£60 for a battery terminal clamp nut and bolt!?
£60 for a battery terminal clamp nut and bolt!?
Author
Discussion

Lungauer

Original Poster:

318 posts

181 months

Friday 6th December 2013
quotequote all
As usual a simple DIY job takes longer than it should and on hard-wiring the Ctek to my GTS I have a problem with the nut and bolt that tightens the clamp to the battery post (whoever put it on did it cross threaded). So simple enough I think - I'll get the OPC to post one out to me. But no. Have to have the 'terminal spares kit', including cables and gawd knows what else for £60.

Does anyone know what size bolt and nut it is (it's the positive terminal side) and if it's anything special - stainless or something? Presumably I can get one somewhere else without invalidating the Porsche warranty!?

Thanks

Trev450

6,746 posts

201 months

Friday 6th December 2013
quotequote all
Any bolt that will fit through the clamp and is long enough to get a nut on will do.


Lungauer

Original Poster:

318 posts

181 months

Friday 6th December 2013
quotequote all
Can't get the bolt out without disconnecting the battery, which I don't want to do until I have a new one. Guess I can use just the nut to size it up.

Presumably I can use a donor battery to maintain electrical supply when the time comes (have to lift the clamp off to be able to remove the damaged bolt)? Or am I being paranoid? You hear horror stories about problems when the battery is disconnected.

Sorry - bit of a technical numpty!

stuttgartmetal

8,152 posts

245 months

Friday 6th December 2013
quotequote all
take it to kwikfit.

thegoose

8,077 posts

239 months

Friday 6th December 2013
quotequote all
You can probably keep the car powered up by connecting a battery to the emergency terminal in the fuse box - check in your manual for a picture.

Any bolt will do, so long as it doesn't protrude anywhere (which may risk it shorting out on the body).

supersport

4,630 posts

256 months

Friday 6th December 2013
quotequote all
As long as it isn't locked you will be fine disconnecting the battery.

996TT02

3,342 posts

169 months

Friday 6th December 2013
quotequote all
supersport said:
As long as it isn't locked you will be fine disconnecting the battery.
And if it's anything like the 996 you need the key in the ignition to prevent the alarm going off, so check this (or just leave the key in the ignition...)

Don't know what you have but most bolts are M6 or M8 on battery clamps.

maxpaul

451 posts

233 months

Saturday 7th December 2013
quotequote all
Just make sure you put ignition to position 2 and the alarm won't sound whilst you disconnect the battery. clock will need resetting!
Any nut and bolt that fits will be OK may be a good time to upgrade to stainless.

maxpaul

451 posts

233 months

Saturday 7th December 2013
quotequote all
Just make sure you put ignition to position 2 and the alarm won't sound whilst you disconnect the battery. clock will need resetting!
Any nut and bolt that fits will be OK may be a good time to upgrade to stainless.

maxpaul

451 posts

233 months

Saturday 7th December 2013
quotequote all
Just make sure you put ignition to position 2 and the alarm won't sound whilst you disconnect the battery. clock will need resetting!
Any nut and bolt that fits will be OK may be a good time to upgrade to stainless.

Cobnapint

10,070 posts

180 months

Saturday 7th December 2013
quotequote all
stuttgartmetal said:
take it to kwikfit.
hehe

Cobnapint

10,070 posts

180 months

Saturday 7th December 2013
quotequote all
maxpaul said:
Just make sure you put ignition to position 2 and the alarm won't sound whilst you disconnect the battery. clock will need resetting!
Any nut and bolt that fits will be OK may be a good time to upgrade to stainless.
We heard you the fifth time....

chrisbeardshaw

9 posts

252 months

Saturday 7th December 2013
quotequote all
Erm, I tried this exact same 2 minute job just last week on my GTS.

Took far longer because the positive terminal bolt appeared to be cross threaded!

I managed to replace the bolt with a spare from my toolbox without any issues.

On looking at the bolt I had removed, it was actually bent, and hence the thread damaged. I suspect with replacements at £60 it might be a "design feature"

Bennachie

1,091 posts

180 months

Saturday 7th December 2013
quotequote all
The bolts on the battery terminals are 'captive' in that the thread at the no of the bolt is deformed to prevent their entire removal. For fitting C-Tek and the like it is easier to slot the ctek terminals - make them c washers instead of o washers and just slip them on. Forcibly removing the nut will result in terminal damage to the nut and the bolt.

spyderman8

1,748 posts

185 months

Sunday 8th December 2013
quotequote all
OP: DemonTweeks do battery terminals for £16.

I changed the battery on my 986 for a second time recently (first one lasted 5 years) and turning the key to position 1 was enough to stop the alarm sounding.

Martian O

2,734 posts

191 months

Sunday 8th December 2013
quotequote all
chrisbeardshaw said:
..........
Top lurking there Chris, 1 post in 9 years! biglaugh

mad4amanda

2,410 posts

193 months

Sunday 8th December 2013
quotequote all
Bennachie said:
The bolts on the battery terminals are 'captive' in that the thread at the no of the bolt is deformed to prevent their entire removal. For fitting C-Tek and the like it is easier to slot the ctek terminals - make them c washers instead of o washers and just slip them on. Forcibly removing the nut will result in terminal damage to the nut and the bolt.
Yep another fine design but this is very good advice.

hotpowner

158 posts

199 months

Tuesday 10th December 2013
quotequote all
Had the same problem fitting my Ctek
got 2 new terminal nuts and bolts from eurocarparts for £1.02 inc postage
part no bar183

Edited by hotpowner on Tuesday 10th December 16:08

Country Boy

300 posts

263 months

Tuesday 10th December 2013
quotequote all
If it's any help I bought a new battery online which was much cheaper and I was concerned about problems disconnecting the battery. I was armed with the radio code ready to re-input this and turned the key as instructed but I'd forgotten to switch off my Ctek. This kept the power so that even though I'd disconnected the battery the Ctek kept power to the car. Took the dud battery out, put in the new one, reconnected, and no rekey of radio code or alarm issues.

69.9mph

47 posts

257 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
quotequote all
Many thanks for this advice. Been trying all week to size the thread on my battery post clamp (Jag xkr, sorry wrong forum) prior to fitting ctek - this might have prevented me from suffering "terminal damage" (very good).

Bennachie said:
The bolts on the battery terminals are 'captive' in that the thread at the no of the bolt is deformed to prevent their entire removal. For fitting C-Tek and the like it is easier to slot the ctek terminals - make them c washers instead of o washers and just slip them on. Forcibly removing the nut will result in terminal damage to the nut and the bolt.