need help fixin' vehicle

[jinman]

On a side note I learned a trick using booster cables that when it is so cold out and your battery has only enough oomph to hardly turn over the motor that you can take your cables and for a half of a second short out the battery which apparently warms it up and increases the cranking amps. I've never had to try it since our batterys have always been up to snuff to roll the motor over.

Ron, please do not try this. That's a good way to blow up a battery, especially if it is having problems and might have an internal problem. Batteries can fill with hydrogen and be virtual bombs waiting to blow. When you short terminal-to-terminal with a jumper, an internal arc or sudden heating of a point of poor contact might explode the hydrogen.

I had that very thing happen with a 3-year old Interstate battery (one of two on my diesel). I was having starting problems and cleaned my terminals. When I turned the key to start the truck, it must have arced inside and that battery exploded with a huge BOOM! Acid was everywhere over my engine and hood. I grabbed a waterhose and immediately rinsed off the acid. That saved my truck, but I still have some discoloration of plastic parts to remind me how lucky I was to be sitting in my driveway with a pressurized hose nearby.

Can you imagine what would happen if you were standing there holding a jumper and shorting out the battery? You'd be covered in acid and never be the same. Always, always treat batteries with the utmost respect and don't do anything like shorting across the terminals. It's a sure recipe for disaster.

Someone is giving you bad advice. Please be safe. Your family and TBN wants you around for many years.:thumbsup:

 

[JDgreen227]

WELL STATED !!! Thanks for posting that information !!!

 

[Egon]

Someone is giving you bad advice. Please be safe. Your family and TBN wants you around for many years.

Well said Jinman. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Also note that there is a correct way of hooking up battery cables to help avoid explosions.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

MY BAD. A classic case of putting mouth in gear before brain is warmed up.

 

[JDgreen227]

MY BAD. A classic case of putting mouth in gear before brain is warmed up.

Not as bad as the guys that worked with me back about 1990. The warehouse I worked at had an old 6 volt Clark Carloader forktruck, it was an LP conversion, the temporary guys who drove it all smoked on the forklift, despite my orders not to. One morning the battery on the forktruck was dead, they drove my work truck over to it (diesel, two batteries, 12 volts) and tried to jump start it. Not sure if they shorted something out or if the 12 volts was just two much current, the 6 volter exploded and the guys took off running like heck, came out to me in the parking lot yelling "the fork truck blew up" they were sure the LP tank had blown up....

Fortunately there wasn't a lot of acid damage and no harm was really done, but from then on the temps NEVER, EVER smoked around the forktruck....