This 1995 Buick Park Avenue came in with the complaint that it was hard to crank sometimes. Meaning that the starter would turn slowly. A quick look at the positive battery terminal connection revealed a possible problem. The engine was still running at this point so I touched the terminal to see if it was warm.
As it turned out it was actually very warm. One hundred and seventy nine degrees fahrenheit to be exact. According to my infrared temperature gun.
On the left is the assortment of lock and flat washers that were installed. On the right is the proper lead spacer that is supposed to be installed between the two cable ends.
The cable ends were also fairly corroded.
A quick clean up with a wire brush attachment in my 1/4″ drive impact driver.
Nice clean terminals.
A new bolt, spacer and clean terminals.
A much better temperature reading. I tried to get the owner to let me replace one of the terminal ends because it was getting warm at the crimp area.
The customer declined, stating it was “good enough for her, now that is was cranking okay”. Oh well she will be back one day and I will fix it then.