possibly a deadly situation with a corroded battery terminal

[Jerry_B]

While driving my 1998 Chevy Dually yesterday, the engine died. I wqas left with no brakes and steering was next to nothing. Got it off the road and found that the positive side terminal on the battery was corroded inside the cable boot so there was no power at all in the truck. Now, if I had been towing my 18K 5th wheel down hill when this happened I would have been toast since the brake pedal could not have sent a braking command to the 5th. This has me concerned that a simple thing like a corroded battery terminal can about do me in. I will definitely make sure my serpentine belt is like new, battery terminals are clean and all power cables and grounds are good.

[Jerry_B]

Had the truck checked out today at the Chevy dealer. He recommended that I get rid of the three way battery cables terminal. They have been problems for 20 years or more. He stated that running the motor without a battery in the loop, will kill the engine. That's old school. I'm going to strip all the red molded rubber off the cable ends and hook it up using an adapter from AutoZone as Goostoff recommended. Idealy, I would like to hook up another battery in parallel for redundancy. I have an unused battery tray on the left side.

[Dtank]

rattleNsmoke wrote:
When you run the truck, disconnect the battery cable. See if it continues to run.

Or, take the truck to a parts store and have them check the charging voltage.

Yikes! - *NO*, NO, and no - to the disconnect...:S..:R

Lots of reasons not to - for the OP, and even on a 1998 truck.

The parts store is a *WAY* better suggestion.
OP - Get help, and/or begin a regular maintenance program!..:R

BTW - the above is why you can't believe (or follow) lots of advice on an internet forum.

.

[0rion]

Sport45 wrote:

rattleNsmoke wrote:
When you run the truck, disconnect the battery cable. See if it continues to run. Or, take the truck to a parts store and have them check the charging voltage.

Never disconnect the battery when the engine is running. That' can easily damage a perfectly good charging system.

agreed.....that's an old school method and on older cars wasn't near the issue it is on newer cars that are packed with electronics. It's hard on them.

[Jerry_B]

Memphisdoug wrote:
Does your positive battery terminal have 2 wires coming off of it - a thick one going to the starter and a smaller one that gives battery voltage to power the rest of the truck? If you have corrosion at the point those two wires meet then I could see how you might lose battery voltage to the whole truck even though it was running and the alternator was working. I don't know what you did to fix the problem but you might want to take a close look at your battery cables and replace them if corroded.

Yes it has the two cables coming of the positive terminal. It appears the corrosion was between the two connectors, not at the battery itself. I would like to "Y" it off the positive terminal instead of having the two cables attached to the battery terminal. To prove a point today, I took the cables off the pos terminal, guess what, the motor quit.

[Sport45]

rattleNsmoke wrote:
When you run the truck, disconnect the battery cable. See if it continues to run. Or, take the truck to a parts store and have them check the charging voltage.

Never disconnect the battery when the engine is running. That' can easily damage a perfectly good charging system.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Goostoff wrote:
Oh the joys of owning a GM vehicle with the absolute worst battery connection system in history. Then to make them worse they put this big monstrous hunk of rubber in there so you need to be on the verge of stripping the threads out of the battery to make a good connection. There have been quite a few people make fun of my battery cables but they never ever corrode. I took all the rubber******off my cables and screwed a 3/8 bolt into the battery with a nut and washer on it to use as a jam nut. Then sprayed the **** out of it with battery cable .

this is a common issue with side terminals and the bolt mod works real well. It also gives you a better place for jumper cables. I think autozone has a kit by the battery cable section

[Dave_H_M]

I have rehearsed this braking issue with dead engine many times.

Once my foot goes on the pedal I plan to never let it back up until I am stopped and in park.

[Goostoff]

Oh the joys of owning a GM vehicle with the absolute worst battery connection system in history. Then to make them worse they put this big monstrous hunk of rubber in there so you need to be on the verge of stripping the threads out of the battery to make a good connection. There have been quite a few people make fun of my battery cables but they never ever corrode. I took all the rubber******off my cables and screwed a 3/8 bolt into the battery with a nut and washer on it to use as a jam nut. Then sprayed the **** out of it with battery cable protector.

From this thread I did finally see some value to my jumpy jerk'n 5 speed transmission though. If I lose power all I have to do is let the clutch out and my hydroboost will keep me supplied with awesome braking power so get safely stopped.

[WillyB]

Jerry;
The battery is there to start the engine. Once it is running the alternator supplies power. To have a full circuit you need a ground. Vehicles have a heavy ground strap from the motor to the frame. Sometimes there are other grounds as well. As long as the battery is connected the ground can go through the battery, but if the secondary circuit (engine ground strap) is disconnected, as might be the case in a 1998 truck, when the battery disconnects you also lose the only ground for the engine. No ground......no power>

[SH]

B.O. Plenty wrote:

scrubjaysnest wrote:
Not to mention the possible fire hazard.

Fire hazard from what? There was no power coming out of the battery, what could start on fire?? B.O.

Well...right up front, I know next to nothing about electrical circuits etc. but this recently happened to me...we left our campsite for a dinner out. When we returned we noticed none of the 12 volt system was functioning (lights, front legs etc.) First check was the batteries. Pulled out the tray and noticed the terminals (especially the negative)were quite corroded and loose. Went to clean them off and actually burned my fingers as the terminal was too hot to touch!

Cleaned and secured the terminals and all was well. I was however, very surprised how hot the terminal was and the question of a possible fire hazard did come to mind.

[Memphisdoug]

Does your positive battery terminal have 2 wires coming off of it - a thick one going to the starter and a smaller one that gives battery voltage to power the rest of the truck? If you have corrosion at the point those two wires meet then I could see how you might lose battery voltage to the whole truck even though it was running and the alternator was working. I don't know what you did to fix the problem but you might want to take a close look at your battery cables and replace them if corroded.

[Jerry_B]

First of all, the battery was out of the circuit, not dead. Why should motor not die with the battery out of the loop?

[0rion]

like some have already stated here.....you have bigger issues than a battery. That truck should not die from a dead battery once it's running.

[WillyB]

I may be off base here, but there is a possibility that the ground strap from the engine to the frame is broken off. This would run the ground circuit through the battery only and cut off alternator voltage when the battery circuit is interrupted.