battery darin should the negative terminal have a ground on it

right my 96 DT has a nearly brand battery but its not holding charge i have been trying to find out why
1: should the negative terminal be grounded to the car as mine is not

2: what is the best way at finding whats draining it if the can the alternator not be putting out enough to charge the battery

the negative cable is bolted to the body above the air bag from battery to body and the body to sump

marty_b said:

right my 96 DT has a nearly brand battery but its not holding charge i have been trying to find out why
1: should the negative terminal be grounded to the car as mine is not

2: what is the best way at finding whats draining it if the can the alternator not be putting out enough to charge the battery

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1) If the battery is not grounded to the car as you put it, nothing would work and the battery would not drain.

2) The most common cause of battery drain is the BECM not going to sleep due the the early types of RF receiver picking up signals from wireless gadgets such as door bells, WiFi etc. Disconnect the blue aerial wire from the RF receiver and see if it fixes it.
Other causes are diode pack failure in the alternator and headlamp wipers stuck.
With the engine at 2000rpm you should have 14.2 to 14.8 volts at the battery after a few minutes, any less and you will have a problem.

Of course, it could be your new battery is U/S a few people have reported probs with new batteries, Halfrauds come to mind. As it's a diesel you need a big battery, 135AH 1000CCA is the biggest that will fit.