My starter wire keeps falling off

[Topgeartom]

As above really. The exciter wire which is a simple spade connection with the starter, just keeps wriggling itself off the terminal on the starter.

Its getting really annoying. Thought id solved it recently by crimping the female lead in slightly so as to grip tighter onto the terminal, but after 2 weeks of smooth running, today i got back in the car after a long drive, turned the key and nothing happened.

Im currently carrying a trolley jack around in the boot for situations like today when you have to jack the car up, and get your whole arm through the arch and up to the back of the engine to plug it back on.

Need some ideas.

Would glue work or would that shag the connection?
Ive already crimped in the female end as mentioned, which has definately made it a tighter fit, but its still falling off pretty easy.

Any help much appreciated

Tom

 

[sideways danny]

had similar on my mk1 actually, I changed the terminal entirely for a new spade, and made sure it was a good tight fit, with some slack on the wire

 

[Topgeartom]

Thanks for that Danny. i think thats half the problem, the wire is quite short so not only is the terminal not gripping hard enough, bumps and jolts are actually pulling it off.

Because the wire is so short it would be virtually impossible to get in and solder some more length onto it as far as i can see.

 

[biojo]

y solder, just use them screw terminal blocks. or crimp extender

 

[DannyR]

solder is a lot more reliable!

 

[sideways danny]

solder is a lot more reliable!

actually, it's recommended to use crimped connectors on automotive due to vibration

 

[DannyR]

I've never had soldered connections pull apart before or lose connectivity between each side

 

[Topgeartom]

I found some 5amp female spade connectors which would have been perfect - just needed to find some wire to go with them and a connector. Then stumbled across the same connector with a nice length of wire already crimped on from my OMP hub kit.

Only had a terminal block available so used that its a pretty solid setup by the looks of things.
The extra length should stop it being 'pulled out' while the new connector was much tighter on the terminal so shouldnt vibrate or wiggle loose as nearly as easily as the old one.

hopefully job done.

Thanks for everyones advice.