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Glad no one got hurt. Especially with tenants upstairs!
I switched out the battery cable in mine a few days ago and was terrified to see the state of it. Rubbed right through the extra thick rubber insulation as well.
My question is.. how overboard do I need to go on insulation for the new cable?
I have ordered some marine grade tinner copper cable, fibreglass heatproof sleeve rated up to 260 degrees celcius with 13mm ID and some abrasion resistant polyester mesh sleeve to go over that.
any recommendations?
Last edited by Jon Exotic; 10-01-2020 at 06:51 PM.
Looks like that was caused just by direct abrasion - can you see what did it? most of it is fixed & reasonably protected from heat - use abrasion resistant wherever that was... heat shield as needed. You make it too fat and it gets really difficult to mount.
What on earth was that rubbing against that did NOT cause a short?
I replaced the battery cable and the front-of-engine harness at the same time. I used two layers of FireFlex at the front of the battery cable (one layer just fitting the battery cable, and a second layer covering both the battery cable and the front-of-engine harness which also is wrapped in ITS own Fireflex too). At the back (actually at both ends), marine-type heat shrink tubing with adhesive (to prevent battery fumes from entering the cable) and a section of flexible PVC pipe where it exits the battery box.
Also a new slightly larger P-clamp at the crossmember to hold the combined harness/cable as it heads toward the starter.
I eliminated the original large PVC sheathing at the front near the starter as I think its huge thickness caused the original battery cable insulation to crack around the P-clamp.
BTW inspect the front-of-engine harness there too, where it goes from the starter to the alternator. Also ensure you have the P-clamp at the rear of the crossmember and another smaller one over the top of the crossmember.
It looks like you are right next to the factory sleeve, where the cable bends past the steering rack on the way to the starter connection. I replaced my primary with a good tinned marine battery cable, and used a replacement sleeve disguised as a sprinkler repair pipe from Home Depot when I made the new cable. That primary cable joins a bundle of KS2 (front of engine) harness pieces as it passes the steering hoses, and all of those should be secured together as they cross by the starter on the crossmember and loop back to the connections on the solenoid. All need to be secured so there's no abrasion. Things sometimes get left like yours after motor mounts and pan gasket, with the wiring and crossmember support not restored correctly. The KS2 end comes through a P clamp that has a bolt into the top of the crossmember by the exhaust system heat shield, both pieces (clamp and heat shield) easy to leave out of that project.
Looks like that was caused just by direct abrasion - can you see what did it? most of it is fixed & reasonably protected from heat - use abrasion resistant wherever that was... heat shield as needed. You make it too fat and it gets really difficult to mount.
Fiberglass
Thanks Alan, I received the car with the engine removed so not sure what the cause was, guessing not clipped back properly after a repair at some stage.
hoping the fire flex and mesh sleeve does the job. Shouldn’t need too much protection if it’s clipped properly... one would imagine.
What on earth was that rubbing against that did NOT cause a short?
I replaced the battery cable and the front-of-engine harness at the same time. I used two layers of FireFlex at the front of the battery cable (one layer just fitting the battery cable, and a second layer covering both the battery cable and the front-of-engine harness which also is wrapped in ITS own Fireflex too). At the back (actually at both ends), marine-type heat shrink tubing with adhesive (to prevent battery fumes from entering the cable) and a section of flexible PVC pipe where it exits the battery box.
Also a new slightly larger P-clamp at the crossmember to hold the combined harness/cable as it heads toward the starter.
I eliminated the original large PVC sheathing at the front near the starter as I think its huge thickness caused the original battery cable insulation to crack around the P-clamp.
BTW inspect the front-of-engine harness there too, where it goes from the starter to the alternator. Also ensure you have the P-clamp at the rear of the crossmember and another smaller one over the top of the crossmember.
i will need to replace the harness as well. It is even worse... if you can believe. I have no idea how it was running in that state. Thanks for the sound advice. I will have a scroll through the thread suggested.
It looks like you are right next to the factory sleeve, where the cable bends past the steering rack on the way to the starter connection. I replaced my primary with a good tinned marine battery cable, and used a replacement sleeve disguised as a sprinkler repair pipe from Home Depot when I made the new cable. That primary cable joins a bundle of KS2 (front of engine) harness pieces as it passes the steering hoses, and all of those should be secured together as they cross by the starter on the crossmember and loop back to the connections on the solenoid. All need to be secured so there's no abrasion. Things sometimes get left like yours after motor mounts and pan gasket, with the wiring and crossmember support not restored correctly. The KS2 end comes through a P clamp that has a bolt into the top of the crossmember by the exhaust system heat shield, both pieces (clamp and heat shield) easy to leave out of that project.
that was my guess as well, not clipped back properly after a job. I searched the web for hours last night trying to find my version of the ‘sprinkler repair pipe’ to no avail. Hoping this heat/abrasion resistant gear does the trick, and like you said, the correct method of securing this cable is paramount. After all if the overboard 20mm factory rubber sleeve rubbed through there’s not much that won’t!
based on the fact its power cable that didnt suffer a meltdown it was probably rubbing on the front sway bar,
NOTE Since the front sway bar is isolated from the chassis and it moves whenever the car is driven,
this can easily cause wear to occur
thanks! but I’m in aus. No Home Depot here. The silicone/fibreglass sleeve and abrasion resistant mesh sleeve came today, they feel good I think they will be sufficient if it’s clipped correctly.
big fan of all your threads they are super helpful!
based on the fact its power cable that didnt suffer a meltdown it was probably rubbing on the front sway bar,
NOTE Since the front sway bar is isolated from the chassis and it moves whenever the car is driven,
this can easily cause wear to occur
Yep the damaged section lined up perfectly with the sway bar. Definitely the culprit. Thanks for chiming in.
10-01-2020, 06:47 PM
Repairing primary battery cable
