Put a new battery in my wifes 04 MC about a month ago and the positive cable manages to come loose every week since then like clockwork. Im getting plenty of torque on the thing and its tight but wont stay on. Anybody else ever run into similar situation?

 

Had a battery in another car where the terminal was a hair too thin for the cable clamp. I think when you crank down on the connector it is bottoming out yet not really tight on the cable.

Choices are to cut off the clamp and replace it with one that closes more which I passed on....but replacement terminals are safe and reliable if applied correctly.

Or put a shim on the terminal. I got a small strip of copper..very thin, like 20 gauge, cut it so I could place a wrap around the terminal - once around, no overlap - then put the clamp over that. It provided more than enuf extra thickness for the clamp to actually grab....

You could use any mild steel I suppose but a good hardware store should be able to help you with some copper. I would not use aluminum.

I'd say the shim must wrap all the way around the terminal tho...don't just use a 'pin'...you need the contact area to remain the same.

You could also just work on the clamp...open it up a bit where the screw goes thru and file off some metal from the facing surfaces so it can clamp together tighter.... end result is the same. I think your clamp is bottoming out b4 it grips the terminal well.

 

The copper idea sounds good....The clamp on the Mini is aluminum and wont "deform" to match the post the way a conventional lead or zinc clamp might. Im going to get out my micrometer and check the posts O.D and the clamps I.D. Thanks!