Technical Battery terminals problem

[Andymacselespeed]

I was giving my car a quick once over today, pil water etc and I noticed that the battery terminals didn't look quite tight. Gave then a quick yank and both positive and negative pulled off the battery posts with ease! The battery was replaced with a new one when I bought the car. The fit is rubbish. The fiat terminals that you connect to the battery posts are rubbish.
I called fiat dealer to ask after a positive and negative terminal to replace my mangled ones. They are no longer available. The fiat guy suggested getting one made up.
I've seen nice big chunky battery terminals available for sake in motor factors but the one on my 2.4 connects to a Number of cables via a branch unit in the positive side, and to 3 big earth cables on negative side. Neg should be doable, positive looks harder. Any ideas on how to replace this without trying to get one from a scrapper? I'm thinking I'll need to design and build a branch unit system off of a standard positive battery terminal. Not impossible, but not fun!

Any ideas gladly accepted!

Cheers

Andy!

 

[john55]

I think you more than likely have the wrong battery fitted, with smaller terminals than the clamps are ment for.

Mine fit the terminals very well. They would break before they ever pulled off.

 

[Davren]

I think you more than likely have the wrong battery fitted, with smaller terminals than the clamps are ment for.

Mine fit the terminals very well. They would break before they ever pulled off.

All battery terminal posts are standard size except Ford which are/used to be bolt on lugs and some early Japanese batteries that had very small post terminals.

Spare part shops sell battery terminals with various size holes so you can fit one or several cables into them.

 

[Andymacselespeed]

Aye, changing the battery terminals isn't the problem that worries me, its getting a new power distribution system sorted. One of the fuses in the fuseboard which forms part of the battery terminal carries a 150 amp fuse! I can't find anything aftermarket that could take that, and helpfully FIAT don't sell the terminals which fit the Abarth power distribution branch unit anymore. The branch unit on its own is £40, without fuses.(That'd be a black plastic moulded piece with some thin metal tracks top bolt your power cables to) Its just crackers. The plastic cover that clips on the top of the power distribution unit is £15. (its about 3 inches by 4 inches and is a single skin black plastic cover.) They really are taking the mick at FIAT parts departments now!

Anyone know of a place that sells popwer distribution systems?

Cheers

Andy

 

[Davren]

The battery top fuse board or Branch Control Unit as Fiat call it is still orderable from Fiat (Item 1 in the diagram).

51742863 is the part number for the 2.4 engine (M30) version. It is about £40 as you say but it includes the fuses.

The plastic cover is only specified for vehicles up to June 2002.

 

[Andymacselespeed]

The fiat parts guy I spoke to today said the terminal connector bit isn't included with that part, and nor are the fuses! It is just the distribution block.

To be honest I've been looking and have found a couple of alternatives, a positive terminal mounted terminal block with an integrated digital voltmeter and a 4 way multiple fused distribution block comes in at under fiats £40!

My car was built in 2001 so needs the cover too!

 

[T14086]

as john55 stated if its not the right battery (nothing to do with size of poles but the depth) then you will get problems. I see this alot on stilos and puntos.

 

[Andymacselespeed]

Sorry to be thick, but the depth of what? The battery fits the frame. It's the right height, width and depth. What size is likely to be wrong? and how can I fix it?

 

[john55]

What size is likely to be wrong? and how can I fix it?

The size of the terminals & Get the right battery to fix it. You probably have a battery for a Jap car in there.

Are the battery posts tapered slightly by any chance?

 

[Davren]

Sorry to be thick, but the depth of what? The battery fits the frame. It's the right height, width and depth. What size is likely to be wrong? and how can I fix it?

The only problem I can think of regarding dimensions of the battery would be if it's height were too low. Could be a problem getting the positive cable to the starter motor through the cut out in the side of the battery housing.

The size of the terminals & Get the right battery to fix it. You probably have a battery for a Jap car in there.

Are the battery posts tapered slightly by any chance?

All non-Ford European batteries I've seen have slightly tapered posts, including the old Japanese small post diameter ones. The Japanese posts are so small though, a European terminal would never fit on them.

 

[volxstu]

T
To be honest I've been looking and have found a couple of alternatives, a positive terminal mounted terminal block with an integrated digital voltmeter and a 4 way multiple fused distribution block comes in at under fiats £40!

Thats what i am doing out of choice. If you want a bit of cabling to thicken them up a bit just let me know and ill send you some. More power = More vroooom :devil:

 

[Argonought]

I'm surprised by this post too

My recent new Varta battery was a perfect fit and the connection is so good the engine spins over a might bit too fast for my liking

I preferred it when the temperature was -10°C or lower

 

[Davren]

I preferred it when the temperature was -10°C or lower

You mean when there was ice on the road so that some people could slide about and into kerbs?

 

[Andymacselespeed]

I took the old girl to a kwik fit and asked them about the battery and it's connection. They confirmed that the battery is the correct one for the car it is a varta? Sixty three ah I think he said. He suggested the issue was and I quote

"crap italian wiring."

he also suggested that the metal the cable clamps are made of is a weakness on fiats as the clamps stretchwhen tightened so any small difference in post size due to difference in battery manufacturer would make it hard to get a good fit. He suggested getting some copper strip and using it to bulk out the battery posts as a quick fix. As it happened a car was in at the same time with aftermarket cabling off positive terminal which I had a chat with the cars owner about. Looked cool and owner said it was due to BMW pricing their parts high too, his battery top distribution thingy had broken when he'd changed the battery out.

 

[Argonought]

You mean when there was ice on the road so that some people could slide about and into kerbs?

Ouch!

 

[T14086]

Andy post up a picture if you can of the battery post with clamp on it.