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I have a 2002 Hyundai XG350, and all of the wires from the battery run out of sight before connecting to the chassis. There is only one wire coming off of the negative, and a number of different cables coming off of the positive. I know that it's most likely that my car is a negative ground, but I wanted to check with the community to find out.

I'm trying to use a portable jump starter on my car, and I need to know which side is grounded so that I know which side to connect the jump starter too. In a related question: Where on the chassis should I connect the jump starter? All I see is painted metal around the engine.

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I think that they stopped making positive earth cars in the 1960s.I have never seen a positive earth car with an alternater .All the pos earth stuff I had seen had generators and was generally british .Neg earth corrodes the wiring and pos earth corrodes the body .The choice is obvious .If you are still worried that your car is pos earth you can put a DVM on what you think is the pos battery terminal and the frame of the car and a pos 12V reading tells you that it is neg earth.All standard automotive electronics is set up for neg earth.

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You can ground to the engine if the battery terminal isn't accessible. If the battery terminals aren't marked, on (some) Hyundais there will be fusible links on the positive battery terminal. And usually the cable is red and larger gauge than the negative battery cable.

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  • The question isn't which terminal is which, but which one is grounded. The battery is clearly marked, and you are correct, there is a fusible link coming off of the positive terminal. What I'm trying to find out which which terminal is grounded.
    – Tyler V.
    Feb 19, 2016 at 0:21
  • @TylerV The negative battery terminal is grounded to the chassis and the engine usually. So you'd attach the jump packs ground to either the negative battery terminal or the engine or chassis. And the positive lead to the batterys positive terminal.
    – Ben
    Feb 19, 2016 at 0:22
  • That's what I expect to be the case. I'm just wondering if there is a way that I can tell from the battery's terminal, since I can't see where the leads go off to. Or, does someone know this model of car specifically.
    – Tyler V.
    Feb 19, 2016 at 1:02
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    @TylerV. There is no way to tell if you can't see the wires. However the negative terminal will always ground to the chassis. The engine will always ground to the chassis. The engine may ground to the battery. Positive will always run to the starter. Positive will always run to the under hood fuse box. Positive will almost always connect to the alternator.
    – Ben
    Feb 19, 2016 at 1:10

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