Engine earth

[geofff]

Hi,

Just a quickie....

How big (guage) does the wire for earthing the engine have to be?

Apparently this is the wire which is normally both side of the engine rubber mounts?  

I thought an earth from the starter motor / Alternator back to the battery was doing this job but apparently not.  

Ta

Geoff

Got to keep smiling  

[cidersurfer]

Geoff

Typically 16-20mm^2 (100-140Amps)

HTH Chris

[DickieB]

I use a battery cable with ring terminals.  1 end attached to the bolt that screws into the block through the engine mount, the other end screwed into the chassis.

[stu999]

My advise would be to use 'battery sized' cable from battery direct to engine, and then run another earth (which can be smaller in size) from engine to chassis.

This way you only potentially have one connection to play up/create resistance when the current is called upon most (starting the engine). Earthing the rest of the car from the engine is still important, but as current draw is far less, there are less reliability issues.

Connecting the battery to the chassis, and then subsequently to the engine puts another two connections into the current flow and possibly problems in the future.

HTH Stu.

[geofff]

Thanks All.

Okay no problem.

I'll put an earth from the block to the stud on the chassis in the engine bay.

I'll also do the wiring to starter / alternator positive and negative.

Ta

Geoff