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Battery Issue

B

Brett0769

Street Cruiser
Okay, got my carbs synched and the difference was immediate and fantastic, but my battery is terminal I think. (Pun intentional). I have a problem and I don't know how to fix it. The problem is that the negative terminal was corroded and now the nut that holds the screw is spinning freely inside the terminal. I've cleaned it up pretty good but the screw is in a nether region between loose and tight and I can't figure out how to get in there to hold the nut in place. The cable keeps me from moving the battery more than an inch or two in any direction. Any ideas on what to use to get it out?
 
Brett, If the corrosion isn't too severe, a screwdriver (as stout as possible for the limited space) could jam the nut and prevent it from turning. Good luck !
 
If the nut is loose, then wedging a screwdriver in there is a good idea and should be sufficient to remove the screw & nut. Don't tighten it. Remove it and replace the nut. Clean the terminal with a baking soda solution to neutralize the acid there and prevention further corrosion. -- Steve Smith, COG #3184 COG Northeast Area Director (somewhere in south central CT)
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If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.
 
Brett, You may be able to work one of those 90* screw drivers in beside the bat and then under the nut to hold it from turning. When you get it out not only replace the nut, but the screw. I'd replace or at least remove the positive conection too and give all parts a coat of waterproof or dielectric grease to seal them from the air to help prevent the corrosion from reacuring. 1990 Aint she a pretty Tomato (the bike ofcourse) wedshots albums http://community.webshots.com/user/sawfiler64/albums/most-recent
 
Well, there's good and bad here. The good is that I've been on this track, attempting to get something in there to hold the nut in place. So far I've tried screwdrivers, needlenose pliers and a hex screwdriver bit. (I should provide a caveat here, I'm only able to insert one blade of the needlenose inside the box due to the restricted space.)None of these work because the battery terminal is box shaped and made of lead. The nut is within the box, so anything you put in there to wedge it just sinks into the malleable lead side wall as it receives pressure from the turning nut. There's not enough room to get any type of plier in there to hold the nut in place and wrenches are too wide to fit within the box. Whoever designed this setup needs to be flogged. Any other ideas?
 
dremil tool and grind it off. should be able to grind a little at a time even if it tries to spinn on you use a small carbide bit about the same size as the thread portion of the bolt. 1990 Aint she a pretty Tomato (the bike ofcourse) wedshots albums http://community.webshots.com/user/sawfiler64/albums/most-recent
 
Unbolt the far end of the negative cable, remove battery from bike, saw/grind/file the head off the bolt? Disclosure: I haven't actually tried this...
 
And the winner is: sawfiler, for reminding me of why I purchased a craftsman rotary tool in the first place. Because it is the handiest booger in the world. Used aluminum oxide cutting wheel to cut off the bolt head. As a bonus, I now have a shiny negative cable connector as well. Good idea to disco the cable as well, but unnecessary in this instance because all I had access to was the bolt head, but fortunately for my lazy gene, it was what was needed. Positive terminal was disco'd prior to the operation for those concerned. Much thanks to all who chimed in in a timely manner as usual. COG rocks.
 
Sawfiler beat me to it..the Dremel IS one of the best investemnts I've ever made as far as tools go....I agree the "boxed" nut on the terminal leaves a lot to be desired. I would prefer a"flat"post coming out of battery, so that bolt could be installed"sideways" and nut would be easiy accessible..
 
My OEM battery was dead. I purchased a new battery with the fiberglass plates in it (aka maintenance free) and charged it up with a new 1.5amp slow charger/tender. Of course, the new battery has the same box style terminals on it. :-/ +1 on side posts, they make a lot more sense.
 
Brett: Just curious - how old was the previous battery? How often did you pull the battery for maintenance? One a year? Twice a year? Never? Every third ride?
 
Good question. The bike's a 2006 and had a Yuasa in it which I assume was original equipment. I bought the bike w/13,000 on it and got around to checking the battery w/in a month or so to find it bone dry. I filled it then (distilled water, per instructions) and had topped it off once since (probably 6 months between services), but it just needed a little. I don't know how old the battery is though we can guess w/in a year from the model year of the bike but it had just shy of 28,000 miles on it. We also know that PO apparently didn't know the battery required service.
 
Brett, once a battery has been run dry, it's pretty much shot. Your's was on borrowed time! I'm really surprised you got as much out of it as you did. The different terminal arrangment would make sense. The battery I use in my old Bonneville just has two tabs on the top; one + and one -. They are very easy to get the nuts off and on; just stick your finger behind it to hold the nut. I'm sure there's a reason our batteries use the terminal that they do... isn't there? Eddie 2005 Concours 1969 Triumph Bonneville AMA# 686667 COG# 7073 CDA# 0136 http://picasaweb.google.com/Eddie753
 
1+ on the dry battery being toasted. I got a dry one on a used Concours I bought. I filled it and seem to charge up fine. Two weeks later in the middle of bfe it died on me. Bike only had 4000 miles on it. ---------------------------------- South Central Area Director Email scad@cog-online.org
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<p align="left"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/20211686@N05/">My Photos<br
 
I hope that those who read this w/OEM batteries take it as a prod to service theirs. I'd still be running on mine had it been properly serviced from day one. Distilled water's available cheap at every grocery store and let's face it, among maintenance tasks on the Connie the battery is easy as pie. It's possible that my battery wasn't completely dry, but it sure looked it. If it wasn't completely dry it was definitely at 15 or 20% max judging by how much water I had to add to it.
 
I'm with ya dude. My 2004 still has the OEM battery. I may change it this summer just because, since I know sometimes they can just crap out & that's it. At the worst possible time. (Murphy's Law & all that...) But the fact reamins that it IS the original battery, and I HAVE taken great care of it. Granted, I do not tax it as much as some of you. Grip heaters, Amplirider, Garmin, Murph's headlight harness, that's all the "extras" she runs. But it's still a strong battery due to regular maintenance. Mike B / Gig Harbor, WA
 
I was always a stickler for battery maintenance, mostly because it doesn't cost anything ("borrow" the Missus' distilled water jug for the iron) and it's easily within the capability of even ham-handed mechanix like me. Mine would come out twice a year, once in the spring and one in the fall. And I mean out, as in Sitting On My Workbench. I'd clean off the outside surface with a clean rag and water, then carefully top off all six cells. The terminals on both the battery and the cables would get a wire brushing, the battery box cleaned and Armor-All'd, then the battery reinstalled and connected. The hold-down assembly (a.k.a. Tool Tray) would then be FULLY installed as this kept the battery from bouncing around. The bikes always started. I always noticed, too, a direct correlation between dead batteries and the general appearance of the installation in the bike. And whether the tool tray is secured or not, or even installed for that matter. Unless you have modified your charging system, the Concours and most 80's vintage Kawasakis are known for "cooking" batteries, making regular checking of the "water" level a Must Do.
 
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