Hi all,

My 2012 escape V6 AWD is having starting issues today. Tried a jumps the starter was clicking but no luck. Pulled the leads off the battery and found the positive terminal connection cracked and the terminal appeared damaged. After trying to start I was getting some strange connection issues, seemed like a short somewhere. Does anyone have some ideas on this? Could the starter be bad causing excessive amp draw?

 

The terminal looks corroded not melted to me. Is the battery connection getting hot? Resistance from corrosion in an electrical circuit will produce heat. You need to remove and clean all B+ and ground connections, not just look at them and claim they look good. A DVM can be used to confirm sufficient energy is being applied to the starter under load and if you are able, you can use a jumper cable to jump directly from the positive battery post directly to the starter. If you are still experiencing difficulties after cleaning everything up and confirming sufficient power is appied at the starter, you might want to remove the starter to have it tested at your parts store. Any shorts in the system will likely drain the battery. A diode can short in the alternator and quickly drain the battery.This is where your DVM will pay for itself to confirm faults without doing the parts guessing game.

 

Thanks for the response. Yes there could definitely be corrosion. We live on a tropical island, the car definitely sees its share of salt air. I’ll start by pulling the grounds and see where we go.

Yes the positive battery connection was hot before I disconnected it. The positive terminal is definitely somewhat misshapen. Battery does appear to be good still, at least based on the indicator on it. Will get it checked tomorrow.