One problem related to battery cable has been reported for the 1998 Ford Escort. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The battery failed without any warning on the dash. The car was jump started and ran for another 40minutes before the car died again in traffic. I was able to push the car off the three lane highway onto to the shoulder. I received another jump start to the battery with a battery pack connected to the car battery terminals which enabled me to exit the highway. Immediately upon removal of the battery pack ,the car died again. I was towed to a safe location. The following day I installed a new battery and the car started immediately and continued to run after removing the postive cable connedted to the car's battery. A CO-worker informed me today he regularly had to replace the battery on his Escort about every two years. He also had no prior warning of imminent battery failure. This is a dangerous condition.