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Intermittently loosing electrical power

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Old Dec 18, 2010 | 12:52 PM
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Default Intermittently loosing electrical power

I narrowed down the intermittent problem with my car loosing all electrical power suddenly. I put a wrench on the positive battery terminal and with just a slight bit of torque in one direction I could get the power to come back on and in the other direction it went dead again. The terminal appeared to be tight. I am wondering if I may have a bad cable or if the battery (slightly less than two year old Platinum Diehard)may have an intermittent internal connection. I know I need to check the 11 Lb/ft spec but wondered if any else has had either a cable problem or similar battery problem.
Didn't the 03's go back to a top mount battery connection?
Thanks
Steve
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Old Dec 18, 2010 | 12:58 PM
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Originally Posted by sodian
I narrowed down the intermittent problem with my car loosing all electrical power suddenly. I put a wrench on the positive battery terminal and with just a slight bit of torque in one direction I could get the power to come back on and in the other direction it went dead again. The terminal appeared to be tight. I am wondering if I may have a bad cable or if the battery (slightly less than two year old Platinum Diehard)may have an intermittent internal connection. I know I need to check the 11 Lb/ft spec but wondered if any else has had either a cable problem or similar battery problem.
Didn't the 03's go back to a top mount battery connection?
Thanks
Steve
I've seen batteries with side posts that were not tapped deep enough, so even though the battery cable bolt was tight, you could still move the cable side to side. Once the cable is tight, you should not be able to swivel the cable side to side. A quick fix is a thin washer, but that also reduces thread engagement.....so it's not really good long term. In any case, you have narrowed it down, so it's up to you, to determine if the issue is on the cable, or battery side.
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