1996 GTX - Ground Cable Melted Battery?

[sethsmind]

Pic attached.....

Ski is running great.....

I took her out for a few hours and then when I went to remove
the Positive battery cable like I always do the ground cable looked like
someone took a torch to it? Any help would be great ... Thanks all....

 

[Coastiejoe]

Could be a poor connection, another cable that is bad causing that cable to carry all of the load, or a bad cable.

Unbolt the cable ends and wiggle them around. If they crunch or white powder comes out, the cable is junk.

 

[96spxpos]

Yea, check the integrity of the connections, and to be honest, that negative cable is a cinch to change anyway, so it's worth replacing anyway

 

[soccerdad]

Looks like the cable was loose and created an arc welder. If you were riding at night you would have seen a nice bright light! Good thing you did not have a bunch fumes in the bilge.

 

[sethsmind]

I was thinking the same thing Soccerdad.... Glad I caught it in the driveway and not BOOM! on the water.

I will check and if need be replace the Ground. The ground wire is under a year old. Can they fail that soon? Also could it have something to do with the smaller ground wire that sits on top? I will reply back here tomorrow after I check the ground. I read that the CDI and Ignition can cause this as well. I hope it is a simple loose ground. Thanks for the quick reply guys..... I will post my results asap.

 

[AdamXP800]

Did you replace the negative cable with the same gauge cable as OEM? Not sure this would cause it to melt like that though