Loose Battery Cable
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 283
Likes: 5
Loose Battery Cable
Hi everyone. I'm out of town and I just received a call from my wife. Our 96 auto coupe has been in our garage for 2 weeks and she wanted to take it out for a drive. The car started right up but after driving until it was warmed up, she noticed that when she's stopped with the car on, the idle dips down alittle and then comes back up to normal. The fluctuactions happen consistently. Otherwise, the car runs great. When she got home, she looked over the engine to see if there were any loose wires or hoses. Everything looked okay but she did notice that the negative battery cable going into the battery terminal was loose and the bolt seemed stripped. All of my tools are locked up and I have the key with me so she doesn't have anything to try and tighten it up. Could this be causing the erratic idle? I'm hoping that when I get home, it will be an easy fix. Thanks, Ed.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 7,392
Likes: 216
From: Merritt Island, FL
bad grounding could cause funny things to occur in a computerized vehicle; certainly it's worth tightening (or replacing the bolt), as a simple fix, since the negative terminal is essentially the basis for the grounding of the entire electrical system. Otherwise, there's lots of other things that could cause an erratic or hunting idle... vacuum leaks, worn ignition parts, etc.
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
I had a Chevy 2500HD with a Duramax Diesel and I always knew if I had a loose ground because my gauges would start going nuts, the transmission would start slipping and also would not go into reverse. I would check my battery cables and within a few minutes would be good to go again. Like VetteMed said, bad grounding could cause funny things to occur in a computerized vehicle.
