Hello all!

I am new to this forum. I am writing to see if I might get some help. I am a proud owner of a Teal 1993 Ford Escort LX. The "Green Hornet" has been with me for a year. He's got 199,000 miles. He's been a very good and loyal friend. I was blessed with him for a song.

I can not say that he's been treated as royalty. As you can tell, I write of him with pride, but I present this problem with shame because I have not treated him with the best of respect. I am not very mechanically inclined. I know I do not do the proper maintenaince. So please forgive the horrific photos you are about to see.

Today, I have hit a real problem. Recently, the old battery contacts have been corroding. It has been to a point where I have had to get jumped a couple of times. I bought new contacts to replace the old ones after the first occurance. Unfortunately, there is this little "junction box-like" thing connected to the old contact. The old contact had been, basically, welded with corrosion. I attempted to remove the bolt that is used to tighten or loosen the contact. I could not.

The " box" was directly connected to the contact tightening bolt. I had put off changing it until I could ask someone how to do it. Well, I had to get jumped at a Schlotzky's yesterday, so I thought I'd go to a carparts store and buy a new one. I was told that I could only get it at a dealership. Fine.

In the meantime, I was going the keep the contact free of corrosion until I could get to a dealership. Well, in the process of pulling the contact off to brush off the post, I broke the metal connection from the "box" to the contact. the metal contact left on the box is so small, I had to figure out a rigging to make a keep a connection until I could get to a dealership. I don't think I did a proper job...

On my way home, my car kept sputtering. It seemed like it had something to do with fuel flow (injector?). Like it was about to cut out. I have a this little "hiccup" happen to me before when I was low on gas and I mad a sharp left turn on a green light. (I don't know if that has anything do with it.) I also kept hearing some "clicking" noises coming from the console that seemed to coincide with the engine sputtering. I just prayed the whole way home that the Teal Mobile didn't die on me.

I have not had this problem before rigging and changing the contact on my battery today. Does anyone know what this box does?

I do have a side note that may or may not have anything to do with all this. 1.) I recently put fuel injector cleaner in my tank with only a 1/2 tank of gas. Would this have something to do with it? 2.) Weird but true;
while working on this problem outside advance autoparts. A guy approached me, "offering" to help. He ended up being a bother. I got into an arguement with him because, after much interuption from him offering me his mechanic card and me finally accepting "help", he told me that his "advise" was not free. The F word flew back and forth a few times, but I cut it short because I needed to finish the rigging before the sun set. The guy was still hanging around when I went into the store for the umpteenth time to get another thing I could use to fix this thing. Could he have put something in my tail pipe?! What happens to a car with the old banana in a tailpipe trick? (I need to remain cool in this situation.)

Here are photos of the piece before and after breaking it.

HELP!

Thank you
Brian

Again, I apologize for the horror of neglect you about to see.


[IMG]local://upfiles/13495/F94E32B50EF64D2C9951ED761965A903.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/13495/33D96C53181D406EAB1F8F509F25E48E.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/13495/8CC7B64320514FF09331F554EBC89A29.jpg[/IMG]

 

I was told that it's just a splitter, no fuse. Thanks.