So I left my battery tender off of my fairly new battery and parked it for 4 days. It couldn't crank yesterday. I figure not a big deal, this is fairly typical. I use my jump box and she cranks and starts although fairly slowly. I stop off at the gas station and she won't crank. I am able to start it with my jump box (whatever it's called). The next stop a mile up the road she didn't crank. I also couldn't push start it - it's a manual. Does that even work on these cars. Thankfully a couple of guys jump started it; that didn't work. I hooked my jump box to it in parallel as a little more current source and that worked.

I took it home at the point because the battery terminals are loose but yet tightened.I took them off and was able to tighten them up some then hammer them on. I'm sure I'm not the only one. What is the go to on this? Replacement or just cut and use a universal style terminal?
Side note, the gentlemen who helped me were visiting from another country and really loved the experience, even wanted pictures .... etc. One of them wanted to sit in the car and I said - we're good, I'll be on my way. I went home and got my Trans Am and 5 miles down the road, guess who I see? Those guys! I said, "oh, this is my other car!"

 

Dude, you don’t hammer on the battery posts…these OEM battery terminals are junk…I’ve cut the old ones off and swaged on new copper lugs…find an auto electric shop and they can do this…I did this on a Forum members battery a few weeks ago.

 

Copper lugs are cheap but a good crimper is expensive…mine is a little over $200.00…these copper terminals worked well on my ‘08.

 

I've also seen the oem lugs break and go to a similar style as C5 Diag. I got the crimper for $70 though. Usually I look on Ebay for a vintage tool as you can get some old great quality tools for the same price as china made new ones. But got this amazon one since I needed to crimp some cable for winch use asap. What I used most recently:



The top post type connection is also nice for my add on electronics (sub, wide band, tender connection, etc)

 

OK ... so my verbiage wasn't the best. I wasn't wailing away with a hammer. I was very careful about how I used a hammer and a screw driver to get them fully seated.

 

Because the factory terminals have a tapered fit to match the tapered shape of the battery posts, I have found that if you just tighten the nut they will slip upward and be loose on the post.

To remedy this issue, simply push down on the terminal with something that applies equal force around the terminal perimeter (like an appropriate sized socket) while tightening the nut. It works well for me.

 

That was the issue in my case. I was able to get the terminals down on the base of the posts, then tighten. I just don't have faith that it will stay tightened over time.

 

They should stay tight just fine. You're tightening a steel terminal onto a lead post. It's going to bite in some and stay put.

 

True. Good point.