At 07:59 PM 8/24/2010, john wrote:
>I would like to know what you guys have been using as replacement cable and
>if #1 AWG wire would suffice. The #1 AWG wire will still run me about 5.90 a
>foot at the local marine supply.

70 mm^2 cable is about equal to 00.  If you put in 1-ga instead your
results will not be of the finest.  VW didn't spend all that money on
copper to be generous.

However, in my considered opinion the likelihood of there being
significant internal corrosion in the existing cable -- barring an
opening in the insulation that exposes it to salt water and such --
is utterly remote. Suggest you measure the voltage drop during
starting from end to end including terminals, and then with a couple
of needles from a point a few inches down the wire from each
terminal.  Germany thinks that a half volt is the maximum drop -->
with locked starter rotor <-- so if you're seeing a quarter-volt end
to end including connectors I'd think that was pretty
reasonable.  But I'll bet that whatever drop you see will be
concentrated at the connectors.  Drawing 150 amps through three
meters of that cable should give a voltage drop of about 0.115 volts.

Where you *can* go wrong is having established that you need new
connnectors, you don't take care that all 360 strands of the wire
you're connecting to are shiny-bright.  This can be a huge nuisance,
so you might be better off cutting the wire back a foot or so until
you reach bright shiny copper, then splicing in an additional length
of new stuff.  The surface oxidation won't hurt the cable resistance
as long as all the strands are bright and shiny at the connection
points.  Any green corrosion you see at an insulation break is
another matter entirely.

Yours,
DAvid