2000 Jimmy SLE Pos Battery Cable

[Rick Norwood]

My dealership tells me that I am in dire need of a Positive Battery cable on my 2000 Jimmy SLE 4.3. They only want $200.00 USD to replace it. The cable alone costs $79.00 USD at the dealership parts counter and no one else local seems to have them in stock.

Does anyone know of anything particularly difficult about replacing this cable? It looks pretty straight forward to me as there are only 3 wires plus the battery terminal. One goes to the starter, one to the Alternator, and the third one looks like it goes to a junction box under the battery tray.

Any special tools needed, advice or tips would be appreciated.

[BlazerLT]

Replace it yourself and save yourself some money.

Why are they saying you need it?

Is it broken?

[Allbert]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

Replace it yourself and save yourself some money.

Why are they saying you need it?

Is it broken?

Or is it corroded because of a leaky AC Delco battery terminal that is about to fail?

[Rick Norwood]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

Replace it yourself and save yourself some money.

Why are they saying you need it?

Is it broken?

Shortly after taking possesion of this truck, The AC Delco battery did fail and corroded the original cable terminal where the wires connect and the actual terminal broke off leaving the wires dangling while the terminal was still bolted to the battery. I have been living on borrowed time for the past two years because I installed a new terminal that has a clamp on the back instead of the wires being molded into terminal. Since I am getting ready to take a short trip, and I recently had a little trouble with corrosion where the wires are clamped to the terminal. I thought I would replace the cable before leaving on the trip.

I plan on doing the job myself and just wondered if there were any tricks, tips, advice or special tools needed that anyone is aware of. I try not to let the dealerships take too much of my money when I can do the job myself unless the work is covered under warranty.

Rick

[BlazerLT]

Should be straight forward.

Why not just clean the corrosion off and drive?

The type of connector really doesn't mean it is worse.

[Rick Norwood]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

Should be straight forward.

Why not just clean the corrosion off and drive?

The type of connector really doesn't mean it is worse.

That's what I have done. I guess my real concern is the corrosion that I can't see inside the cables.

But here is the interesting part. Just prior to cleaning the terminal, wires and clamps last Sunday night, as I pulled into the driveway, I could hear a hum or a whine that almost sounded like static coming from the radio, but when I turned off the radio, the noise was still there and would get louder with engine RPM. Then the entire electrical system went dead as I shut off the engine. Not even the dome lights would work as I opened the door to get out. As soon as I wiggled the Positive cable everything came back on. That's when I took the whole thing apart and cleaned it. After I finished cleaning the terminals, all seemed to be well.

Thanks - Rick

[BlazerLT]

Ah, yea, something is up.

Replace the cable before something is damaged.

Voltage spikes like that are not good for the ECM.