Battery Terminals Loose on a Diesel

[Inventour]

Hello Everyone, my name is Scott, and my first post.

Battery Terminals Loose on a Diesel

I just wanted to write the importance of having tight battery terminals on the batteries.

I have a 2000 E350 with the 7.3L International Diesel engine and there are 2 batteries,
the one under the hood has a large molded boot that connects to the Pos+ battery terminal.

the problem is the threaded-stud that is molded into a fixed position in the lead-type boot
became loose and was stripped to the point it did not allow a very tight terminal.

I had to remove the threaded-stud by pulling it out and then I had to drill a hole all the
way through the lead-type boot fitting and I installed a 5" inch long Silicon Bronze bolt
through the entire boot so I could finally bolt the terminal down tight.

The van has a dual battery & dual alternator system to power all the equipment in the van
and it has the AIC/ACPM PTO/Battery Charge computer module that allows me to raise the rpm
of the engine while parked and or recharge the batteries.

I had installed 2 new batteries on the van and I noticed the system sounded weak and did not
turn-over right away when I hit the remote start. At first I thought it was the 2nd battery under the frame
mounted Aux. Box, but that was just fine. It turned out to be the under hood battery again.

Because of the Diesel engine the bolts sometimes come loose from the vibrations.

So now I am drilling the nut through the threaded bolt to install stainless safety wire
to prevent the 'nut' from backing-off.

I just wanted to remind everyone how important the battery terminals are and many
times overlooked as a problem.

I also added new 1/0 Ga. Ground Wires from the frame to the Battery Ground.
On both batteries. Now the electrical system seems so much better.

My 8 strobe light system is super bright, I have a 10 Ga. wire feed to the head.

Thanks for all the tips and tricks here gents, great site.

[tvsjr]

Use nylon-insert stop nuts and they won't back off with vibration.

[Bill_G]

We call then nyloc nuts. They definitely do not back off. Better than LockTite cuz you can actually remove them later.