Gearhead Jim

The dealership installed a new battery in our 2009 coupe recently. Today i noticed that the + clamp on the battery was loose. Close inspection reveals the oddball clamp is broken, looks like the tech over-tightened the nut and cracked the metal oval underneath, part of it is gone.

I don't want them trying to install an entire new harness, but there is no slack in the + battery lead. I need a replacement clamp that can be installed to give the same overall length as factory.

Suggestions?
I haven't replaced a battery cable clamp in decades...

carl3989

They probably sell the normal bolt and nut replacement clamp that you can install after cutting off that weird GM clamp which seems to be made out of pig iron.

Gearhead Jim

The clamps I remember installing many years ago were about the same length as the GM clamp. By the time I cut off the broken one, I'm not sure the cable will be long enough.

If GM makes a replacment clamp, I'd be happy to use that. But I suspect my choices are aftermarket, or a complete new harness.

MannyS

Jim, the only chev part option is a new cable ($150)

Gearhead Jim

Thanks.

I've got some aluminum foil on the + terminal so the clamp will stay on while i drive to the (independant) shop. Hopefully, they will have a clamp they can crimp on that's long enough.

If they can do it, I'll probably have them replace the - clamp also. I've heard other people complain about the GM design, but didn't realize how amazingly crummy it is until I started looking at this one.

Vette5.5

If the dealership broke it, they should fix it at no charge. If wanting to keep things DIY, find the length and check your local recycle yard for something similar. The Waytek wire site has just about any length cable, but mostly in older universal style battery clamps.

dgrant3830

Its a very poor design by GM in regards to the clamps. I too have the same issue on my '07. I did buy a new cable assembly but have not yet installed it pending the original failing all the way. The assembly has both positive and negative clamps as well as the run down to the solenoid, fuse box and so on.

Gearhead Jim

That's one of the reasons I want to replace clamp instead of the whole cable. I don't want to go through that much effort just to replace one POS with another POS.

kedar

are there any downsides to replacing the stock battery clamps with aftermarket clamps?

Knob Jockey

I'd look into the high-end car stereo power connectors.

They are usually very well engineered with excellent clamping capabilities and will probably have a second connection for power if you need it some day.

randy500

I think the design is fine...the problem is the "tech" if you can call him that...they all think you need to torque everything to 90 ft pounds, the clamp is designed to be lightly torgued, and would work perfect, also is not designed to be removed and installed all the time. Have the dealer replace the harness and never go back to that stealership, find a mechanic that knoiws what he is doing.

Gearhead Jim

Today I took the car by my favorite independent shop, they have replacement clamps that get crimped onto the battery cable with a giant crimping tool. Hopefully, clamps are long enough to avoid pulling on the cable. But they're too busy to fix it today.

So I went to the dealer, they jumped right on the problem but of course don't have a crimping setup, they just use the ones from the parts store that clamp around the wire. And the C6 positive cable is actually 2 wires, the tech was less enthusiastic about getting a durable setup that way.

So the dealership tech did a temporary fix by putting on a small hose clamp that squeezes the original clamp tight around the battery post. I'll get the other shop to do the crimp-on style next week.

JRHAWK9

Here's what I did when mine (+) clamp broke. I purchased some decent aftermarket ones made for high powered stereos (like mentioned above) and replaced BOTH of them. I made sure I "tinned" the ends of my stock cables with a good soldering gun, this allows the set screws to be tightened better without worrying about them coming loose over time.

dgrant3830

The original clamp design allows it to tighten but just barely enough. Not enough to tighted up enough to stop the clamp from moving. The design as such, over tightening it up, doesn't work and doesn't make it worse.