what's this wire?
 

in the course of changing the starter battery yesterday [ hint , although it is just possible to do this without removing the trim don't bother , we wasted more than half an hour getting the old one out , removed the trim to get the new one in , much quicker ] discovered a thin black wire not connected to anything near the earth pole

after much hunting about found where it must go .......the battery cover has a proper earthing point to connect it to

but as the cover is plastic WTF could that do ?
what am I missing here?

I recall seeing a similar wire on mine, are you sure it isn't some special plastic that is conducting for safety reasons?

Always wondered about that myself, since it's a plastic cover topped with a layer of boot carpet.

Can I have a photo please, because I'm not sure what you're talking about with this trim and removing it to get the battery out?

On mine I've just got the main boot side cover. Once this is removed the battery has no further access restrictions...

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(That's a PF version, not sure if FL is any different)

I've never figured out the point of that wire either, other than just being a tether so the panel doesn't escape. Its not like a piece of plastic needs an earth!

I'm also curious what trim you had to remove - do you mean the whole boot side carpet thing? :Confused: Once the cover panel is off it just lifts out of the hole on all the D2s I've worked on. Granted the battery terminals are a bit fiddly, but I don't see how pulling any trim would help with those?

the cover referred to is as per andrew's picture except that the FL is a slightly different shape

and yes , I was referring to to removing the side carpet , was afraid of breaking the rigid plastic trim across the rear sill, managed it with some gentle levering though

anyway , sounds like the wire is just a tether for the cover ...useless in so far as I am concerned