positive battery cable getting hot

[collins10672]

i have a 1995 silverado that has been setting in the garage since december without being started.since i have owned the truck if you leave the battery hot cable attached to the battery it will drain the battery in about 3 weeks.so i keep the positive cable unhooked.i attached the cable yesterday and the underhood light burned strong,but it would not start so i tried to boost it off and still would not start.so i take the battery off and charge it all night long and put it back on the truck this morning and still would not start.when i put the battery back on the positive cable is getting hot.also i have noticed that the key switch seems hard to turn.the truck is a 4.3 5 speed.any input and help would be greatly appreciated.thank you

[Mr_Rich]

You might have two problems. First off you probably have internal corrosion in the battery cable causing high resistance which is the reason for the heat. Verify the voltage of the battery and the amperage drain of the charging circuit. I smell smoke on this one.

[speedygonzales]

Based on what you are saying, it sounds as though the positive cable is getting hot even when nothing is turned on. Is that correct?

To save a little time if that is the case, you should do a few things.

Assuming it is getting hot, you will not be able to measure the current draw with a normal multimeter since it will require more than 10AMPs to make the cable hot.

With regard to high draw, I've seen time and again, aftermarket audio equipment and alarms are the reason for it. So if you have any aftermarket audio equipment or alarms, disconnect them and try this.

Remove the positive cable from the battery and just touch it back to the battery post and look for a strong spark.

If it does have a strong spark, start removing loads one at a time then touch the cable back to the battery. When the spark becomes tiny, you have found the cause of the load.

Start with a single fuse at a time. If that does not produce a tiny spark, unplug the ignition switch.

Once you get to the point where the draw is reasonable (less than 10amps) you can start looking with an amp meter.

NOTE: One word of caution regarding amp meters. Regular multimeters (not inductive) have fuses for current measurement. I have yet to see someone elses meter have fuses that were NOT blown. The problem with that is if you are looking at a circuit that should have no current draw and the fuses are blow, you will see NO current. Be sure you measure a known current draw to be sure your fuses are not blown before you look for ZERO current draw.

[collins10672]

thanks to both of you for your expert opinions.i really need to replace the positive cable anyway.the truck does have a aftermarket cd player which does not currently work.i thought the slow drain might have something to do with the aftermarket cd player because all other wiring looks to be untampered with.thank you all very much.

[speedygonzales]

Originally Posted by collins10672

i really need to replace the positive cable anyway.the truck does have a aftermarket cd player which does not currently work.i thought the slow drain might have something to do with the aftermarket cd player because all other wiring looks to be untampered with.thank you all very much.

Did you mean TAMPERED with?????? Cause if it was un-tampered with, it would appear to be factory by my thinking.

You didn't answer the question if it was getting hot with everything OFF which is NOT the cable.

[collins10672]

i only noticed it getting hot when i was tinkering with it trying to get it to start.i do not know if it was because i reconnected it or not i will check into it futher and get back to you.thank you very much.

[Tom]

Constant cranking sends alot of energy and therefor heat threw the wire.
If it gets hot just sitting there without cranking the engine you have larger problems