Battery Terminal gets hot.

[brianinGalveston]

I just received a 1979 Johnson 175 from a friend(?) and tried to start the motor, but no luck. I thought the battery was too weak and my neighbor brought over his charger, but that did not seem to help. I bought a new battery and hooked up the leads to the new battery, and when I tried starting the motor (it did not start), I noticed that the positive lead was smoking. I disconnected the negative lead and then the positive to check things out. After staring, wiggling and jiggling, I hooked the positive lead to the battery for the second time and noticed that the lead was getting warm, so I disconnected and put it away for another time.<br /><br />Does anyone have any suggestion on where to go from here?<br /><br />Thanks in advance,<br />Brian

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Battery Terminal gets hot.

Clean all your connections at the Battery and Motor ,Positive and Negative, as it will lead to high resistence and a hot wire.

 

[Waterbugtoo]

Re: Battery Terminal gets hot.

......and whatever you do, make sure you put the main battery cables on the posts first before any other small wires that may be connected to the battery. TIGHTEN them good! You really should run smaller wires to another power source(fuse box) if they ARE present.<br /><br />

 

[Kenny Bush]

Re: Battery Terminal gets hot.

Also your battery cables could be corroding on the inside of the sleeve. As Rick said, clean all of your terminals, reconnect(large wires closest to terminals), and give it another try......If cables get warm again, you need to cut open the sleeve of the cable and check for corrosion. Replace if necessary........Good Luck....BushCat

 

[DJ]

Re: Battery Terminal gets hot.

Don't forget to clean up the battery terminal connections at the engine.

 

[AndyL]

Re: Battery Terminal gets hot.

If the leads are getting hot as soon as you connect them and you have not tried to start the engine I would tend to think you have a pretty serious earth or short somewhere. <br />Guessing Only<br />Andy

 

[rudeafrican]

Re: Battery Terminal gets hot.

I tend to agree with Andy here. After cleaning/replacing connectors, ensure that polarity is correct when reconecting to the battery. When you do try and start it, make sure you have it on muffs. Running the motor dry will create further unwanted problems such as disintegrated impellor.<br /><br />Good luck

 

[brianinGalveston]

Re: Battery Terminal gets hot.

I searched on this a little bit more in another section of iboat and found some interesting things. I ran across “hard to start motors” section and there were comments made about holding the key in the start position too long will cause the battery cables to heat up. I did check the cables and while they are not spring chickens, they do not look too bad.<br /><br />I installed the battery cables onto the battery and waited a while and the cables were not getting hot. I guess when I tried it the day before they were still warm from the previous attempt.<br /><br />I did try to start the motor and it did fire up, but quickly died. On the next attempt, I had the lever in the “start” position and the motor revved up and the dog went into hiding. I kinda worried me that it was revved up so high that I back it down, it died and the battery was too weak to continue. I did not charge the battery after I bought it, but I did last night.<br /><br />Anyway, I want to thank you for y’alls input and I find this site very helpful with my newest project.<br /><br />Regards,<br />Brian