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550Doug

Member
Location
Southern Ontario
I put in a new battery in my 97 Buick and when I connected the POS post I got a spark. I suspected a short somewhere but after pulling fuses and checking, I couldn't find any circuit that stopped the sparking at the post. Is the draw by the car's computer and security system sufficient to do this?
When driving the gauge info indicates 12.8 to 13.3 volts and I think it should be up around 14v. Do I have a short? Any suggestions on tracing it? Do I also have an alternator problem?

Thanks
 
The spark is normal when connecting a cable to a battery, particularly on a car with multiple on-board controllers. Don't trust your car gauge. Use a DVOM connected to your positive and negative cables. You should have 14.6v at idle with accessories off.
 
hello Doug.
Battery voltage shoul be at 14V while charging a good battery. It may still need to charged.
Check voltage output at the alternator and see what you get. You may have 14v at the alternator while the battery comes to full charge. Also make a check of the battery voltage with the engine stopped.
It it is 12.6V then it is not charging enough.
Small spark is normal when connecting the battery.
Guido.
 
Do you have a light under the hood, or have the doors open? Either way you'd have some load when you connect the battery. A small load is normal.

By the way, you should connect the positive lead first & then the negative lead. If you connect the negative lead first, you'll get a nice light show if the wrench on the positive terminal slips & hits metal anywhere. If the negative lead isn't connected, there's no circuit & nothing will happen. If you connect the negative lead last & the wrench slips, nothing will happen because the negative lead is already connected to the chassis.

Keith
 
radio memory, underhood light, EMC, etc all require power....really should plug a "memory saver" into the cigarette lighter when swapping out batteries these days, often have driveability issues after the swap if you do not (to say nothing of reprogramming clock, radio presets, etc). 9v radio batt wired to cigarette lighter plug will do it.
 
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