Battery connections melted.

[Matt Curtis]

Question, I just started my 68 Charger for the first time in about 2 week and the ground connector melted off of the battery? I fixed it and now the positive is melting! Any suggestions.

 

[davek]

not good check your bulkhead and make sure you didnt fry of those wires. Do you have a bad alt? Ive never seen that happen.

 

[dadsbee]

Old starter??, stator winding or brushes toast. That or cheap cable ends.

 

[Don selleck]

disconnect the cables now, look for short along cables to relay and to starter, melting while cranking or all the time, that could lead to a fire for sure. if youre frying a cable of that size anything small is already gone.

 

[Matt Curtis]

disconnect the cables now, look for short along cables to relay and to starter, melting while cranking or all the time, that could lead to a fire for sure. if youre frying a cable of that size anything small is already gone.

I will check that.
The cables are ok, just the connectors are melting?

 

[coronet68mx]

@Nacho-RT74

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

I will check that.
The cables are ok, just the connectors are melting?

Prob the weakest point of the cabe. You have a serious short try to find it with a ohm meter to be safe if with power on get a friend with a fire extinguisher near by. Seriously that is a bad short somewhere.

 

[MoparLeo]

You say that just the connectors are melting. Does that mean that you have temporary terminal ends on your cables ?
If so, now you know why they are temporary. They only have surface contact with the cable and are prone to corrosion which causes a poorer connection. That leads to excessive heat because the full amperage of the battery is going through effectively a smaller portion of the cable. The cable acts as a much smaller wire gauge and cannot carry the current.
Post a picture of what you have.

 

[Matt Curtis]

Prob the weakest point of the cabe. You have a serious short try to find it with a ohm meter to be safe if with power on get a friend with a fire extinguisher near by. Seriously that is a bad short somewhere.

You say that just the connectors are melting. Does that mean that you have temporary terminal ends on your cables ?
If so, now you know why they are temporary. They only have surface contact with the cable and are prone to corrosion which causes a poorer connection. That leads to excessive heat because the full amperage of the battery is going through effectively a smaller portion of the cable. The cable acts as a much smaller wire gauge and cannot carry the current.
Post a picture of what you have.

 

[Matt Curtis]

Also I noticed the amp gauge on the cluster is not working. Can this fuse together internally and cause a short?

 

[Photon440]

With that much current flow, you should have smoked the insulation off the wiring too. UNLESS the reason for localized heat at the battery terminal was due to wiring that was loose or dirty, causing a lot of resistance at that area.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Multimeter is your friend here.

 

[Matt Curtis]

Updated... I replaced all of the connectors with high quality battery terminals and tightened all of the ground connections. Thank you for the help!!

^^^Next question, should my fuel filter carry more fuel than this normally? Seems like it should ?

 

[dadsbee]

Change it to a tin can filter and it'll look just fine! (Filters never get rid of the air lock)...

 

[Budnicks]

this may be oversimplified, but a good place to start

check the connections on the back of the amp meter 1st thing
they are notorious for issues,
usually, 2 bigger black wires, going to & off it

also check the harness for any bare wires or melted wires

especially connections between the battery,
& or body (poss. side), any keyed switch
& the starter relay up on the firewall,
or to the starter or down on the starter too
make sure nothing is touching the block or bare metal, frame etc.
or is frayed/exposed wires

then check the bulkhead connector,
they are prone to corrode/oxidize
carefully remove the engine side connectors, from the bulkhead
be very careful they can be very brittle
clean all the terminals, both sides, male & female connections
& check for any black or burnt marks or any signs of melting
indication of a direct short or bad connections arching
(if you do find some trace that wire)
after they are all cleaned checked etc.
use a lil' dab of dielectric grease on all/any electrical connections

start there, there's other stuff it could be too
but that's a good place to start

 

[Don Frelier]

The rubber line above the engine worries me. The filter location is not safe either.
I agree get a metal case filter

 

[Dan64]

Please lose that plastic filter, those things are responsible for a lot of fires,I would disconnect the amp meter also if you have a high output alternator.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

@Nacho-RT74

I think pretty much covered LOL.

while the fuse link doesn't blow, the problem is related to Starter motor or relay ( or related wiring ) which is out of the game of that protection.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Also I noticed the amp gauge on the cluster is not working. Can this fuse together internally and cause a short?

Define "is not working"

Sure a damage on ammeter or related wires will be able to cause a short BUT the fuse link will blown out.

Now "we" need to find why your ammeter is "not working". The ammeter is just right before the ign switch with the power coming just from the batt ( at starting moment ) so, a "broken" or "open" ammeter ( which I find hard to happen ) won't allow to feed the ign switch... unless the charging system gets the ammeter jumped out somehow.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

I would disconnect the amp meter also if you have a high output alternator.

Why still ppl insist on this with all the threads talked and explaining the truth on this! This false, and is just right the opposite! A high output alt will get the ammeter life still safer than the stock alt!

The high output alt will keep the batt out of the power sourcing game, and this mean won't ever get discharged. If the batt never get discharged, the ammeter won't get load running throught ever, neither for charge or discharge reading!

The lack of power coming out from underrated stock alts, specially at low RPMs is what made the battery constantly getting discharged and increasing the charge-discharge process. Loads coming and going where is no need for that with a propper alt and some wiring touchs.

Ammeter is a batt status gauge, not alternator status gauge.

Sure I'd like a stronger ammeter able to handle 60 or 80 amps, but while getting everything correct and in normal conditions, a regular 40 amps ammeter is quite enough. We can't speed up the battery recharge process just because we get 500 amps alt ( if that was possible ) and you won't find a battery sucking more than 30-40 amps to be recharged still with it and that will be just on the initial recharging process, maybe for 5-8 minutes. Then will decrease to 15-25 amps for half an hour and maybe 5-10 amps for the next hour. Depending on the battery load capacity.

And still on a completely death batt iS not correct to recharge the batt on car, except if you are on the road and you really know how to proceed with it.

14 years battling with this myth and the war still goes on!