Thanks for all the suggestions. I went ahead and followed Brian Carlton's, for obvious reasons, which referred me back to Raymond1985's staccato orders to get that battery terminal brush tool thing at Autozone. Got it ($3.99, in case you wanted to know, TooManyMBZ), went to deal with the neg clamp, and couldn't get the nut to unscrew--the metal is literally too destroyed to loosen at all. I suppose a big enough/sharp enough (Channel Lock?) tool would cut through the corroded metal to free up the clamp. I did the best I could with more baking soda/water, and the brush, without taking the clamp off. Car started no problem. So....it appears to be the connection between the clamp and post.

Now I need to get that damn clamp or perhaps the entire negative cable replaced. Question: will Autozoo have the ability to remove the clamp/cable if I buy a new one from them? The metal is FU**ED.

Second, is there a chance that I'll still get seeping acid/buildup/corrosion even after replacing the clamp/cable, and should just get a new battery anyway???

Thanks

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JBG
1985 TD wagon, 228k
running on grease since 3.07
AUSTIN, TEXAS

There is a battery terminal puller you could use also. On my cables the, the nut is a 13mm hex and the bolt uses a square head. You could put an open end wrench on the square side. I had to do that once on a old Ford, when the terminal was like you describe. That got it loose and I had to replace the cable.

I just replaced a battery that McParts said was fine. Terminals were clean, but dome light would nearly shut off during the glow or starter engagement. The starter now spins the engine fast.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

yeah, any 18" or so neg cable from mcparts will work fine. and you are better off with a new cable and battery that dealing with that mess.
also, you may want to pull your battery tray out and treat the fender/firewall beneath it, because that much corrosion will not be isolated to just the battery cable. and a rust hole in the fender means wet feet for the passenger.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

If the nut is fubar, replace it, bolt too if you want. There's nothing special about either (well, they might be square, but that doesn't matter) and you can't get reliable contact if the clamp is loose on the post. While you're there, check for corrosion that has wicked up inside the insulation of the cable -- there'll always be some, you're looking for so much there's practically no wire left. When a bolt rotted through on one of my cars, the wire was almost all gone too and I ended up cutting back and replacing the clamp. Luckily, there was enough slack in the cable.

Emery cloth will work for cleaning the metal. Charging isn't essential, but the battery may not have a full charge due to bad contact. When it gets bad enough to cause problems, that's often the case. If you clean and charge, you increase your chances of being on your way. It'll charge once you get the car started anyway.

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'83 300DTurbo http://badges.fuelly.com/images/smallsig-us/318559.png

Broadband: more lies faster.

rrgrasi, I will try the method you describe. The square end is going to be hard to get a hold of, as it's in there quite tight. I can probably clamp the nut and hold it in place....maybe. It's really trashed.

vstech, 18", really? You should see the cable on there now, it's probably 6 to 7 inches, tops. I suppose it's been chopped quite a few times (?)

Ultimately this thing is a frickin mess so I'll be replacing it, plus a neg cable. Thanks again, guys.

__________________
JBG
1985 TD wagon, 228k
running on grease since 3.07
AUSTIN, TEXAS

Cool, keep us posted.

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83 SD

84 CD

At least you have localised the problem perhaps. Get hold of something like a dremel tool with a cutting disk and cut the clamp bolt or nut head off. That still should be really cleaned up in there to continue to function properly. If not the next ime it acts up might be in a poor place for it to occur.
Use a battery terminal puller if the termination is still too tight after the bolt is loose.. This just eliminates damaging a good battery in the post area. A little effort perhaps but better than having to deal with the starter and cheaper as well.

Update: Got a new AZ battery, new negative terminal cable, felt washers, and am good to go. AZ up here won't volunteer to help install, btw. It was no problem to do myself, though. At least they lent me some PB Blaster for the battery hold down nuts....holy s**t were those gross. The right one broke off clean while I was removing it, the left one came off OK but was horrible looking. The battery tray itself is still doing alright, I toweled it off and felt decent about placing the new battery in there. It only has one hold down now, though....

Couldn't see any acid wear around the fender, and the passenger's feet aren't any colder than usual--not to say they're not cold.....heat only seems to come out of the top vents, not the bottom, where you need it most! Anyway.

Thanks guys.

__________________
JBG
1985 TD wagon, 228k
running on grease since 3.07
AUSTIN, TEXAS