battery grounding wire

Hi

I seem to have a grounding wire from my battery that isnt bolted to anything, can anyone help me identify where it is supposed to be bolted to?

Thanks

Dan

Yes but need a bit more info, like year, engine and fitted accessories, have you got a pic? does the car run ok, any existing electrical faults that this could be attributed to, how thick is the wire ( I take it that it is a brown one).

Have you got a ground connection to your gearbox? what about the coil?

let us know! ;-)

Hi

Thanks for the reply! Its a 83 gti with a diesel starter motor. The wire is thee thick brown wire coming off the negative post of the battery. I have the first bolting position just hanging by the passenger side engine mount. I cant see the normal position for it to be bolted too. The car has a few symptoms such as irregular and slow turning over, sometimes a pause when i turn the key and come times the starter carries on  on spinning once i have released the key. I have also tried to push the wire to the engine mount when turning over and it sparked. All of which doesnt seem right at all!!!! I have replaced the starter and ignition switch with vw parts. Will try putting a pic on but i have got to workout how to get them off my new iphone lol!

Thanks for the help

Dan

sounds like you need to connect it to the gearbox casing, there should be a threaded hole on the gearbox side engine mount, if not, pull a bolt out and fit it to that, trying to start the engine without a decent earth causes all sorts of nuisance as the current ends up going through things like throttle cables,speedo cables, driveshafts and anywhere else there is a metal connection between the body and engine.
Hopefully it hasn't done any damage . . . . .

Hi again

Here is the pic of the wire, i tried attaching it to a gear box bolt but no difference. will try to the gear box mount tomorrow. Thanks for you input!

TRY THIS!

ground wire pic1.aspx | shepfern | Flickr

no worky dude :dontknow:

how many thick wire's of the starter do you have??? :dontknow:

It works now  :dontknow:

Still a rubish pic :wink:  :redfaced:  :dontknow:

Not 100% sure, but i have two live wire and one ground that is connected via a spade.

end of the wire connected to the bumper mount ???????


end of wire should be connected to engine, middle of wire to suitable bolt on body somewhere :-)

Yeah the wire is bolted on the horn brackett that attaches to the bumper bolt. Its really annoying me as i cant see how the wire will attach to two holes in the engine bay. Will have a check in a bit!!!

Thanks guys

Found a bolt hole under the air box on the gear box mount and another on the chassis leg. When to try it and the battery is dead! Typical! Will try it tomorrow and post if its a success!

Thanks

Dont worry about it sparking thats normal mate.  Most people think that theres no voltage across or current through earth wiring, but current actually flows from earth to +

As said above your slow or iregular starting will be due to a earthing problem so it all ties in.  You should have a +ve a ignition switched +ve thats live when you turn the key.

Hi again

Just a thanks for all the help! I attached the grounding wire below/behind the air box to the chassis leg and the gear box mount! started everytime and consistantly so thanks for your help!

Dan

shepp said

Hi again

Just a thanks for all the help! I attached the grounding wire below/behind the air box to the chassis leg and the gear box mount! started everytime and consistantly so thanks for your help!

Dan

Looks like I'm a bit late to say it goes to the chasis leg, but anyway yes that is where it goes