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Just wanted to say thanks for this post!

I got my first '94 Caprice back in 2006. Less than 40k miles driven by a little old lady, friend of the family. That car had the post completely melt down on a road trip about a year after I got her... was a somewhat expensive fix at the local shop.

Well, that car was totaled a couple years ago by a truck who decided he wanted to be in my lane, so I replaced it with another 1994 Caprice :grin2:. This girl is now starting to show electrical issues and they are getting worse. I opened up my hood and what did I find? That post was extremely hot and starting to melt the plastic cap.

I plan to order the kit and do the replacement. Let's hope that solves my electrical problems!
 
Just wanted to say thanks for this post!

I got my first '94 Caprice back in 2006. Less than 40k miles driven by a little old lady, friend of the family. That car had the post completely melt down on a road trip about a year after I got her... was a somewhat expensive fix at the local shop.

Well, that car was totaled a couple years ago by a truck who decided he wanted to be in my lane, so I replaced it with another 1994 Caprice :grin2:. This girl is now starting to show electrical issues and they are getting worse. I opened up my hood and what did I find? That post was extremely hot and starting to melt the plastic cap.

I plan to order the kit and do the replacement. Let's hope that solves my electrical problems!
You didn't indicate the "electrical issues" you were seeing in your "old girl" but having the post replaced is a step in the right direction. This helps to eliminate something bad happening and/or cause a bad fire.

One thing if I could recommend is that you also address the negative side of the system and give some attention to the grounds. If you are going to tackle this repair, then cleaning up the grounds should be a piece o cake. I was having electrical issues I was not happy with, poor charging, flickering lights etc. already had the brass post on my 95 so was all set there.

Figured with nearly 20 years on my old girl, it was time to clean up the grounds in the engine bay. There is primarily 3 areas to focus on.....1) fender ground, 2) battery cable mounted above top left of the timing cover on the block, 3) group of 3 or 4 heavy gauge (10 or 12 awg?) with metal rings mounted at the icm/coil assembly.

On #1, I removed the star washer setup and used a nut-sert instead on the fender. If you can't do that, at a minimum remove it and clean it to make a solid metal connection to the fender. Use some dielectric grease on all the connections you clean too.

On #2, remove it, clean off all the grease/dirt/gunk from over the years and clean it and grease the connection.

On #3, remove all the ring terminals, clean both sides of each terminal and inspect the connection of the metal ring to wire crimp closely. Had to replace one of the ring terminals there. Again, clean up all the connection points and reattach with dielectric grease.

On last bit of advice if you can afford it, consider new battery cables. These can look fine, but over the years, can develop internal corrosion that you can't see real well, but can impede the flow of current. A great option to consider here above a stock replacemnt cable, is a set of cables from Gary at innovativewiring.com. Great product!!

After doing all of the above years ago, my electrical system has been working flawlessly and no more symptoms that I used to see. Well worth the effort.
 
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Electrical Problems I've seen

Thanks for the directions, 4DoorSS! I try to clean up all those connections.

(BTW, to the moderator, this can be split off to a new main post if it's too off topic.)

The issues I am having with my current Caprice are a lot of the same things I've been hearing around here.

First of all, the Voltmeter on my dash is always low. With my old Caprice, after the post fix, I always had the Voltmeter gauge show strong, right in the middle (around 15-16 volts). This Caprice always runs on the low end, closer to the "low voltage" marker than the middle, if that makes sense. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my Alternator, though. It was replaced about a year ago along with my belt and my personal multi-meter shows it putting out about 15.8 Volts. I also had it tested at Advance Auto just to make sure and they didn't find anything wrong or anything draining my system.

When I turn on the AC blower or the lights, the voltage drops pretty badly. When I have AC, lights, and am rolling down the windows all at the same time, it can put my into a low voltage territory. The blinkers and my side-lights also drop the voltage.

Over the past few months, I've had an intermittent issue getting the car to start. The battery will not be well charged and I will have to turn on accessories and wait for a couple seconds for my car to "warm up" (maybe charge the solonoid?) before the starter will work. I don't know why it does that. Sometimes I also have to make sure I've turned off my AC blower.

I thought maybe my Battery was bad, so I took my car back to Walmart and had it replaced. I was 1 week away from my 3-year warranty running out, so it was free. (That's why I always get my batteries from Walmart, LOL, because I know they will always go slightly bad within the 3 years so I can get them replaced for free. Plus, wherever I am there will be a Walmart nearby in case of emergency.)

Finally, I had an electrical "incident" on my drive home last Friday. As I was driving home, my car dropped into Low Voltage territory. I immediately turned off all electrical because I thought my Alternator had failed. I was able to make it home but it didn't seem right. I popped the hood and tested the alternator... which was fine. It was then that I noticed how hot my Fuse box with the Auxiliary Post had become and there was definite evidence of prior melting.

So, my plan is to change out this post, clean up all those connections, and then see how she runs. If necessary, I will also replace some battery cables!



You didn't indicate the "electrical issues" you were seeing in your "old girl" but having the post replaced is a step in the right direction. This helps to eliminate something bad happening and/or cause a bad fire.

One thing if I could recommend is that you also address the negative side of the system and give some attention to the grounds. If you are going to tackle this repair, then cleaning up the grounds should be a piece o cake. I was having electrical issues I was not happy with, poor charging, flickering lights etc. already had the brass post on my 95 so was all set there.

Figured with nearly 20 years on my old girl, it was time to clean up the grounds in the engine bay. There is primarily 3 areas to focus on.....1) fender ground, 2) battery cable mounted above top left of the timing cover on the block, 3) group of 3 or 4 heavy gauge (10 or 12 awg?) with metal rings mounted at the icm/coil assembly.

On #1, I removed the star washer setup and used a nut-sert instead on the fender. If you can't do that, at a minimum remove it and clean it to make a solid metal connection to the fender. Use some dielectric grease on all the connections you clean too.

On #2, remove it, clean off all the grease/dirt/gunk from over the years and clean it and grease the connection.

On #3, remove all the ring terminals, clean both sides of each terminal and inspect the connection of the metal ring to wire crimp closely. Had to replace one of the ring terminals there. Again, clean up all the connection points and reattach with dielectric grease.

On last bit of advice if you can afford it, consider new battery cables. These can look fine, but over the years, can develop internal corrosion that you can't see real well, but can impede the flow of current. A great option to consider here above a stock replacemnt cable, is a set of cables from Gary at innovativewiring.com. Great product!!

After doing all of the above years ago, my electrical system has been working flawlessly and no more symptoms that I used to see. Well worth the effort.
 
I think we are fine off topic a little since these things (as they often do) lead to other things. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing...not sure. 0:)


After confirming I already had the Brass Post, I wanted to figure out why I was having some of the symptoms you described. Things like flickering lights on the dash, battery drops with AC and even when using the turn signals you could see the gauge jumping in sync with signals. Alternator output voltage was well within spec so I knew that was ok. I was planning on upgrading the battery cables anyway due to a GP that was going on at the time.


When I replaced my cables with a set from Gary, I also decided to clean up all the grounds and do a different mount on the Fender ground to something more secure. So it's hard to say which in particular had a better effect, but doing both made a heck of an improvement. Some guys have even added extra grounds which is still on my todo list but with things good now I haven't bothered.


At this point you got nothing to lose by just cleaning up the grounds and inspect your battery cables closely and see what happens. Don't rely on your gauge from one car showing differently on this car as there could be differences between the 2. Your best bet here is a DVM for testing and rely on the gauge just for keeping a quick eye on things.
 
Reporting back to let you know what happened. Wow, what a difference!

I PMed Mike, aka "HamiltonChevrolet", and he sent me the eBay link for the ABP kit. It arrived today via Priority Mail and I couldn't wait to install it!

I started by trying to take off the old piece. While trying to use my ratchet to remove the top bolt from the post, the whole post snapped in half. Well, that's one way to get the power cable free. Similarly, when I started unscrewing the side bolt the plastic just split apart. At this point I cleaned up everything best I could and got it ready for replacement.

Putting the new post back on was pretty easy. I started crossthreading the reciever of the side-bolt at first but caught my mistake early enough to fix it. You've gotta be careful with the brass since it is softer than the zinc.

As has been recommended by others, I also installed a new grounding bolt for the fender grounding connection near the battery. I drilled a new hole,scraped away the paint, and put in a proper bolt with a nut instead of a sheet-metal screw. This should have a really good connection.

Once everything was back in place I started up my car. It fired up instantly and the idling power level showing on my dash voltmeter is higher than it ever was before. From the couple miles that I drove tonight it seems to have fixed all my problems!

Thanks to 4DoorSS and all the other posts that were so helpful. I really appreciate it.
 

Attachments

While explaining this issue to a friend, I mentioned that it was a recommended repair by GM. A little bit of searching led me to the explanation that this was a Technical Service Bulletin: TSB 43-81-48.

Can anyone tell me how to get a hold of this official documentation? Also, where can I read up on all the Technical Service Bulletins for my Caprice? Any help would be appreciated!
 
I recently replaced my Aux post on my 94 as well.Got my new brass post from Mike up at Hamilton,awesome guy and parts source!

Here's a few pics of how those to maxi fuse plates fit. I caught mine just in time it was heating up.Had flickering lights for a week before I changed the post.

Jim
 
Hello everyone,

ran into this issue yesterday and found this post. Wanted to update the order information since I spent 2 hours finding this part. Hamilton Chevy in Missouri has them in stock on eBay.Here is the link. Hopefully this saves everyone else some time.


now I just have to change it once it’s delivered. Great write up here nick!
-Cameron
 
Hello everyone,

ran into this issue yesterday and found this post. Wanted to update the order information since I spent 2 hours finding this part. Hamilton Chevy in Missouri has them in stock on eBay.Here is the link. Hopefully this saves everyone else some time.


now I just have to change it once it’s delivered. Great write up here nick!
-Cameron
Thaat's Mike at Hamilton Chevrolet in Detroit Michigan.Good people.
 
Someone asked me for more details about how the clips are arranged.

OH CRAP there's of these darn clips!!!
Might have just found why I couldn't get mine out no matter how I held my lips!
I was in the process of replacing battery cables with Gary's set and a Corvette starter and what the hell, gone this far, might as well redo this too. No matter how I tried, no joy. Seems like advanced lock picking. Oh well. Figured Id just clean it up good and put it back together. For the record, the post is brass, not having any electrical issues. Did find a lot of Corrosion though. Now I'll have to try again. Picture in stickie gave me the impression only 2 clips, not 4.
Yes I know this is an old thread.
 
Here's a few pics of when I replaced the post/nut on my 94 Caprice if it helps.
JIm
Wow, thanx for your pics. Armed with this new info Im gonna try again to get those stupid plates out.
In your picture 5848, did you have to pull that gray comb like part to pull those plates?
Nothing wrong with the sticky Nick Danger wrote, just 1 picture of plates, for me was not the whole picture. His picture only showed 2 clips and didn't explain times 4, or i missed it.
Thanx again. The adventure continues..
 
Wow, thanx for your pics. Armed with this new info Im gonna try again to get those stupid plates out.
In your picture 5848, did you have to pull that gray comb like part to pull those plates?
Nothing wrong with the sticky Nick Danger wrote, just 1 picture of plates, for me was not the whole picture. His picture only showed 2 clips and didn't explain times 4, or i missed it.
Thanx again. The adventure continues..
Thanx to the OP, Nick Danger and Jimpala95, I managed to get those dang plates out to replace the aux battery post. Came apart easy peasy.
 
Recently got around to doing the ABP swap on my 94 RMW. The old one failed long ago and the previous owner "fixed" it using a stainless steel 5/16" bolt. Put in a new one with the help of this forum. Also replaced the ground attachment on the fender at the same time. Annoying part throttle stumble, random flickering of the headlights, all GONE!!!! I had a bit of difficulty removing the bottom half of the housing, but once I got it out and saw how it slid into the notches it made sense.
Image


Image
 
If your '94's aux battery post next to the fuse box looks like this, the car will soon look like this as well. Replace with brass. (pic from FB)
Image
 
Hello everyone, I tried contacting Mike at Hamilton Chevy, he said they quit making them two years ago and he doesn’t know anywhere to pick one up. Do any of you guys happen to have any laying around or have any ideas on how to fix it?
 
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