97 4 cyl positive battery cable replacement

MK667 · Oct 26, 2014

Hello all, I have a 1997 Ford Ranger, 4 cylinder automatic. The part of my positive battery cable that connects to the terminal is very corroded. I have cleaned it as best i can and the car is starting for now, but it's going to go soon I think. I want to replace the positive cable but I am pretty inexperienced with car repairs. I was wondering if you guys could tell me if the positive battery cable goes straight to the starter of it splits off and connects to anything else along the way. I've tried googling but i haven't had much luck. Any tips on how to change it out or information about what it connects to would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

RonD · Oct 26, 2014

Should be 2 cables on the positive terminal connector
Large cable goes to starter motor, it is long
Smaller cable goes to connecting block(post), or Power distribution box, it is shorter.

Baking soda and water clean up battery corrosion nicely, but yes replace cables

Haywire6000 · Oct 26, 2014

If it's just corroded where it connects to the terminal you may have enough cable to cut an inch or so back and connect the new terminal.

Mark_88 · Oct 27, 2014

The 96 I just stripped down had a rats nest of wiring (from the passenger side, under the engine and over to the starter) that I still haven't completely sorted out. But the connector is not that easy to cut and move up on the cable if it is the factory installed one.

These need new connectors...which isn't a bad thing...and I would replace the ground while you're at it. The problem with the ground wire (on mine, anyway) is that it attaches to the block of the engine on the driver side. There is a bolt secured to the block that slips through an eye on the cable end. Try as I might, I could NOT get that stupid ground bolt to come off (it's still on there) so I just cut the cable...

In my case, however, I was moving things onto the passenger side because of the location of my battery tray on the 88 cab that I am using...but the information is the same...very hard to simply swap out that factory connector without buying an entire new cable from Ford...which is probably quite expensive...

MK667 · Oct 28, 2014

Hey everybody, thank you for your advice. @Ron i used the water and baking soda and cleaned the shit out the cable and it started up. This all started because my truck wouldn't start back up when i was about 5 blocks from home. I ended up getting a tow and the driver said it was the starter. After going down a youtube black hole of videos on how to change out the starter i saw a comment from a guy with the same truck, same problem and it turned out to be his +battery cable. I wanted to eliminate that possibility before i went out and spend the money and sure enough. @Haywire I ended up doing that, i chopped the bad part off and bought one of those terminals you attach a lug to, to give me some extra length. When this current section of good copper corrodes Ill have to replace it, i won't have any more room to work with. I wish there was a way i could get a few extra inches off this cable!

Thanks again everyone for your help!

97 4 cyl positive battery cable replacement

MK667

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