Xantia 1.9td Battery Negative Lead

[skysurfer]

My Xantia has been difficult to start for years. Needing lots of glow plug time and only giving a couple of chances with the starter before it appeared the battery was flat.

I got the volt meter out the other day and tracked it down to the earth connection to the engine.

I found it starts very well if I use a jump start lead between the battery negative and the engine.

I cleaned up the lead connection onto the gearbox clutch bracket and it is a lot better now.

 

However, at the M8 terminal on the gearbox, the thinner lead had broken off (which returns to the inner wing) and half of the strands in the main lead were also broken. The cable had been tied too close to the engine so there wasn't enough free wire to alow for engine movement.

 

Where can I get a replacement negative battery lead? I expected this to be a fairly standard item I could probably get on ebay but I can only find a couple of battery leads for classic cars.

 

Can I only get this from Citroen? Or is it something that I get an electrical speciallist to make for me? Or is there somewhere that sells a wide range of leads where I can choose from?

 

The thick (25 T2) lead is 750mm from the negative battery connector to an M8 ring terminal.

The negative battery connector also has a thinner (10 T2) 220mm lead to an M6 ring terminal.

The M8 ring terminal also has a thinner (10 T2) 400mm lead to an M6 ring terminal.

 

Cheers

 

Alan

[skysurfer]

Where can I get a replacement negative battery lead?

 

Citroen want about £50 for this lead. Auto factors don't appear to sell generic leads and the auto electrical place I tried wasn't going to do a very impressive job of it. I got an M8 lug from eBay to accept 35mm2 of wire and soldered that on with a butane torch. Then added 2 layers of heat shrink sleeve for strain releif and then self-amalgamating tape to keep water out.

 

I cleaned up the stud on the gearbox and re-fitted the new M8 lug to this.

 

After starting the engine a couple of times it was obvious that things still were not right. The volt meter showed over 0.4V between the engine and the battery negative with the engine running & headlights on. I got about the same reading between the engine block and the gearbox stud that the negative lead attached to. I moved earth lead to an M8 bolt a few inches forward and inboard of the origonal stud. The cable now crosses above the clutch cable inner. With a little re-routing the lead is long enough to allow for engine movement.

 

I've had this car since it was 3 years old (now 13) and I'm sure it didn't start this well when I first got it! The engine to negative battery terminal voltage is now 0.006V (6mV) with the light on and engine running and 0.002V with the lights off and engine running. The battery now charges to 14.3V with main beam lights on (14.44V with lights off). Previously it was only getting to 13.9V due to the volt drop at the gearbox stud, so a well charged battery is helping as well as having minimal volt drop when the starter is cranking.

 

I hope this helps someone!

 

Alan

 

PS. Anyone have use for a brand new type 096 battery that I bought and now don't need to fit?

[moggy74]

Citroen want about £50 for this lead. Auto factors don't appear to sell generic leads and the auto electrical place I tried wasn't going to do a very impressive job of it. I got an M8 lug from eBay to accept 35mm2 of wire and soldered that on with a butane torch. Then added 2 layers of heat shrink sleeve for strain releif and then self-amalgamating tape to keep water out.

 

I cleaned up the stud on the gearbox and re-fitted the new M8 lug to this.

 

After starting the engine a couple of times it was obvious that things still were not right. The volt meter showed over 0.4V between the engine and the battery negative with the engine running & headlights on. I got about the same reading between the engine block and the gearbox stud that the negative lead attached to. I moved earth lead to an M8 bolt a few inches forward and inboard of the origonal stud. The cable now crosses above the clutch cable inner. With a little re-routing the lead is long enough to allow for engine movement.

 

I've had this car since it was 3 years old (now 13) and I'm sure it didn't start this well when I first got it! The engine to negative battery terminal voltage is now 0.006V (6mV) with the light on and engine running and 0.002V with the lights off and engine running. The battery now charges to 14.3V with main beam lights on (14.44V with lights off). Previously it was only getting to 13.9V due to the volt drop at the gearbox stud, so a well charged battery is helping as well as having minimal volt drop when the starter is cranking.

 

I hope this helps someone!

 

Alan

 

PS. Anyone have use for a brand new type 096 battery that I bought and now don't need to fit?

 

 

Halfords do generic leads....................