Hello, I'm new to this forum and am hoping I can find some help on a recent issue with replacing my 2003 SLE's battery.

The car has been sitting for some time (had A/C issue and broken mirror) as I haven't had time to properly address issues with the car and had been driving another vehicle. Now that other vehicle is in the shop and I'm trying to repair the Bonneville. Due to sitting over this past rough Ohio winter, the battery went dead. I was able to remove the seat and old battery no problem, but am having trouble getting the replacement in.

I purchased the battery from O'Reilly auto parts and brought it home. Connected up the terminals and found that while connecting the positive terminal, it wouldn't stay tight. If you ratchet to a certain point, it releases tension and becomes loose again. At one point, I was able to get it to stay connected but loosely. I was able to start the vehicle a few times, but the cable did come loose and disconnect power at one point.

Is this an issue with the particular battery I purchased or do I need to replace positive terminal bolt? I tried last night to see if the bolt would come out of the connector to no avail. I'm trying to avoid replacing the cables or splicing as my electrical skills are rusty and very limited. I am planning to try to connect positive wire to negative terminal on battery to see if it will connect there. This is just simply to test to see if the bolt is the culprit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Go to auto zone and buy a set of battery terminal bolts. They don't cost much. Most likely stripped it

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1994 Bonneville SE - Series one. L27
1998 Bonneville SE - Series Two. L36
2001 Bonneville SSEI - Series Two. L67

That was exactly it! Got some new ones tonight and already got it settled in. Now just have to figure out if there's a leak or if something was spilled on my engine that caused it to smoke. Lol.