Symptoms & Solutions for Battery Terminals

Batteries are very important to ensuring vehicles start and run properly. A cracked or broken battery post could leave you with no available power to start your car or another vehicle, and that could become a big problem at the wrong time.

Odds are you do not carry a spare and fully charged battery to swap out right away. The next best thing is a quick fix that will hold until you can do a more permanent fix for a broken battery post. The following helps to explain how you could do that and avoid a tow charge or calling an auto insurer for roadside assistance.

How a Battery Terminal Might Crack or Break

Why did my terminal crack and break when I tried to crimp it? First, double-check to see if the sizes of the cable and terminal match.

Make sure you are using the correct die for the size of the terminal you are trying to crimp. If you are using an older crimper, check to see if it is a four-sided or six-sided jaw crimper. If you use a 4-sided crimper with a terminal made for a 6-sided crimper, odds are the terminal will crack and break.

Even if the terminal just cracks, the copper could be exposed and the copper will corrode over time. Also, a loose terminal can generate excess heat and resistance.

Crimping the Post Offers a Quick Fix

A quick fix for a broken battery post is to crimp it together. You can fit a thin piece of copper into the cracked or broken piece and use either a 4- or 6-sided crimping tool to press the cracked terminal down onto the copper.

When the terminal firmly is crimped together, the pieces should bite into the copper filler and restore the connection and conductivity.

Soldering is another quick fix for broken battery post but requires greater caution. A soldering iron can produce a lot of heat. You need to ensure the heat will melt the solder and enable it to drip down into the crack or broken area. A quick soldering job at home could help to make the battery terminal hold for a while.

Battery Replacement Is the Best Solution

Whether you crimped it or soldered the cracked or broken battery post, replacing the battery is the best solution. A new battery will have two strong posts and could have warranty protection in case something happens to the new battery and its posts.

Whatever caused the original battery terminal to crack might occur again. That is especially true if you do not know what caused the problem. If so, then replacing the battery or doing a quick fix might result in the same problem happening again.

Categorised in: Battery Service

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