As titled. In contortionist position on my re-body in huge rush late for work, poor lightly with alarm shrieking in my ear (and panic mechanicking)... I must have stripped out the (+) side female mount in the battery. (unless it was like that and I hadn't noticed). The bottom is smoothed out but I can see thread on both sides. But the Battery bolt just spins and spins while my alarm loudly wails...
What to do now?
Tap and Die it out? go for larger size? Melt lead and re-tap?
I'm curious myself what solutions are out there, as it's not all that difficult to strip those lead threads in the battery's side terminals.
Have you tried using a slightly longer bolt, one that reaches further into the hole (where there might still be some intact threads)? I've resorted to doing that more than once.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 11-14-2024).]
Interesting Patrick. I have not tried that. I read some stuff online but didn't understand the premise there is or might be further depth in the battery mount. I guess I assumed the hole was close to exact fit / fill with the bolt. I could look into that as well. The Fiero side of the connector does strike me as fairly shallow now you mention it. Perhaps there's a glimmer of hope there.
I had a very bad day on Tuesday with another car that has the entire front suspension ripped apart in order to get a replacement axle back IN to the transmission. Pulling it was the 'easy' part, but no matter what I do (grease, shrunk circlip, lined up circlip opening up or down... damn axle won't go back in.... this was the setup to frantically trying to get the battery back in the Fiero re-body and drive that 2 hours to work... and the mount stripped out. So even though I'm the person that was locked out of the trunk for 6 months, I'm still grounded with the car.
The Fiero side of the connector does strike me as fairly shallow now you mention it. Perhaps there's a glimmer of hope there.
It's critical that the bolt (as supplied by the factory) isn't too long, as then the bolt would bottom out in the battery and the connection wouldn't be tight enough to make a good electrical connection. Therefore they err towards supplying a bolt shorter than it really needs to be. I've used longer bolts, and in some cases, also used shims/washers (between the bolt head and cable fitting) if the replacement bolt was a bit too long.
And then keeping in mind that those threads in the battery are only made of lead (and very soft), be careful and don't tighten the bolt too much!
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 11-14-2024).]
If you have stripped threads use electrically (silver) conductive epoxy to secure a stud. Then use a nut to attach the battery clamps,
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sorry guys but the only safe way is replace the battery. I say this from experience. I had similar problem and used a piece of reddy rod to make a stud and used the metallic JB weld to make sure it was secure. I secured the cable with a nut and presto my car was starting and running fine --- for about a week. then one morning I was driving to work and there was an explosion and no more battery and acid all over everything. lost an day of work, had a tow bill and I never saw such a mess as acid makes in a very short time. for the 100 or so dollars for a new battery it cost me at least 600 dollars. lesson learned. sleek
You get a bolt with the correct thread (I forget what it is), that's about an inch long, put a nut on it all the way up, then the battery cable and a washer or two; then hand screw the bolt into the threads that are still in the battery. There will be some. Then you tighten the nut up against the battery (but not like crazy). It works great. You can look on Google or YouTube for some detailed writeups. I don't have a picture handy.
Wow, as stated - all great suggestions. I cannot imagine what caused a battery explosion??
Yes, I do have regular JB Weld on hand. Hadn't even thought of something like that. The stud mounted deeper with a nut is a great idea.
As far as buying a bolt and then installing a nut, and tightening the nut up to the battery itself... do you mean in essence the proper sized / pitch ALL THREAD (no bolt head) or cut off the nut head so it becomes an all thread part? Then have a second nut that would clamp down the battery wire lead now open ring / circle'?
Also - I know this is dumb, but I am a total newb to all things GM - never owned one in my life but I'm loving this one based on that one 4.5 drive day I had with it (I'll make a separate post of that experience). But the battery leads seem to have an infinite spinning bolt in it - it doesn't want to remove. I applied positive finger pressure against the end of the bolt but couldn't back it out. So I'm sure it must be a simple thing - but (as always) when I stop into this garage it's marooned at my time is extremely limited. Hoping to carve more time out soon.
On a separate note, after 4 face to face meetings and major confusions and problems... I just salvaged a real estate deal (major for me) that had gone completely sideways last night. So I should have more time and energy to devote to getting this 88 back on the road.
[This message has been edited by Green Magic Man (edited 11-15-2024).]
I presume the bolt came loose and sparked igniting the hydrogen gas created as it charges. It wasn't on my fiero but rather on my truck. that is why you turn off a battery charger before you disconnect. Just get a new battery. You don't realize that you are playing with dynamite !! sleek
There's a lot of ventilation in the factory location of a Fiero battery. Seems to me it would be highly unlikely for any accumulation of hydrogen gas to develop in a Fiero engine bay.
Call me cheap, but I'm not going to buy a new battery simply because a few threads have stripped on a battery terminal.
Also - I know this is dumb, but I am a total newb to all things GM... the battery leads seem to have an infinite spinning bolt in it - it doesn't want to remove. I applied positive finger pressure against the end of the bolt but couldn't back it out. So I'm sure it must be a simple thing...
This video will demonstrate how to very easily remove the bolts from the fittings. (I'm not suggesting that you also install the type of extended bolt that the fella in the video plans to use.)
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 11-15-2024).]
The factory cables are crimped slightly to retain the bolt for easier install. Patrick I am not interested in getting in a pissing match. the safe and reliable way to repair this is replace the battery. Nobody has even asked how old the battery is .maybe it's time to be replaced.
Patrick I am not interested in getting in a pissing match.
???
Bill, it's unfortunate (and uncalled for) that you've interpreted what I thought was a friendly discussion as a "pissing match". Different people do different things different ways.
all I know is a patched up terminal would never pass a BC safety inspection. Also if I took my car to a shop and they did that I would not ever go back to that shop.
I've switched to this kind of bolt for all my GM cars. (I always hated the way the stock bolts were so difficult to attach jumper cables, a charger or a timing light clamp)
Be aware they are often out of stock. I had to keep checking back for months before they were back in stock.
Just as a little follow up... I was at the car again late last night. Using the video posted here of the guy pulling the 8mm / 5/16" bolts out of the cable leads, I did the same and removed my positive lead bolt. Pulled the battery out as well.
This morning... in the sun, It turns out the battery side post holes ARE FINE. The positive is not stripped after all. What I couldn't tell mounted in the car at night was that there is like a slot cut in the threads and another slot cut 180 degrees opposite of it. I was perplexed and compared it to the negative side. Had same two opposing slots in the threads, it's just they were oriented out of view while in the car.
So it's the bolt itself that was stripped. I brought several 3/8" SAE bolts with me and they easily screws into the battery and hold well!
So I guess I'm planning to just use a few wider washers and bolt the positive lead on the car back in directly OR cut the head off a long 3/8" bolt and then tighten a nut up against the Fiero stock wire lead side of things. It's got that large metal circle that get's clamped up against the lead battery terminal.
