My battery light came on and I replaced the battery and alternator no more than 2 months ago. I checked voltage (multimeter) and it seems all is well. I had no choice but to drive 50 miles home figuring I would shorten the tow expense. To my luck, I made it all the way home. I left the car idling as well and it was fine. The cables are not overheating and are very clean.

I read somewhere on this forum about removing the earth/ground wire below the battery cleaning it or just replacing it with a thicker earth/ground wire.

If anyone has done this, can you chime in and give me a confidence booster. Maybe a detail or two?

Thank you

 

Never mind, I fixed it pretty fast. Removed the battery and the Negative wire bolt by the starter was covered in old dirt and grime. I sanded it down to new, cleaned the bolt and re-placed everything with lube to prevent rust. The headlights are so much brighter as well, never noticed how much they had dimmed over time.

I encourage anyone with a battery light to check the negative wire on both ends.

Cheers!!!

 

I had the same issue this past week: battery light came on intermittently. Typically, on a long drive it would be fine (light off), but then making a short trip afterwards, I would see the light come on. My garage replaced the alternator without resolving the issue. Then last time I took it back they cleaned the terminals, etc, and no charging light since then so far. Hopefully its resolved. Just sucks I spent $$$ on the alternator if it wasn't truly necessary.

 

Aww man that's just terrible. I used my multimeter and seen the voltage unsteady and bouncing around anywhere from 9-14.4V, then I touched the cables and the ground was super cold and the positive hot. That's what made me jump to the cable first. I seen on the forums about the negative wire, so I put two and two together.

Hopefully someone will search and run into this thread.

 

I went out for another drive today and it was fine again- battery light off. Then went to the store afterwards on a separate trip and the battery light came back on. It sounds like replacing the cable might be the next step.

 

Did you try cleaning and sanding the cable itself and mounting area? If you have and no luck, just replace with larger gauge cable.

 

The garage cleaned and greased the cables for free after the alternator replacement didn't seem to resolve the issue.

Do you have any idea what gauge the OEM cables are or what larger gauge would be suitable? I've looked online but found it hard to find specifics.

The good news is, I've only seen the battery light come on once in two weeks, so maybe its not such a big issue, but would like to know or resolve it.

Many thanks for the help!

 

The gauge looks to be 8 gauge. Did they remove the starter bolt with the ground wire attached and sand down the starter surface a bit?. Also wire wheel the bolt. Under the battery, that bolt holding the battery wire mid way should be wire wheeled. To ensure a solid connection. I fixed the issue after the 320 grit sandpaper and lubricant paste.

 

So the garage said they cleaned all the batter cables, although I'm not certain to what extent. While taking the battery out this weekend to replace headlight bulbs, the terminals and cables looked fine.
I think I just need new cables as noted in several other threads of the forum.

So, my next question is, what is the difference between the OEM cable for $65:
https://www.genuinenewparts.com/oem-...bC12Ni1nYXM%3D

Versus the Autozone recommended cable:
http://www.autozone.com/batteries-st...70487_309947_0

To me, it looks likes the OEM cable has three points of connection. What are these for? Are they necessary within the once cable or is a supplementary cable sufficient?

Just trying to figure out if its really necessary to spend the $65 cable over the $13 cable. I'm guessing there is a good reason, just not sure what that is.

 

I bought the OEM battery cables and had them installed today at the local garage. I hope they work okay, otherwise, I'll reply back in here and let you all know. Thanks for the advice!

 

So far, so good with a reasonable road trip from Boston to Maine in the cold weather. Last thing I want is the car not starting in the cold, frigid, snowy weather!

 

On my 2002 had the battery symbol light on for the last 6 months,
could not find anything wrong, checked battery normal 12V , goes up to
15V when running, cables get a little hot.

The battery light went out, so everything is OK now, I think.

Walter