I don't know if LHD or RHD matters but can someone tell me if the battery cable/post orientation is correct on my car? The reason I ask is on my 87 2CV, the positive post is towards the front of the battery/passenger side. The negative post is against the bulkhead. I never liked the positive battery cable being that close to the hold down clamp.

The positive cable connector was boogered up so I bought a whole new cable from a local autoparts store. It's a wee bit bigger and is actually touching the tie down clamp where the original one came about 1-2 mm of touching it.

This is clearly not going to work.



I don't know if this is correct. I don't know what is correct on this car to be honest. It seems the battery cables are original. The - cable has a yellow wire coming off of the post connector which connects to a nut on the bulkhead. Seems redundant but you can never have too many earths on a old car!

If this was the negative post, no worries because if the battery cable connector touched the tie down clamp it wouldn't matter.

So I tried rotating the + connector 90 degrees. This seems to work better as long as I did not seat the connector against the battery but I still don't like this.



I could possible wrap the bracket with some electrical tape below the connector.

I originally planned on trimming some metal off (see blue mark) but I'm thinking that might hurt the strength of the bracket. So my idea was to trim a couple of mm of metal off below the clamp in the second photo and orient the + connector 90 degrees off as shown in the second photo.

I can't believe Citroen would orient the cable connectors like this. Looks to me like the negative post should be toward the front in case it were to come in contact with the bracket and the positive toward the bulkhead.

Horrible it's so close isn't it. I sprayed my clamp thing with rubber coating to make new feel better.

Orientation is correct. The cables on my car attach the same way as in your top photo. The clamps you have fitted are the problem. Can't you turn the clamps 180 degrees so the pinch-bolt is next to the cell caps cover?

Your location in the first image is better, perhaps with a little more turning of the clip towards the back. Cutting the corner off won't appreciably affect the bracket strength, but those thin pressed steel clamps are horrible! Can't you get cast lead ones? That aside, a decent rubber sleeve to cover the positive terminal clamp would improve insulation, or using a length of bicycle inner tube to sheath the front bracket to prevent electrical contact. Another might be to fix a sliver of wood behind the drop edge of the white bracket, thereby moving the whole bracket slightly farther away from the clip. It does look uncomfortably close as is.

Alternatively turn the battery the other way round, though it would require the leads to be long enough to reach the terminals.

I agree with Derek:
First get a terminal clamp / lead that is more suitable! The one you have is widest at the worst point: near the widest point of the bracket. The one that several 2CV parts suppliers like Ecas (& me) sell is widest at the other side of the post, so further away from the bracket. I'm sure you will be able to find a more suitable one in the US.
Then cut a round hole in a square piece of old inner tube and place it over the positive terminal post, before fitting the battery lead. (Round hole big enough that the rubber doesn't stop the terminal clamp from seating all the way down the post. Size/shape of rubber big enough to cover the area of the bracket, to insulate it from the terminal clamp effectively).
Then position the terminal clamp a few degrees clockwise from the position shown in your first photo.

Thanks guys. Yes I can get the cables with the lead type connectors. I just so happened to be at Advance Auto parts that day and for some reason that is the only style the carry. I do know that AutoZone carries the lead type because I replaced the cables on my Trabant with these.

The original positive cable connector: The connector wouldn't tighten up so I was afraid it might vibrate around and touch the bracket.

I'm not a big fan of plated battery connectors anyway. With lead you can scrap off any corrosion but with the plated ones, once the sulfuric acid attacks the zinc plating there is no hope for them.

They are also hard to tighten up. The nut is recessed. I have one of these on my Fiat Spider and I ended up having to trim some metal away just to get a 7/16" spanner in there. I don't normally carry imperial spanners and sockets in my foreign cars anyway!

Anyone know right off hand the correct length of the positive cable? I'm thinking 20". I can stop by and get one on my way home from work and have it on the car tomorrow.

Another thing. That's one of those "maintenance free" batteries where you can't top off with water. I actually thought they stopped making these ages ago. GM used to install these on their cars from the factory back in the 1980s and they were notorious for crapping out instantly instead of dying a slow death like the ones you can pop the caps off and add water to.

Sort of like those maintenance free ball joints installed on Fiats without grease fittings. But I always end up using one of those 2cv joint needle attachments on joints without grease fittings.

I was thinking this battery was about to crap out and was going to replace it but the other day I tested the voltage it this was what it read:



Somewhat unusual for a battery to read more than 12.6 volts. But I have seen this before.

As of right now I don't want to have to replace this battery until it's time to. So I think the plan is to get one of those cables with a lead connectors and if I have to shave a couple of mm off the tie down bracket and wrap some electrical tape around it for the meantime.

Once this battery craps out, if I can find one with the posts reversed or centered will be my next option.

Just measured my positive cable from starter to battery - 20" not including the connectors. You'd need another six inches to reach the positive terminal if turned around.

So simple!

Indeed it is.
I've been using a similar arrangement for 37 years on my own cars and those belonging to my customers.
The plastic sheet used for damp proof courses on houses was the material I happened upon, but any thin rubber or plastic sheet would work...

Thanks Ken, I've just about run out of old inner tube now but I've got some of that damp proof course stuff in the shed, so I'll start using that on my customer's cars from now on. Good idea.