How to Tighten Battery Connections?
 

The shop just installed a new battery in our 2009 coupe. Today I was checking things and discovered the + battery cable is loose on the post. :toetap:

The little nut seems tight, at least it won't tighten with normal force. So how do I tighten that strange clamp they use?

The Service Manual also tells me to record the radio theft code and radio presets, but everyone here seems to remove the terminals or install a new battery without problems, right?

But how do I tighten that durned clamp?

I would take it off and make sure it's the right nut from the factory that has a cone shape to it. If when the shop took it off they lost it and put a regular nut back on it will never get tight. Unfortunately if it is the wrong nut you will have to buy the entire cable to get the right one--not cheap.
The radio pre-sets will not disappear and there is no theft deterrent.

I bet they lost the correct nut and used a regular one. The proper nut has a conical shape on the bottom to push out the clamp. The clamp they used on the Vette is a complete POS. I changed mine out last weekend, took off the factory one and attached a side bolt tightening one.

I bought one of the nuts on Ebay, a guy sells just the nut on there for like $5

It certainly looks like the correct nut, I'd heard about that problem and compared carefully before and after.

I've mentioned this before, in many threads. And I believe it's true if you go to a Chevy parts dept. But...

I was skeptical -- especially since they are advertised as "Chevrolet GMC Truck SUV Battery Cable Cam Nut".

But I ordered 2 nuts anyway, just for spares.

The nuts I received are IDENTICAL to the nuts on my 09 C6 battery clamp.

Cheap insurance. :thumbs:

Thanks for the help, but...

I did some more looking, discovered the clamp is loose on the battery post because about 1/3 of the metal oval that the nut seats onto, is missing. The tech probably over-tightened it when he put in the battery.

Now I need to get a replacement clamp. The dealership who installed the battery will probably pay for the entire new harness with clamp (parts dept says + and - cables are all part of one harness), but I need the car in a hurry. And probably don't want them messing with it again anyway.

I've startd a new thread about which replacement clamp to use, please end this thread.

Couldnt he make the terminal bigger with lead tape. I think plumbing supply stores have it. Just a wrap or 2 and the nut will tighten enough to keep it tight. Ive done it plenty of times in the past. But maybe thats Old school:rofl:

Clif

They also have lead post cap sleeves that increase the diameter ... :thumbs:

THANK YOU! I lost this nut when I reinstalled my battery the other day. I used your ebay link to purchase another one. I love this forum!

Perhaps its a hard lesson learned, but the cam nut does not need to be completely removed, and if you lose it then you will have major difficulty securing the battery terminal to the post. I learned the hard way.

What I did with my father's help was for one of us to clamp channel locks tight against the terminal with the terminal on the post while the other cranked a standard nut down on the terminal, and then we backed up another nut against the first nut. This worked until I was able to find the cam nut on the auction site... thanks to this forum. CO Lightfoot, if it was your post that I followed, thank you.

:lurk:

Jim,
No one has ever been happy with those clamps that GM adopted for the C6 gen when they went back to top post batteries. As you may remember, the C5 gen used side terminals just like those vettes dating back 30+ years. My 06Z's battery was acting like it was going bad after just one year. Took it into the dealer who reported back that it was simply loose battery cables at the battery. If the nut appears to be the OEM nut, I would just retighten carefully. I know no reason why the nut needs to come off completely in the first place to take the lug off the post. That would have been a shop mistake IMO.

:ack: Unfortunately another example of what can happen when someone else works on your car. I know these clamps are flimsey so I am always cautious not to over-tighten. I hope you can get this replaced easily. :cheers:

Just get a clamp at the auto store until the proper one can be fitted.