Battery leads

ifm61

I own a 1998 Ford Wagon SE and would like to replace both the positive and negative battery leads due to corrosion. what gauge/type/length do I need, rather than walk into Lordco with a handful of corroded wiring !

93tracker5spd

Hello! If your electrical system is stock without a towing pkg., your alternator will put out between 90 and 98 amps, a 2G wire will handle this with no problem. If you have a factory towing pkg., your alternator will be any where from 130 to 170 amp, and you will want 0G wire for this application. You sound like a person who is interested in doing this right, so follow your negative cable to its termination chassis ground and disconnect it and measure it, then allow 2 inches extra for striping and soldering, use only solder-on lugs (both ends), and tin the wire and use past flux before soldering. Do the same for the positive wire, (it will terminate at the starter solenoid. always disconnect the Negative wire first and reconnect the Negative wire last when doing any electrical work. The link to this information you requested in here (http://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/WP_BatteryCableGuide_0512.pdf). To protect against future corrosion you can apply a little die-electric grease to the soldered connection after it cools and to both battery terminals. Good luck and have a great day!

Mr_Shiftright

Why don't you just order up a set ready-made? If you make up your own you may not be able to seal the cable to the connectors properly. The bolt-on post connectors are not a great solution.

ifm61

that's not an answer, it just defers the question

texases

It's the best answer for a long-lived solution to your problem. Otherwise, just take off the old ones, wipe 'em down with a paper towel, and take them wherever you buy your cable.

ifm61

i was hoping to be informed what gauge and length i'd need for a negative cable. sure, i could just bring the old one in, but that's not really an answer, its merely an option. i can't seem to find any specifics on line and hoped someone, such as yourselves, would be in a position to inform me

stever

It might help is we knew if you had an Escort or Taurus wagon (we had both in SE flavours in the US), but still seems easier to pull the cables and grab a ride to the parts place if you don't want to track down a kit..

texases

Length and gauge of wires is not something you'll find listed anywhere, as far as I know.

thecardoc3

The batter cables can be looked up by make, model, year, engine, and transmission. "Assuming" for instance that this wagon is a Taurus with a 3.0l Both cables would be 6ga. The ground cable is serviced with a part like this Wells cable, Part # 1J1338 and the positive cable from the battery to the starter is Motorcraft PN # WC95844

ifm61

the car is a 1998 ford escort wagon se (sohc) but i'd also be interested if you could provide a link to where such info can be searched for