jenny

1997 Ford Escort Negative Battery cable

The negative battery cable has a plastic junction box with little connectors. Mine got corroded so bad that one connector came off. The plastic is old and falling apart. Ford house wants $240.00 for the positive and negative cable "set". I can't afford that. Can I just get all the wires and connect them with a heavy duty "eye" electrical connector and connect it to a new REGULAR battery cable? Please help.... I have a dead car.

89blaze

You should be able to as long as the junction box you describe is just that. Make sure you get a good solid connection to all your grounds and you should be fine.

msargent

I think if you call the dealer back, and ask for JUST the negative cable, you'll find the price is quite a bit lower.. I'll bet the majority of the cost they quoted you is for the posative cable assembly..
I did one for a customer about a week or so ago, and the posative battery cable was actually an entire wire harness. It was the battery cable, fuse/relay juntion box, starter and alternator harness.. The cost of that thing was somewhere around $175 (not counting labor). It can't hurt to double check about the negative cable only, and have it back OEM..

Joe_F

See if Motocraft shows an equivalent part # at www.motorcraft.com

Motorcraft is the aftermarket arm of Ford. Same part. It will likely be cheaper than the dealer.

jenny

Did call the Ford dealer...

and they said the cables don't sell separately. They said they only sold as a set...at $240 dollars.

I did have my boyfriend look at the box.... it has a bunch of female electrical spade connectors that connect to a big copper piece that only connected to the battery terminal. The corroded wire that came apart was one of the spade connectors.

To me, this is just a way to make someone pay for dumb cables. The four wires involved are about the size of speaker wires.

thanks for all the replies.... I think I'm gonna try the eyehole thing.

Jenny

Joe_F

Correct. But you didn't see if Motorcraft has an equivalent part # for less .

You can buy Ford parts under the M/C logo at parts stores that distribute them for less (I do ). See if there is a M/C equal.

jenny

Thanks....

I called the service department of the local Ford house and they said what I suspected. I can tie all the wires together and bypass the plastic junction block. I'm gonna do what you said and buy an aftermarket Motorcraft part and then tie in the loose wires.

Thanks for your replies.... I appreciate it..... wooohooooo ....I'm gonna have a running car again!!!!

Jen.

Joe_F

Lol. Follow me

The Motorcraft part IS the Ford part, it's just sold through the parts stores, not the dealer (typically cheaper too). Don't bypass anything, fix it as original. The junction box protects the connections, that's why they have it

Motorcraft MAY not have an equivalent (not all Ford #s do), so check their website or with any parts store that handles their product .

jenny

All Fixed

Joe, I checked with Motorcraft and they didn't have the part so I had to do what you didn't recommend. I went ahead and bypassed the plastic box... I used heavy guage wire and used a battery type terminal connector and connected it. My car started up fine but the battery idiot light was still on.

I finally gave up and took the car to a shop where they diagnosed an alternator problem. Seems that with the old broke connector the battery got too low and the alternator worked too hard and burned up. My boyfriend replaced the alternator.... the light is out... and the car is running fine.... no battery light...nothing.

I will keep an eye on the makeshift connector for corrosion.

I want to thank you for your help and advise. You do a lot of help here...I've read where you help a lot of people out...saving them time...and money. Thank you sincerely....Jenny.