I figured that someone here would have a pretty good insight as the best way to redo the ground wire for my battery. My problem is that after a few winters with the salts and a leaky battery the ground wire is shot. The worst part is where it is crimped in the middle of the wire. I called nissan and they want 25 bucks for it. Screw that.
So does anyone have a creative fix? Also what gauge wire works well?
Thanks
I don't know if you want instructions or what, it's quite possibly the easiest thing you can ever do to your car. Get a piece of wire, string it out from the neg terminal to the grounding spot, cut it that length, put a terminal on each end, screw it on.
But it will be more expensive to do (2) 4 gauge cables w/ terminals vs. (1) 2 gauge cable. Granted the two 4's will flow more current, but your alternator can't even outflow the current capacity on one 4 gauge wire. Not too much to be gained here going over 2 gauge unless you have either a hi-output alternator or multiple alternators.
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But it will be more expensive to do (2) 4 gauge cables w/ terminals vs. (1) 2 gauge cable.
I highly doubt that!
2 gauge wire is not only expensive but its sometimes hard to find. The ring terminals are really hard to find and expensive too.
(2) 4guage would make more cents!
Quote:
but your alternator can't even outflow the current capacity on one 4 gauge wire. Not too much to be gained here going over 2 gauge unless you have either a hi-output alternator or multiple alternators.
True, I wanted to point out an alternative solution.
(1) 4guage oxygen free copper stranded wire w/terminals is all I need!
Last edited by Sethticlees : Jan 9th, 2004 at 11:43 PM.
Granted the two 4's will flow more current, but your alternator can't even outflow the current capacity on one 4 gauge wire.
True, if you're talking about the wire going from the alt to the + on the batt. However the batt can flow a LOT more current than a single 4ga wire can handle, so if we're talking about the battery ground then talking about how much current the alt can flow is completely irrelevant.
I still say 2AWG. It's not much more per foot (about $2.5/ft for 4awg and $3.5 for 2awg is my guess) and you only need like 3 feet or so. 4AWG is really small stuff. The outside insulating material makes it look thick, but the actual copper has a real tiny diameter. I like the idea of 2 4AWG cables, that will outperform one 2AWG. I know it's about saving money, but you really don't want to have bad grounging. It'll fuvk up your electrical. Your headlights will be dimmer, the interior lights will as well, your power windows will strain the system, and your alternator will suffer if there's alot of resistance on the charging system.
Just to give you an idea of what my system is like, I have my battery mounted in my trunk. The positive cable from the battery to the fuse and from the fuse to the front of the car is 1/0AWG. Now 1/0AWG is THICK wire. I used to have 4AWG running from the battery up, but I had alot of performance and stalling issues with the AC on. For the negative terminal, I have 3 4AWG wires extending from the (-) terminal and they are grounded to 3 points in the trunk. I replaced the engine's grounds with a 4AWG wire going from the body to the Tranny and another 4AWG on the other side going from the body to the block.
Wiring is very important, the better you wire up the car, the better it runs. This is why Grounding kits are so important as well. Grounding kits go for about $50 to $100 however, you can make your own grounding kit with 10 feet of 4AWG, 10 copper eyelets (or ring terminals), heat shrink, and a good wire cutter. Will cost you about $30-35. My mom's Maxima had problems with dim lights, $30 later, I added about 5 extra grounds throughout the engine bay, which fixed the problem. Another gain I noticed was in power. regrounding makes the spark better and makes up for powerflow lost from corrsion. It may not be very apparent on our cars, but I really felt it on the Maxima's V6.
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