Ground Wire

dlaul01 · Apr 19, 2007

Hey guys i wanted to add a ground to my car what wire should i use wehre would be the best place to do this i want to see if it fixs my gauge cluster. I know just before i bought the car the new motor was put in and i think they didnt do a good job when doing this thanks

gcomfx.com · Apr 19, 2007

Our cars usually have one ground to the engine. I bought a bigger alt (160amp) which required a new bigger cable. I used the old cable to make a ground wire for each side of the engine.

I attached them where the engine mounts meet the block. There is a double nut on one the bolts.

Edit, oh and when I put the tranny in, I'll drill and attach the other ends with bolts to the frame of the car.

dlaul01 · Apr 19, 2007

I found that my ground was burning off the headers so now its spliced open so i have to get a new one im going to go up to the store and see if they got one...

gcomfx.com · Apr 19, 2007

The ones at Oreilly's look like they were made out of a pop can. Very thin and easily broken. That's why I replaced mine with the alt cable.

Glad to hear you found the problem. Mine was similar with my stock engine. My battery had leaked down the rail and the acid ate the bolt up for the ground under the car. I tried to remove it and it snapped the bolt head off.

My car would build up acid on the battery and then my guages would go bonkers.

dlaul01 · Apr 19, 2007

Hey

The cable strap i got is really thin too but im gonna throw it on hopefully it will work until i do get a amp wire. My battery builds up acid too.

ernest russell · Apr 19, 2007

you have to clean that acid off your battery box------coke works great,but dont get any on your paint

gcomfx.com · Apr 19, 2007

ernest russell said:
you have to clean that acid off your battery box------coke works great,but dont get any on your paint

If you have a bad ground, the acid comes back. That's why it's there. I'm sure he's cleaned it SEVERAL times.

Oh and for what it's worth. The "coke" method is what finished off my ground bolt. I would dump some coke on it, then water to flush it all away. It would run down the rail, and leave the coke and acid on the bolt eating it away.

HISSIN50 · Apr 19, 2007

If the only issue is with your gauges, the cluster might have a bad ground connection.

Good luck.

dlaul01 · Apr 19, 2007

What other problems would a bad ground cause?

Grn92LX · Apr 19, 2007

I made an extra ground on my car as well.

Took a 4G wire and went from the power steering bracket to the chassis. Quick and easy

The Green GT · Apr 19, 2007

Wait, so a bad ground is what causes acid buildup?

gcomfx.com · Apr 20, 2007

Not always, it can also be a bad battery. But yes, a bad ground caused all kinds of issues on my car.

Car Nut · Apr 20, 2007

I bought a negative battery cable about a foot long from a local auto parts store (4 guage cable I think). Ran it from the negative battery terminal to a ground on the radiator support. Fixed all my grounding issues big time. Once a year, I clean up all the ground connections, especially the one at the block.

Problems with grounds..........

My worst problem was that I couldn't start my car. Had to do the rolling start trick, not fun, but cool that it works. The other problems were that my guages would go nuts, lighting would flicker, radio sounded weak and strange, and an over all feeling that my car was posessed.

Acid???? Can't imagine that happening. Is there any reason not to replace the battery IF acid is coming out of the battery? I thought that only happened on really old batteries from way back when, but obviously I'm mistaken.

gcomfx.com · Apr 20, 2007

Acid build up on the post... not liquid acid leaking out of the battery. :wink:

urban96 · Apr 20, 2007

when i had my motor out i replaced the "strap" with some 10 gauge wire and also ran some 4gauge from one of the starter bolts to the chasis

dlaul01 · Apr 20, 2007

Worked

I Added a ground today and it fixed my gauges im adding another one with more wire tomarrow i dont know where i should put it though any ideas i dont want it just hanging out in the engine though.. I also want to thank all you guys for helping me fix the problem. Thats why i say stangnet best forums around :SNSign:

HISSIN50 · Apr 20, 2007

dlaul01 said:
I Added a ground today and it fixed my gauges im adding another one with more wire tomarrow i dont know where i should put it though any ideas i dont want it just hanging out in the engine though.. I also want to thank all you guys for helping me fix the problem. Thats why i say stangnet best forums around :SNSign:

As you've seen there are myriad ways of doing this. Optimally, you would connect the ground to the main motor ground (above the oil filter area) and run it to the main frame ground. For most folks, that's overkill and the first connection mentioned is a PITA to access.

I mirrored an OEM ground from the motor side of the motor mount to the frame rail. The factory used a braided strap IIRC on the drivers side, and I used a 4 AWG cable in the same fashion on the passenger side.

Good luck.

badstang123 · Apr 20, 2007

if you go to the link you can see pictures of what I did with mine. It was mostly for the stereo but it's along the same lines you guys are talking about.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2327549/3

juiced_94gt · Apr 22, 2007

badstang123 said:
if you go to the link you can see pictures of what I did with mine. It was mostly for the stereo but it's along the same lines you guys are talking about.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2327549/3

That is one nice mustang and a really nice stereo install you have there, you wiring is bad ass also, where does the longer ground cable from your battery attach to? and where does the power wire bfrom the battery attach to?

badstang123 · Apr 23, 2007

juiced_94gt said:
That is one nice mustang and a really nice stereo install you have there, you wiring is bad ass also, where does the longer ground cable from your battery attach to? and where does the power wire bfrom the battery attach to?

I appreciate the compliment. I spent a lot of time learning on some car audio forums and came to the conclusion that wiring was very important. All that 0 awg was expensive but well worth it in my opinion. One ground cable goes straight to the frame. The other connects to the bolt right near the water pump. Then there is also one from the block to the frame. All of these mimic the stock cables, I just made them bigger! The positive cable off the battery goes to the connection off the fuse box. Then one cable goes to the alternator and the other goes to another optima in the rear. And then of course there is another ground from the rear battery to the frame. I though about running the ground from the rear battery all the way to the front one (That would be ideal) but it seemed like a lot of work without too much benefit. Any other questions let me know.
- Justin

Ground Wire

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