I’ve an issue w/ replacing my old battery w/ an even older one I charged to 100% (13.2/3 volts). The positive cable won’t reach the post, so I’m thinking of getting this ( Amazon.com: East Penn Deka Top Post Battery Cable 10" Red 4awg : Automotive ) to affix to the loose end of the cable & the post. Will this plan work, or do I need another battery? The “Duralast Gold” is the older one I’m replacing the “TOTALPRO” w/ b/c my car had starting issues w/ the newer one.
If the cables don’t reach, you either have the battery in backwards or you have the wrong battery.
Solve the problem, don’t band-aid it.
3 Likes
Compare the old battery with the one you’re replacing it with,
Are posts in the same position?
If not, it’s the wrong battery for the vehicle.
Tester
1 Like
That is the wrong battery, the terminals are reversed. The positive terminal should be located at the rear near the air cleaner. The correct battery is group 35.
I concur. Battery. Is backwards. AND it looks way too BIG
Is that a feature to prevent people from using the wrong battery & causing issues or does it just happen to not fit?
Batteries come in group sizes for different vehicles. The group size determines the physical size of the battery and where the posts are located,
Tester
The issue is I do Walmart Spark (it doesn’t pay much) & don’t really have enough to get a new battery that’s as powerful as the one I was trying to install. Sure, I could get another economy one that’s going to last just as long, but that’s not ideal. Every-thing on my 03 Corolla is band-aided, pretty much. I literally use a string to keep the grill from falling out. 
I was just wondering, from a mechanic/electrician’s perspective, even though it’s unadvisable, whether it’d start or not or if it’d cause some electrical issue. Acid is acid & the electricity just needs a complete circuit @ a certain voltage & amperage to work, unless if I’m wrong about that, too.
Edit: Sorry for the confusion. @ this point I’m half-asking out of curiosity b/c I know a band-aid isn’t ideal… I understand that fully.
The vehicle will operate with that battery if you can get the cables to reach and the battery does not touch the hood.
There is usually more than one cable connected to the positive terminal so that universal cable in your link will not work.
I understand that. Do they sell the metal part that connects the cable to the clamp? If that were longer, it’d solve my issue. I just can’t find any online. It’s hard to explain, but there’s this metal piece that connects the clamp (& the nuts & bolts in it) to the wires in the cable & it’s too short.
Edit: it’s like a bridge that twists between the wires in the cable & the clamp that goes around the post.
These are the types of cables used to repair a damaged cable that been cut and is too short, they are spliced to the factory cable:
Before going any farther, how did you verify that the battery was the problem with your starting issues? There are lots of a reasons that a car won’t start. If by “starting issues” you mean something like weak crank or no crank, you also have an ignition switch and starter and solenoid and starter relay and battery cables between battery and starter, a neutral safety switch and an alternator that’s supposed to run the car’s electronics AND keep the battery charged. Probably among other things.
Go to a junk yard and buy a used proper size battery. You’ll spend 10-20 for parts to Jerry rig and still end up with the problem. Cars get junked with good batteries yet and the salvage yards will sell them.
I get rid of my batteries when they start to show age. When I
Well I’ve got 4x 10"s, 2x 9"s, 2x 6.5"s & 4x tweeters all going from D.C. to A.C. & then back to D.C. w/ a 400 watt car invertor (presumably using most of that wattage). I started having issues after blasting it @ 100% volume (it goes up to 122 decibels @ least w/ my hi-gain amplifier) where it would blur out the mirrors completely & oscillate the trim visibly from the outside. I assumed that had something to do w/ it, but even when I stopped using it, I still had the same issues. I guessed it wasn’t the alternator (where the power comes from) nor the starter (I had lightly hit it w/ a hammer to see if that’d do anything), but likely the battery b/c the sound system wasn’t actively causing the problem, it probably just drained the weak battery that had a low voltage reading that was in the low 12 volts range (between 12 & 12.5).
As far as the weak or low crank; that happens sometimes, but sometimes it’s just nothing, so that makes diagnosing the problem harder.
I may go w/ one of those instead, actually.
I’ll visit the junk yard sometime soon & look for that.
I’m not expecting much from my local junkyard, b/c usually every-thing that’s good is taken.
Have you ever got your priorities mixed up. You have the grill tied to the car with a string and you can’t afford a new correct size battery .
3 Likes
I bought those about 4 years ago when I had plenty to spend on recreational things. I’d prioritize a functional car over that out of necessity. & I can afford a new one, I just want to use this older one that’s perfectly charged, has the right voltage & will last 10x longer than the cheapest economy one that hardly last me a year.