melted battery terminal

[cbordea]

Hi folks, on Saturday my kids parked our cart. Maybe an hour laterwhen I went to move it, it wouldn't move.
I lifted the seat and saw one of the terminals was melted off.

I was able to return the battery to Advance Auto and they replaced it without a fuss. The guy did say that the battery didn't cause the issue and I needed to look into it.

On Friday I checked my water levels and made sure everything was tight and fixed an issue with my headlight wiring.

My cables are older but I don't see any corrosion issues at the terminal ends. The only issue I can see is there is some buildup of the chalky stuff inside the wire of the offending battery. Where the buildup is the most prevalent though is on the other end of that cable, not the end that actually melted.

My cart also has an issue where the "gas" pedal doesn't come all the way back up. I've tried to teach the kids to turn the cart off everytime you stop but they didn't this time.

Do you think the pedal being pressed slightly for an hr caused the post to melt or do you think the wire had something to do with it or a combination of both? We've driven the cart a good bit, some times as much as maybe 2hrs during a day and had no issues.

I keep messing with the pedal trying to get it to come all the way back up but haven't solved that issue yet.

below is a pic of the terminal that got fried. Is that considered battery number 1 or number 6?

[rib33024]

Yes to all the problems that you posted, you need to get the pedal fixed, and from the sounds of things with the cables, all of them need to be replaced, and there could of been a loose connection on that post that melted,, now for the battery at auto zone , i didn't know they sell golf cart batteries, it is a golf cart battery and NOT a car battery????

and for the Kids, well

[cbordea]

I'm going to fix the pedal. I was thinking about upgrading the cables anyway, it might help with speed/torque by going to a 4ga cable.

I was just verifying my suspicions in case there was anything else it could be.
I had just checked all the terminals the day before so unless it vibrated loose in one day, they should have all been tight.

Advance carries golf cart,lawn and garden, motorcycle, marine as well as automotive.
It is made by Johnson Controls.