Hot battery cable

[NickCawks]

Evening fellas.

My 95 xp was sitting for two months, then I towed it about 1800 miles due to a move. It's now been sitting again for a month. I went out to start it today to get it winterized. When I hit the start button it struggled to turn the crank for a few seconds then started to crank up normally. I held the button down for another few seconds to get it started and then noticed a little smoke from the battery area. I immediately let off the start button and searched around to see what was going on and I discovered the negative battery cable had gotten quite hot.

What could be causing this? I know with cars this usually means the grounds need to be cleaned up but figured I'd see your guys thoughts.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Normallysailing]

The cable itself or its terminations may have suffered corrosion. I'd replace it.

 

[artr]

I would clean up the connections, inspect the ends of the wire where they go into the connectors for corrosion and measure the cable resistance(should be zero). If that all checks out, try them again any see if it cranks normal and no heat or smoke, else replace.

 

[etemplet]

Could be the starter.

 

[NickCawks]

Thanks for the advice fellas. All my stuff is in a moving truck and has already passed delivery date. So I have no idea when it will be here. I've got a spool of cable with it so I'll replace it once they arrived.

I'll check on the starter as well though it was rebuilt not to long ago so I hope it's not that

 

[etemplet]

Good Luck with your move !!

 

[NickCawks]

Thanks. I've left Colorado and moved to an unnamed location with huge lakes all around. Looking forward to next summer to do some exploring.

It is a big upgrade on lakes and a small downgrade on working on my skis as I no longer have a garage big enough to accommodate my trailer