Loose battery terminal

[hyuan]

My negative battery terminal is loose. The previous owner inserted a a tiny little plate to increase the circumference a little bit, but the terminal is still a bit loose for my tastes. The connector slips off the terminal even if the tightening bolt is threaded all the way.

Is there some part I can buy to increase the circumference of the battery terminal? Does anyone know what this is called?

 

[Larry Bastanza]

hyuan,

There really is not a part I am aware of for this purpose. THis is common when someone overtightens the battery terminal and they actually stretch in diameter. Any small plate/piece that will take up a little room with work, other then that, you must get a new terminal/wirelead.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[ncdogdoc]

This must be common to the NSX. Happened to both of mine. The fix is very easy. Pull off the negative cable and take a pair of pliers and ever so lightly squeeze the connector to make it oblong instead of round. Only about 2-3mm. Loosen the connector nut, place it back on the terminal and tighten. VIOLA! Tight as a, well, as an oblong battery cable terminal.

 

[ChrisK]

Another trick is to just use some solder on the terminal post to build it up more. It worked for me on another battery I had long ago.

 

[hyuan]

thanks!

Great advice guys. I really appreciate it.

 

[jsottile]

Guys, don't waste your time with the backwards design of the negative cable. I went to Napa and bought a professional grade short negative cable. This simple is grounded to the body using the factory hardware and gives you same quality terminal as the positive cable on the opposite end. The install took 3 minutes to install. The only downfall is that the bolt to tighten the terminal is standard vs. metric on the positive. However, the new cable is so nice knowing you never have to reshape the terminal end.

 

[Briank]

On my battery clamps it looked more like the metal under the nut had deformed so the ears of the clamp were not getting fully pulled together. I added a washer under the nut, the washer transefered the presure outside of the deformation and pulled the ears of the clamp closer together. I used Stainless washers from the local Hardware store, I think they were 5mm.

Briank