what is the least or worst than can happen when car battery cables are loose?
ok, my mum broke down as her battery died, aa man came jump started it, and she was on her way, BUT, as he did a test on the battery and alternator he said that it was the battery, so.. we got the jump start and headed to a halfords store they had a battery in stock and we paid for fitting from halfords, little acne covered dude comes out takes ages to actually get the old battery out finally gets the new one in, anyway we drive off down the road to get petrol and find a station fill up and all that, i pop the bonnet just to check he has done it ok, so here is what i see, the clamp holding the battery in place is hand tight i could move it with no effort. and the the battery leads were not even tightend at all with my little finger they came off both of them, in the end i hand to buy an adjustable spanner to get us on our 600 mile plus journey and finish the job myself, what i would like to know is what is the least and worse thing that could happen with very very loose battery terminal leads, as in we were driving down motorways afterwards if those leads had of come off what could have happened.. thanks
thanks for the abswers so far, but i had one that made me out to be arrogant or whatever, but im only slagging off the halfords people after the fact, when i went to buy the battery etc, i was friendly as fuck ok, its when u get down the road after u have paid someone to do a job that you get pissed off
Compare Breakdown Cover | | November 20, 2009
aa, abswers, acne, adjustable spanner, battery terminal, bonnet, clamp, job, journey, jump start, little finger, old battery, stock
One thing that has not been mentioned in any of the answers is that if an electrical connection is not solidly made it can result in a massive build up of heat at the ‘point’ of connection due to ‘arcing’. If this happens under starting conditions – heavy load- it can result in excess hydrogen gas being given off from the battery resulting in an explosion.(Seen it at first hand) As for the posters saying that you can run a car on just the alternator- incorrect you will burn that out in a few seconds.
the pos side could of hit the ground and burnt out the alternator and wiring harness
If the charging system was working properly it would have no affect if the leads came off when the car was running. If it had slid and made contact with metal it would have shorted the battery. Loose terminal ends could keep the car from starting, or keep the battery from charging.
Probably nothing would have happened. A lot of cars will run with no battery if the engine is already running.
After you stop somewhere, the car would not start again until you replace the loose cable.
well , that does sort of sound like a typical kind of thing to happen..Theres nothing quite like doing the job properly yourself which luckily for you , you had the common sense to do.`Well Done’.
Really the worst i can think that could have resulted would probably be that as once the car has been started ,the battery more or less becomes obsolite , until its asked to do a reasonable job to do like re-starting ( which in your case it probably wouldnt have done), as it needs a good mechanical conection to make a good electrical connection, So it may well have just basically refused to turn the engine over resuting in you getting stuck.This for most would have meant caling out the emergency brakedown services and footing a bill plus inconvenience !!.
Other than that there could have been a very remote chance of the battery being so loose causing a very small Arc or jump of sparks whilst running ,as it would be continuously be asking to be charged by the alternator. Of course this now may well be the worst scenario as if there could have been a petrol leak under the bonnet for example , though unlikely , it may have been enough to cause the car to catch fire .
I personally wouldnt have been very happy either as this not long ago , happened sinilarly to my mum.
A classic example of ignorance from Halfords. I bought a new battery for my car from Halfords but I fitted and connected it myself. My dad is an electrician and I knew from watching him for years how to do it.
You should go back to Halfords and tell the manager about the battery and the guy who fitted it….he’ll either be fired or get a telling off and will hopefully learn from that mistake.
If the positive and negative cables ever touched while the engine is running then there would be a large spark and your engine would probably cut out. I say probably because its never happened to me but the spark might ignite a fire so you should stop anyway.
I can’t understand where the guy from Halfords went wrong, connecting a new battery is easy. Connecting a supply to the car whilst the battery is disconnected is a bit more difficult. You can’t just take a battery out otherwise the alarm will sound when you reconnect the new one and the radio will think its being stolen so you have to enter the anti thief code.
You should learn how to do it yourself, you can never trust these people.
As has been said, usually a loose lead would not be a big problem; BUT>
If your mum was on her own and turned off the engine somewhere remote, she wouldn’t get it started again without tools/knowledge and would be stranded.
It could have started a fire (small chance, but hey, you’re complaining:))
It could have shorted out the electrical systems on your car (VERY expensive depending what burns out)
Halfords seem to have a 1-day training scheme for their "mechanics". I bought a £200 stereo from them once and feeling lazy, asked them for the free fitting service. On seeing that my car had wires ready for a radio, but no multi-plugs to identify them, they refused. Turns out "fitting" for Halfords means "plugging in". I fitted it myself in 15 mins using trial, error and common sense. Halfords is increasingly a good place for cyclists but a last resort for motorists.
Well done on getting the spanners out and getting your mum home ok:)