Morning Chaps

In the process of gettin my newly built pinto started. Its quite tight so its taking a bit of turning. In the mean time i noticed the main earth from the battary is gettin warm. I dont think its anythin to worry about - but i just thought i would ask.

Ash

All cable will get warmer when you run current through it, particualy big current from running the starter a lot. The question is how warm? If it's getting too hot then you may need to think about getting thicker cable.

Its not unusual but it might be worth increasing the wire size. Heat means resistance so check all the connections are tight. What size are your leads? They should be the same as your starter motor / alternator leads.

I thought this was going to be a thread about climate change

Nothing to worry about BTW, I'd expect a cable to get warm after a bit of cranking.

If it smells of burning rubber/plastic or smokes then replace with the next size up. Otherwise if it's only after cranking for a while don't worry too much.

The cable is quite chunky, its a halfords battery earth stap, so its designed for the task inhand. Not too worried since there is no burning smell and its not hot just warm.

Play it by ear.

Ash

quote:

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Originally posted by matt_claydon
I thought this was going to be a thread about climate change .................

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quote:

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Originally posted by Fozzie
I thought there had been a major shift in the teutonic plates and we might be expecting global volcanic eruption along with the never ending rain....

Fozzie

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Also make sure that the bolt through your chassis is clean and tight. A poor connection causes a bit of heat too.

Try putting a jump lead cable on as well from the -ve battery cable to the starter or another metalic piece of the engine as a tempory measure.... but it sounds like it could do with replacing with a bigger one or having a better contact.

Once they've been overly warm the resistance of the cable goes up making it even warmer and more likely to fail.