What cable should I use to ground battery?

[Gabriel2202]

My battery keeps dying on my if I leave it a week and vag-com is showing a load of short to grounds. 

I have been told that I should look at replacing the negative to trans and negative to under battery tray grounding cables, should I be using 4 gauge or 8 gauge cable? and does anyone know where can I get hold of some quality cable for a reasonable price?

Also would changing the positive battery to alternator cable be worthwhile in case there's a charge drain there?

Cheers

[pickles]

somethings obv draining the battery.


have you got anything plugged in the cigar lighter like a mobile charger ,things like that drain a battery if left long enough ,also radios on stand by .if you dont have any of these.Get it checked at a garage /auto spark, current drain up to 0.5 amps is acceptable any more than that will require further investigation,pulling fuses till the it drops.

disconnect the positive on the battery and connect a meter in line ie between the + battery post and the disconnected cable,when it settles it should read 0.5 amps if not pull fuses out until the current drops ,if you find it drops a lot the problem lies within that circuit.

Have you been to halfords for a free battery check, could be a duff battery

[Gabriel2202]

somethings obv draining the battery.


have you got anything plugged in the cigar lighter like a mobile charger ,things like that drain a battery if left long enough ,also radios on stand by .if you dont have any of these.Get it checked at a garage /auto spark, current drain up to .5 v is acceptable any more than that will require further investigation,pulling fuses till the it drops.

disconnect the earth on the battery and connect a meter, the voltage should drop,when it settles it should read .5v if not pull fuses out until the voltage drops ,if you find it drops a lot the problem lies within that circuit.

Have you been to halfords for a free battery check, could be a duff battery

Nothings connected, i have an aftermarket stereo so could be that, I remember switching the live wire as the clock kept resetting so will have a look at that.

Battery is a bosch s4 and only about 12 months old, I replaced it when it happened last year, seems to only drain in the cold?

When i disconnect the earth, am i connecting my meter in its place, i.e. from negative terminal to ground? or on the battery from positive to negative?

Cheers for the reply

[pickles]

soz m8 got my volts n amps mixed up, edited my post

[Gabriel2202]

soz m8 got my volts n amps mixed up, edited my post

Nice one mate, cheers for that  I'm waiting for my multi-meter to arrive and will get on it, my alternator fuse is looking a little dirty, distorted and has slightly melted the fuse box casing so something aint right!

Cheers

[mcgee9t2]

my sisters car had a earth fault, was the earth strap between the gear box and the engine, 2 min job to replace and cost about £3 from a scrappy if you can find one thats not rusted through/snapped.

so ide just go through looking to see if there is any dodgey earths.

as for replacing the earth from the battery terminal smaller guage wire is better (i.e. smaller guage allows more amps through), but tbh ide just buy one from vw, would imagine only cost a few quid and would come with the terminal on the end rather than you having to cut the wire and fix the terminals on yourself.

[Gabriel2202]

my sisters car had a earth fault, was the earth strap between the gear box and the engine, 2 min job to replace and cost about £3 from a scrappy if you can find one thats not rusted through/snapped.

so ide just go through looking to see if there is any dodgey earths.

as for replacing the earth from the battery terminal smaller guage wire is better (i.e. smaller guage allows more amps through), but tbh ide just buy one from vw, would imagine only cost a few quid and would come with the terminal on the end rather than you having to cut the wire and fix the terminals on yourself.

Ah right cheers for the info, I'll follow the circuit through and check everything over as soon as we get some decent weather!