battery lead

[gti jim]

coming back from a long weekend in the west country i stopped the car outside the house, the fan came on and a really strange noise came from it     turns out the battery had slid up against the back of the fan cowling and the blade was munching through the live wire to the starter  :embarassed:

ok so first thing obviously is for you all to make sure the battery is held tight in place, i must admit it's something i've never even bothered to think about before.

anyway, i'm obviously looking for a new lead.  i tried gsf (didn't stock em), local stealership (£32 odd plus VAT) or chavfords (make one up blue peter stylee)

anybody got any ideas for where i can get a replacement at a reasonable price without the aid of sticky back plastic and empty toilet roll tubes??

also,  in my moment of panic inspecting the aforementioned lead - i noticed a wire with a white plastic connector hanging loose (cable tied onto the lead).  also noticed there is another wire with connector coming off the live feed (the other red wire is for my headlamp loom)





any ideas peoples??

[Judderi]

The blue wire is for the battery light on your dash. With it unpluged the light should stay on. Its there to tell you when you have an issue with your battery or alternator.

As for the main thicker wire you can get ready made ones at various lengths from halfords or other motor factors.

[gti jim]

aha!!  cheers ben    i shall plug them back together when i get home tonight

ok i shall come clean now  :embarassed:  i made up my own lead from the mighty chavfords and it all goes well until the terminal fractures when tightening    i didn't think i was overly hard, just felt flimsy..

[Judderi]

what do you mean? Did you over tighten the pole clamp and crush the pole on the battery?

[gti jim]

the clamp mate  :embarassed:  i must have over tightened

the option from chavfords may look but just doesn't seem as butch as the original.

[Gambit]

stick a piece of carpet under your battery also and it will prevent it from sliding in the future

[gti jim]

good tip there gambit.. do they do carpet in helios blue ?? 

[rubjonny]

Next time you're down a scrappy, check out MK3 Golfs for the +ve wire, and later passats for the -ve. (the model after the one without a grill)  MK3 -ve leads are slightly too short to earth on the battery tray.

The Later VW cables are much chunkier and have a better clamp design: