DIY: Changing the battery terminals of your car Hi Everyone
Hope this finds you all in the best of health and spirits. This is my third thread with teambhp after a long time. I am once again thankful for this opportunity.
Why this need?
This DIY was done on my brother in laws car because the crimp that held together the positive terminal broke resulting in the positive terminal wire getting disconnected. Thankfully it happened in my parking.
As the said car is a 2007 tata Indica v2 diesel which my BIL exchanged with the mechanic for a 2002 diesel fiat uno with overheating issues. Lack of spares and good mechanics who were willing to work on a fiat led him to take the decision.
Time consumed:
Although the process is fairly easy and can be done in 30-45mins. But for Me it took 2 hrs because I tried to connect it in the new terminal without removing the crimped piece which was hard to remove one the 1.5cm thick wire.finally I decided to cut it and do it.
Tools required:
10 x 11open spanner.
12 x 13 open spanner.
1 wire cutter.
1 cutting plier.
1 Electrical insulation tape.
New terminal connector
some waste cloth.
Some sandpaper
Vaseline
Industrial gloves
Last but not the least a DIY enthusiast willing to try new stuff on a weekend.
Steps to follow :
1.open the bonnet and remove dust off the battery using old cloth. Be careful not to touch the spilled over ash like dry acid near terminals as it may burn the skin if touched with bare hands.
2. Once dust is off disconnect the positive (Red)side first by loosening the connector bolt using 10 x11spanner.
3. Then follow the above procedure once again to disconnect and remove the negative (Black) side terminal.
4.Once the battery is disconnected completely, remove it from the car by lifting and keep it safely. Be careful not to drop it as it can be pretty heavy.
5. Now that we have removed the battery, we get so space to work on.
6 In this case since I was replacing only the positve terminal I did not bother much with the negative side as it was OK. Unscrew the nut of the old terminal to remove it.
7.Using the wire cutter remove the copper from the wire by stripping the red cover. Be careful not to cut it. Once the copper or seen clean it with sandpaper.
8. Once the wire is exposed insert it in the new terminal and tighten the connecting nuts using Size 12 spanner in this case to secure it tightly.
9. Place the battery back to the tray n tighten it. Take some sandpaper and clean both the terminals and the inside of old connectors.
10.Then connect the negative side terminal to battery first and then the positive side terminal. Pls ensure the connection Bolt is tight n not loose. Do Not hammer the terminals to the connectors.
11. Pls ensure to insulate any exposed copper wire outside with insulation tape then apply white petroleum jelly a.k.a Vaseline to the terminals to avoid current leakage.
Note : Since the battery was removed It's advisable to top up the battery with distilled water as we seldom get a chance to check it during out daily run.
I will upload all the pictures in the following post as the thread was created through the teambhp app and it's giving Me a security error.
Regards
Sushil Narayanan |