Should I patch bad starter cable or replace?

[swc69]

Hey I'll. let me start by saying I'm cheap and lazy......

The starter cable on my 2003 MM corroded and broke off right at the starter post (the main battery wire, not the solonoid wire). It looks like a new cable will be a real pain, as it is a one-piece harness that wraps all over the drivers side of the engine bay.

My concern is that if I completely replace the real cable there's no-way I can make it look like the factory wiring (because of the way everything is hooked up and taped together.).

Would I be an idiot to try and do a 3-inch patch cable from where the wire broke to the starter post?

[swc69]

Looking at it again - maybe its not as bad to replace the whole thing as I thought it was. It seems that the new cable must come with all the connections, so all that stuff that looked like it was wrapped into the battery cable must come all pre-attached. Can anyone confirm this?

[swc69]

Holy Cats! How do you get the clips loosened on the back of the engine where the battery cable is routed?

I'm going to try and just put a new end on the cable at the starter, but its going to be too short. I need to run the main wire another 2 inches. It looks like there's enough slack to do this, but I have to loosen the clips behind the block to do this. I'd have to do this anyway when I install a permanent fix to get a new cable on.

Is there a trick to this? It seems impossible with normal human hands or without some bizarre tool.