There are a couple times a year when humidity, heat, or cold, and other elements, result in battery problems.
WHAT KIND OF PROBLEMS?
The problems that are most common result in battery draw or insulation from recharging. When starting,  there is a big current draw to turn the engine over. When charging at low current flow,  it takes very little resistance to reduce or prevent charging the battery from the generator. What kind of resistance? Any kind of corrosion as shown in the photo. Or a “blackening” of the positive or negative terminal. All terminals and cable connectors need to be cleaned to a Bright Color to make a good low resistance connection. If you have any White or Green Stuff on your your battery terminals, you also probably have conductivity across the top of the battery positive to negative terminals. This is a very low current draw on your battery. Over time your battery can go dead. Clean the terminals and the battery top with Baking Soda and Water.

Are you building your dream car or are you contemplating buying a custom one-of-a-kind car that was built by someone else? I have bought a few custom built cars over the years. Many of these car builds were done by “professional” builders. Others were done by guys just building their dream machine. For me,  many of them had one big mistake in common. You would think, with all the very nice after-market wiring kits out there, rewiring an old car or building a new one would be easy and without any mistakes. Well, from my perspective,  a very common simple, overlooked problem plagues many “one off” builds. Even cars built by “big time” builders.

Has this every happened to you? You are driving down the road in your custom ride. It’s got a super paint job. It has an awesome interior, a thunderous engine, and a head turning sound. You’re crusin. You’re getting looks and “thumbs up”.  Your car suddenly quits… Dead… You are sitting there thinking “what the heck happened?” After a little help and advice from bystanders watching you ponder your problem under the hood of your ride, you think “the electric fuel pump isn’t working.” Somewhere you come up with a test light and discover you have no “power” at the pump. Well, all you have to do now is look at the “fuel pump” fuse. “Holy Crap!  Where is the fuse block!?”

Well you can bet the fuse block is in the car somewhere, but where? I’ve been there.  Most builders put fuse blocks in a very logical place, then build the car around it, hiding the fuses from plain sight. If you didn’t build the car,  you probably didn’t get any instructions on how to access the fuses. Finding the fuse block can be a nightmare. Once located,  seeing, checking or removing a fuse can only be accomplished by a contortionist!

If you are building a car, spend a lot of time contemplating the location for your fuse block. If you buy a custom built car,  ask and document the location of fuses, relays, and wire looms. Troubleshooting an electrical problem with poorly placed fuses and wiring can be a nightmare! If a wiring diagram didn’t come with your custom build,  see if you can “pick the brain” of the builder.  Take notes.  If you can’t trace the build history… well…. good luck!

Sooner or later you will have to check a fuse. If “Murphy” has anything to do with the timing for a fuse check, it will be at a time and place that will have you exclaiming, “who put it there!!?”