Melted mega fuse holder near positive battery post

On a long road trip, taking daughter to college. Within a few miles of final destination tonight, smell burning rubber. Turns out the load side bolt on the mega fuse holder was loose, thereby causing arcing at that connection and generating a lot of heat. It melted the red cover, but more importantly, damaged the plastic holder so the head of that bolt is no longer captured, making it hard to tighten. I did eventually get it to torque down using a wrench on the back side where the head should be socketed into the plastic. Of course I will need to replace this piece but I don’t think I’d be able to get it on the road? Is that going to be a dealer part? I’ve looked briefly on RA and Google, not finding it yet. I think what I’ve done will get me home, but just checking if there’s any input.

At first I thought I blew the mega fuse, there is some visible damage. But everything seems to be doing fine now. I will buy one before my wife and I head home to have with me just in case.

Looks like it comes with the battery cable. #22790285. Need to verify with your trucks options though. They're probably plentiful in junkyard.

Keep the connections tight, and you should be good to get you back home safely.

solli5pack said:

Looks like it comes with the battery cable. #22790285. Need to verify with your trucks options though. They're probably plentiful in junkyard.
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Cool, thanks for finding that! I’ll just get the whole new cable. Pick-n-pull around here doesn’t have any NNBS yet. NBS is about as new as I’ve seen.

DaveO9 said:

Cool, thanks for finding that! I’ll just get the whole new cable. Pick-n-pull around here doesn’t have any NNBS yet. NBS is about as new as I’ve seen.

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that bolt shouldn't be just "loose" it could have got hot and melted some therefore making it loose...
might want to poke around with a meter on the grounds and see if one or more are high ohm's just to be on the safe side.
theoretically though the fuse should have blown versus melting the connector......still could be a high ohm situation
the starter cables/ground is often a culprit

Doubeleive said:

that bolt shouldn't be just "loose" it could have got hot and melted some therefore making it loose...
might want to poke around with a meter on the grounds and see if one or more are high ohm's just to be on the safe side.
theoretically though the fuse should have blown versus melting the connector......still could be a high ohm situation
the starter cables/ground is often a culprit

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Yeah I’ve been wondering how it got loose. I just ordered the new cable with fuse holder and rubber cover. I’ll definitely do some ohm checking when I replace the cable. And on the way home tomorrow I’ll check that connection every time we stop.

DaveO9 said:

Cool, thanks for finding that! I’ll just get the whole new cable. Pick-n-pull around here doesn’t have any NNBS yet. NBS is about as new as I’ve seen.

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Just make sure you order the correct one for you year. GM used multiple different designs, my 08 Yukon and 10 Suburban have two different setups and neither look like what you have.

solli5pack said:

Just make sure you order the correct one for you year. GM used multiple different designs, my 08 Yukon and 10 Suburban have two different setups and neither look like what you have.

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yeah seems like there is a lot of variation year to year on those cables. I found the one you posted on RA under my year, 2013, and it fit all the requirements. It looks exactly like what I have, at least on the battery post end. I also checked that same P/N on Amazon and it said it did NOT fit my year, but I trust RA more than Amazon. I will know for sure this weekend.

Made it home fine. Connection did not loosen and did not get hot at all. All is well. Thanks to all for the input.

Some batteries have a slightly smaller post that will never allow the clamp to tighten to 100%.

It arcing can’t be seen. It then gets hot and superheats the wire so it oxidizes and builds resistance.

From that point both the -/+ cables must be replaced.

Replaced the positive cable to the starter with the GM OEM from RA. P/N in post #2 was the correct one for my '13. All looking good now. Ohm readings on the negative cable from battery to engine block and braided ground on drivers side were very low, like a tenth of an ohm. Thanks for the input!