The 2005 Ford Focus has a battery clamp where the bolt fits into the bottom of the clamp, rather than the side. The head of the bolt is different, too. It looks something like this:
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The flanges at either side of the bolt head pull the clamp together as the nut is tightened.
OK, it works. But since the bolt is at the bottom of the clamp, if you’re not watching what you’re doing it will fall down in the the bowels of the engine. Never to be seen again.
Ford, bless its heart, will sell me a complete battery cable and clamp. The auto parts stores I’ve talked to have “universal” clamps, which of course all have bolts on the side. Visits to junk yards have taught me that decent battery cables are removed about 30 seconds after the air bags. Besides which, there aren’t that many late model Focuses there.
But Ford mechanics, especially newbies, must loose these things all of the time, so somewhere there’s a source of these bolts. Anybody have an idea how I could get my hands on one?
Or am I doomed to spend $10-$40 to make up for the lack of a ten cent part?
Uh, the first two || are supposed to go on top of the second ||. You get the idea.