Battery terminal has crack on it

I’d bet an apple fritter that piece has nothing to do with the starting problem. Looks like it’s just a bracket for those two parts. The negative ground cable is behind it.

1 Like

I’m looking at it, as well

Unfortunately, I’m of the the opinion that thing IS the battery cable, or at least part of it

I’ve seen some rather “over-engineered” and unorthodox battery cables which are prone to cracking, Ford comes to mind, as a matter of fact

Has anyone tried to look up a new version of this part? Just curious if it’s indeed cracked or maybe it’s supposed to be that way. Although, I have no idea why they’d make it like that.

First thing you might try is removing the battery cable ends and clean both ends and battery posts.

From the looks of the termnals I would reasonably guess both ends and terminals have developed a scale on them. Scale being a dull discoloring.
If that doesn’t work check the battery itself, My guess is the crack is totally irrelevant and is probably due to age and heat.

I couldn’t find a new one, but I did find a pic of the engine compartment of a different Kia Amanti, and that bracket didn’t look broken, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

kia

kia2

From these pictures, it is clear that that bracket is NOT passing any electricity, but is only a mechanical holder for some two relays.
What I see on the pictures is a normal black thick cable getting to the battery clamp and this is where all electricity is flowing.
Based on this, we are down to two main suspects: it’s either a bad battery (could happen at 3.5 years) OR it’s a corrosion on post/clamp/cable connection.
Disassembling and cleaning is the easiest first step, and if it helps, corrosion it is.
If not → that’s the time for a new battery.

good job :+1:

I was able to enlarge the images and now I have a different opinion

It seems that “thing” is not part of the battery cable, after all

a picture is indeed worth a thousand words

@db4690 @eddo you guys sure about that ?

Thank you

why didn’t you post those pictures earlier . . . ?

The first thing you need to do is fix/replace that battery cable

2 Likes

Yes, it’s broke! That picture shows it better. Still, I think it would carry enough current as it is to do the cranking. I could be wrong, though. Needs repairing either way.

@Scrapyard_John @db4690 ok so you guys are saying I should fix the crack, then right?

1 Like

That’s just a bracket for the 140 amp alternator fuse and the 30 amp ignition fuse.

It has nothing to do with the starting problem.

Tester

2 Likes

@Scrapyard_John I thought that the broken piece was separate from the actual terminal?

@Tester thank you. Your sure that the broken bracket has nothing to do with the terminal?

Does it provide the ground for those relays?

They’re not relays.

They’re fuses. One is rated at 140 amps, and one is rated at 30 amps.

Tester

I can not imagine why somebody in a sane mind would fuse connections to the ground?
I do not see from the pictures, but I would suspect these fuses protect positive circuits, not ground circuits.
If this is the case, the purpose of this metal piece is pure mechanical, to hold that relays in place.
As such, this piece of metal is not exactly the best Koreans could do.

Yes, the broken piece is seperate from the terminal.

I’d want to fix it. Whether it carries current or not.

I don’t think it carries any current. The wires coming in to the fuses on the bracket carry current. Then a wire leaves the fuses and goes back to that terminal that the bracket is bolted to. If the bracket carried a current itself, the fuses would be kinda pointless because if a fuse blew, the current would just bypass it on the bracket! I think. :thinking:

I can’t tell from the photos if that bracket has any current-carrying function or not. One idea for a clue, measure the voltage of that bracket? I could see how a crack could happen if the battery wasn’t properly held down and it shifted during a rapid stop, pothole, etc. Batteries – being so heavy – have a lot of inertia.

1 Like

I just want to know if it carries Current or not. I can deal with the crack if it doesn’t affect anything. Wish I knew what more to look at.