I hve 2 wires on the neg. side of my battery. One bigger of the two is grounded to the motor block and the smaller is cut. Where does this smaller wire go?

3 engines sold new (options )none told. so USA generic answers me. 2.0,2.2,24L

most cars, it is super simple the
huge battery cables. 4 ends 4 lugs,
to the battery end I will skip
RED POS cable goes to the starter motor solenoid, huge lug
out-board lug, only, never inboard if seen .
the NEG cable, (minus) must to the the engine block or
to the starter motors huge mounting bolts
and never to the body of car ever. (direct) NEG.
rule #1 connect PLUS cables first.
and NEG last, or risk shorts (dropped or wrenched wrong) and boom eat acid for lunch.
NEG lug is OFF first, ON last. oK> a rule.

other places for NEG lug, below.
are upper part of engine mounts, the engine side always.
this NEG cable is a 500 amp up, cable, so the closer to the starter it is connected the better, no rust. clean and tight connections
pure electrical laws here, ( and more) see sensor.below.

one of these 3 engine, or all has NEG battery cable current sensor
so the NEG cable must be connect correctly for sure.
find the guy that connected it wrong and make them put it back where they found it?
that it.
connected wrong (GND-neg) to body, the body ground jumper burns up.
do avoid that.

Not sure exactly what you want to know?
The ground cable starts at the neg terminal of the battery. This cable bolts to the engine block.The engine block connects to the chassis by a cable strap. Everything on the car runs on 12 volt power. Everything is grounded to the chassis which gets back to the neg bat cable of the battery. Is this explanation what you want t to k how?

You have a short either a bad ground vary likely or some type of motor problem not to be confused with engine problem .
An easy test is disconnect the NEG cable from the battery and with a multlymeter test for voltage from the positive side of the battery to the engine block .
If you read voltage and how much voltage can tell you what to look for or ware to look .
Big voltage is a big motor starter or window or seat motor 5 volts 1 to 2 volts could be anything that is drawing voltage look for things that don't work quit right or lose ground wires bad connections that sort of thing .
You can also try pulling out fuses one at a time doing this test to see if the problem goes away this can be vary helpful to isolate witch system the problem is coming from.

Wow, that sucks Jackie kudos to you for taking on the task of fixing it. A wiring diagram would probably will not help you much as they are very unlike a picture. (have one but it wont attach here) Your message was cut off but it sounds like you got the positive side figured out and need help with the ground. If you bought the generic auto parts store cables the ground cable should have come with all of the necessary leads to make the repair. in this case, one large wire from the battery to the engine block or a bracket on the block, and one smaller wire that should go to the car's sheet metal, usually on the fender near the battery. If your thief cut the cable close to battery there ought to be enough length to splice to new cable. If your new cable doesn't have the second smaller wire they gave you the wrong one. If your new ground cable does not have the second wire you can just buy a short piece of wire, splice it to the cut of end and run it over to the negative battery terminal, and connect to the clamp bolt with a ring terminal. Hope this helps..good luck : )

The negative of a vehicle goes to the chassis (ground) the positive goes through the solenoid to the starter. The smaller wire comes from the ignition. The starter has no ground wire since the case of the starter is bolted to the engine block to make it's negative connection. I always remove the starter and using emery cloth i clean the bolts and wherever the bolts touch. I also clean where the starter presses against the engine block. This is to ensure that the connection is tarnish and oil-free. Remove the ground cable from the battery before beginning to remove the starter.

DISCONNECT THE BLOWER MOTOR POWER LEAD. RUN A "FUSED" (20AMP) HOT JUMPER WIRE TO POSITIVE SIDE OF CONNECTOR,THEN TO BATTERY POSITIVE, THEN RUN A NEG. WIRE BACK TO NEG. AT BATTERY (TO INSURE A FULL CIRCUIT).
IF BLOWER WORKS...YOU HAVE A SWITCH,WIRING, OR FUSE/CIRCUIT BREAKER PROBLEM.NEXT CHECK FOR POWER INTO BUT NOT OUT OF SWITCH...IF THIS IS THE CASE THE SWITCH IS THE PROBLEM.

First, be sure that there is a ground strap, cable or wire from three spots:
1. from neg. side of battery to block
2. from block to firewall
3. from firewall to battery

The above will give you a good ground. You might also want to add a ground from one of the above to the vehicle frame just to be sure.

Check for voltage between battery Neg. and both sides of your fuse, if you get battery volts then its a ground issue, if 0 volts then its a power supply problem.
if you have a ground issue you battery Neg. cable goes from the battery to the engine block then from block to the frame. the easiest fix is to run a new (Heavy) cable from the battery Neg. terminal on the engine to the frame. and check underneath you car for a braided strap that may have come loose (this is your ground strap)
If you have a supply problem then trace the wiring from your fuse back to the source (the Battery) if need be you could run a new wire from the supply point to the fuse panel.

Positive of one battery to hot of vehicle wiring harness--neg. of that battery to positive of other battery--negative of that battery to block (ground)

which wires ? the ones connected to the battery? or the wiring harness? if it's the battery cables then the large wire is the positive side normally red and the negative side is black and is half the size of the positive wire. The battery will have a + and a - on it so you know that the positive wire is + the larger wire and the smaller is black.