[Pauloil]

my 850 with 163000 miles had weak battery helped by polishing battery posts and cable clamp, tightening
Now have 12.3V on battery after drive home, but the crimp on the red cable from alternator/starter
going up to the solid bent part is still warm.
I've read how others have shortened the cable a bit and reattached a new clamp to get rid of the corroded part.
A replacement cable to the starter is available at FCP, but I don't see how to get into the plastic area below the starter
where the cable comes out and how it connects to the rest of the cable going to the alternator B+ post. Is the whole thing available
all the way to the alt.? Has anyone found how to do this complete replacement, or should I just cut the bad end part or the cable off
and replace it?

[V70R_AWD_Lee]

Pauloil, on 04 November 2009 - 01:22 AM, said:

my 850 with 163000 miles had weak battery helped by polishing battery posts and cable clamp, tightening
Now have 12.3V on battery after drive home, but the crimp on the red cable from alternator/starter
going up to the solid bent part is still warm.
I've read how others have shortened the cable a bit and reattached a new clamp to get rid of the corroded part.
A replacement cable to the starter is available at FCP, but I don't see how to get into the plastic area below the starter
where the cable comes out and how it connects to the rest of the cable going to the alternator B+ post. Is the whole thing available
all the way to the alt.? Has anyone found how to do this complete replacement, or should I just cut the bad end part or the cable off
and replace it?

You can buy the complete cable from the dealer. The reason your cable is getting warm is due to high resistance. Before you shell out on a new cable i would check it using 'Volt drop' to see where the resistance is. Hopefully it will be at a point where the cable connects to something. Remove, clean and reconnect. Then check voltage again. If it rises to an acceptable 13.5-14.5 volts (at the battery terminals) then you have fixed it, otherwise you may neto get a new cable.

[Bah]

V70R_AWD_Lee, on 03 November 2009 - 08:48 PM, said:

You can buy the complete cable from the dealer. The reason your cable is getting warm is due to high resistance. Before you shell out on a new cable i would check it using 'Volt drop' to see where the resistance is. Hopefully it will be at a point where the cable connects to something. Remove, clean and reconnect. Then check voltage again. If it rises to an acceptable 13.5-14.5 volts (at the battery terminals) then you have fixed it, otherwise you may neto get a new cable.

If you want maximum, rewire with 0 gauge high density copper wire. Go out and buy custom battery posts so it'll fit a yellow top or whatnot, and rewire the ground while your at it =p. All things i'd like to do but no $$ hah
Otherwise, what was stated above is appropriate =)

[Pauloil]

i found new battery terminals online, but not at Oreilly's

http://www.wiringpro...en-us/p272.html

what is gauge I need for the existing wire?

[Pauloil]

did the JOB today, replace with the new cable from Waltrip volvo($60)
first, the new oem replacement cable is worth it.

I removed fan shroud for room....
13mm nut on starter solenoid has the cable of interest.
My orig. starter cable goes into a large round plastic wire tunnel that goes into
a long rectangle from which orig. starter calbe exits.
No way AM I going to extract the orig. starter cable, so I connect the new cable with all it's plastice and rubber coverings
to the other large plastic tunnel with plastic tie downs. I will cut the ends of the old cable out sometime. There was a wire
going in with the orig. starter cable that is reused. I like the way the new battery connection is designed.

before I had 13.4V with car running, now 14.4. After driving car a bit, battery is up to 12.2V, was 11.85V

I'll report back voltage after another week.