one of the more dangerous parts of the engine. A dead short can cause a explosion. It almost has to be the heavy gauge positive wire running from the battery to the solenoid or from the battery side of the solenoid to the junction box. If it was a smaller wire I believe it would have melted it or made it glow. I have found that tracing these wires will sometimes give you the answer. The next time you hook up a battery, wear safety glasses and have plenty of water around just in case you get a face full of the bad stuff. Good luck to you
use the safety glasses with a elastic strap so if the battery blows your nose/ears/hair off of your head, your glasses will still be strapped on your melon protecting your eyes...LOL
i dont want to offend you ...but .... if you dont yet understand the basics use the safety glasses with a elastic strap so if the battery blows your nose/ears/hair off of your head, your glasses will still be strapped on your melon protecting your eyes...LOL yuk, Between these posts and the one regarding board members posting in the bench improperly, I wonder if you were in a bad mood yesterday or you just assume everyone should already know everything about working on cars. This was an issue I've never seen before so I thought I would ask someone here. I wasn't born with inherant knowledge of car electrical systems, I guess you were. Thanks for the jokes :moonu:
im pretty sure the best way to "learn" is probably not by hooking up a battery to a shorted cable. the best knowledge is obtained safely. i wasnt born with it .... i have worked on and around cars for 25+ years. drag racin, dirt track, stereo/alarm/remote start installation and seen alot of mistakes made by myself and others ...asking questions is the best way to get most of the knowledge ... but when people give answers that put the "learner" at risk to save a couple of bucks with little concern for the persons safety ... that concerns me. i have seen from about 15 feet away what an exploding battery can do. it is a horrible site. it can ruin a person for life (or even kill them) ....
Thank You for the above post. I understand your point. I can respect your opinion and appreciate your concern for safety. Both for me and others. 25 years experience I don't have, so all I can do is ask, before I do injure myself Paul
there is nothing more fun to me than tinkering with car electronics ... i used to have a pile of stuff i broke either by runnin it to hard or doing a lame repair job on it ... the pile of stuff was always called my "dead soldiers"... they died to maybe (or not)help me learn somethin .. i hope it all works out ok for ya.
