Anyone ever replace the positive (red) battery wire?

[sullione]

I already did the ground wire swap without any problems but the positive wire really needs to be replaced. It's quite corroded. Anyone ever do this. What guage wire should I replace it with? How long should the wire be? How much of a PITA is it?

[evolutionmovement]

Use the same gauge or higher, probably 2 or 0.

Steve

[sullione]

Thanks, I'll be sure to do that. My only concern is there is a wire that branches off of the main wire that goes to the starter. The one that branches off goes to or underneath the fuze box. Does anyone know if this wire goes inside the fuze box? I'm too lazy to go check myself.

[tris91ricer]

I think it's part of the harness, but I'm not sure.. you might try unravelling the wrappers on the cables to find out.. I don't think that can hurt ..much.

[sullione]

Okay, here's another question: wouls a corroded positive wire cause bad gas mileage and less voltage than normal? I ask because I took a look at my cap. today when the car was running and it only showed 13. something volts. It usually shows 14. something volts when the car is running and the stereo is on. Also, my gas mileage isn't what it used to be either. I looked in my Haynes manual and it say that the wire could cause less engine performance.

[sullione]

bump for new question above

[tris91ricer]

14 volts.. ? Umm.. if you're running a conventional battery, expect that sucker to dry up.. 14 I think is almost too high for most batteries.. upper 13s seem to be the limit.
Yes, a damaged wire CAN cause poor connection, but I don't see how it could directly affect your gas mileage. You took volt readings at your capacitor? Why not the battery itself?
How about your idle? Too high at all? Increased since gas mileage went down? Running high powered audio applications can cause the ECU to bump the idle up a bit just to pump enough power to the alt, and electronics, etc, so that may be a contributing factor in your gas mileage dilemma.
I've never heard of a positive wire causing any kind of damage except electrical.

[sullione]

I didn't take any readings yet, I just read what my cap was showing on its display. The readings are different now compared to what they used to be. I went to Pep Boys and got a battery cable but it has extra wires. From what I can tell, there's only one wire and it goes from the starter to the positive battery terminal. It doesn't have any other wires branching off from it so I'll make an exchange at Pep Boys later. The wire that I though was connected to the positive battery wire turned out to be another lead that's hooked up to the positive terminal and it runs into the fuze box next to the battery. I won't be messing with it at all.