will a loose battery connection drain my battery?

[slikmunks]

My car has been having battery problems lately. The car would struggle to pull juice to turn and start unless i had just driven it and the engine was still warm... but i came home late last night, went to bed, woke up this morning, and it did it again... so i was like, ok, this is getting out of hand, so i open up my hood, look, and my connections are loose... but here's the thing... i spent like 20 min trying to get it on tighter, but i think i need new terminal ends... i don't know how or why, but they won't tighten on anymore... so i took some screws, screwed them into the terminal joint between the end and the battery to tighten it... i then took my car to autozone to get them to do a battery test... they said the battery cell might be going to go soon. Well, either way, i just wanted to know if the loose terminals would drain my battery.... the autozone guy said MAYBE... but that's one op. i know there are some car guys out here... anyone?

 

[NogginBoink]

They may not drain the battery, but might prevent it from receiving a charge from the alternator.

 

[slikmunks]

i thought about that, and i don't think that's it, because after i park the car, if i start it up again after a short time, there's no problem, meaning the alternator IS charging the battery... so i'm pretty sure that's not it... but... is my battery bad, or are the terminals fuxoring me up..

 

[Darein]

I had this problem with an open cell battery and it turned out the water level was very low. If you have a batter with open cells you might want to check that.

 

[slikmunks]

how can you tell if it's an open cell or a closed(?) cell battery?

 

[Analog]

a loose connection won't drain the battery. But it will prevent it from charging well, and also providing full current when you want to start it up.