 I'm sure I heard that if you don't put them on in the right order or you get sparks every where?
I've got to put a new battery in the T4 Van today, as it's holding no power and won't charge up at all.
So is it tru i have to remove the cables and put them back on in a special order?
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 The theory is you should disconnect the earth (-) first & reconnect it last.
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God bless this fountain of knowledge that is BM
Cheers Nobby
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 don't forget the copper grease
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Copper grease...would WD40 do?
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 no, margarine might work and BHB, the red goes on the + and black on the -
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| Edited: 14/10/09 11:22 |
 Is that true. I have always just banged em on without any consideration to which one i do first.
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 me too, never made any difference, if your not sure which is the + or - you can use your tongue to test the terminals.
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 I was told if you lay a spanner across the two terminals of the battery in will boil and eventually explode!
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Is that true. I have always just banged em on without any consideration to which one i do first.
Don't tell the guys in your workshops 
If in doubt, ask Haynes.
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If you think thats confusing you should try having to fit batteries to a truck. They are 24V and need two batteries fitted together. I once had the job of doing that and my bum was trembling waiting for the bang  In the end i bottled it and got one of the apprentices to blow himself up. Apparently it makes quite a good firework display
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 Festooned in jism?
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| Edited: 14/10/09 12:18 |
I had an ex army Rover that had a 24v battery.
The copper grease should have come with a ;-P btw.
Maybe I was confusing it with jump starts I know they spark like hell if you don't get it the right way...I'm just terrible with remembering these things so much so I've written down which way to unscrew my pedals and the like.
The van's no properly working and the old one is dead, fully wet but utterly dead
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 Smear the terminals with vaseline, much more betterer.
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I'll pop down halfords anyway, someone said use copper grease for BB's which could be usefull in the future. Mrs would probably call it a bodge job if I used vaseline I reckon
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Reason for doing earth -ve first/last is purely in case when unbolting/bolting the +ve you happen to touch any part of the car with the spanner you are using, it doesn't short and melt the spanner and your hand.
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 How do you know the batteries knackerd billy boy? Isnt it holding its charge on the van or have you tried a home charger on it? If its not holding its charge in the van have you checked the alternater? *awaits abuse*
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I'd thought about the alternator, but we've had it on home charge and just nothing at all.
Alternator is about 6months old
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