Trunk Battery- Starter Ground Issue

3

351carlo

New Member

Mar 9, 2004

267

0

0

Philadelphia

Apr 22, 2007

#1

• Apr 22, 2007

• #1

So I've got a 70 with a 351c. Battery is in the trunk, ran a Summit kit with the positive going the whole way up front and the negative grounding to the passenger rear subframe. My Starter will click (solenoid) but won't spin when put into the vehicle. Yesterday it did spin, quite a few times before it started just clicking again. I took the starter out and it bench tested just fine. Hooked it back up to the car and just the click.

This leads me to believe it's a bad ground. I have a ground running from the shock tower bolt up top to the rear most intake bolt. What can I do to improve grounding, or pinpoint my issue?

I guess what concerns me is the fact that it worked for a while yesterday, then just stopped working.

 

Pbum5

Member

Oct 27, 2004

515

0

17

Minneapolis, MN

Apr 22, 2007

#2

• Apr 22, 2007

• #2

If your grounds look good then check your battery. Sounds like it is not giving enough power.
The cable size is also important. The bigger the cable the better. What gauge cables did you kit come with?

 

M

mustangdave

My rearend needs a stud and two nuts.

Founding Member

Feb 26, 2002

2,976

1

56

North Carolina

Apr 22, 2007

#3

• Apr 22, 2007

• #3

There should be a ground going from back of engine (passenger side back of head) to the firewall. If this is there and in good shape, I wonder about your new ground. Did you scrape off the paint so you would have a good connection?

 

CraigMBA

New Member

Mar 24, 2007

783

1

0

Orange, CA

Apr 22, 2007

#4

• Apr 22, 2007

• #4

You can go around the car with a volt meter looking for voltage drops, but I'd try the easy way first if I were you.

Take a set of jumper cables and connect from the engine block to somewhere on the chassis. If that fixes it, your current engine ground isn't any good.

If that doesn't fix it, take the cables to the trunk and try grounding the battery negative to the bumper. If that fixes it, your ground cable isn't any good.

If the car worked before you screwed with it and it won't work now, it has to be one of those two because all you really changed electrically when you moved the battery was the ground. The positive cable is longer, but it has the same path and should be OK.

You might try checking for a charged battery too.

 

dennis112

15 Year Member

May 15, 2005

1,561

36

79

Amish Wonderland of Central PA.

Apr 22, 2007

#5

• Apr 22, 2007

• #5

351carlo said:

So I've got a 70 with a 351c. Battery is in the trunk, ran a Summit kit with the positive going the whole way up front and the negative grounding to the passenger rear subframe. My Starter will click (solenoid) but won't spin when put into the vehicle. Yesterday it did spin, quite a few times before it started just clicking again. I took the starter out and it bench tested just fine. Hooked it back up to the car and just the click.

This leads me to believe it's a bad ground. I have a ground running from the shock tower bolt up top to the rear most intake bolt. What can I do to improve grounding, or pinpoint my issue?

I guess what concerns me is the fact that it worked for a while yesterday, then just stopped working.

Click to expand...

How good is the ground in your trunk? Did you bare some metal so that the cable connector makes a good solid connection?

Clicking solenoid is often caused by a low battery. How charged is yours?

 

6

67 restomod

New Member

Apr 19, 2007

5

0

0

Apr 22, 2007

#6

• Apr 22, 2007

• #6

I had the same problem when I moved my battery to the trunk. The problem is the ground to frame, it has to be clean, NO paint or udercoating. The trick with the jumper cables will tell you.

 

3

351w_swap

New Member

May 23, 2004

263

0

0

Apr 22, 2007

#7

• Apr 22, 2007

• #7

Put a lock washer under the bolt at both connections. They scrape enough paint off to provide a proper ground.

 

3

351carlo

New Member

Mar 9, 2004

267

0

0

Philadelphia

Apr 22, 2007

#8

• Apr 22, 2007

• #8

Forgot... I did hook up my big battery charger set on car start.

I'll have to try the jumper cables trick. Good call.

I thought my trunk ground was good, but I'll just redo everything when it's not so damn hot outside.

Thanks guys.

 

O

outlaw66

New Member

Apr 1, 2005

124

0

0

Flowood, Ms

Apr 24, 2007

#9

• Apr 24, 2007

• #9

Run the ground cable back fwd to the bellhousing and you want have anymore problems. I always had problems with trunk gounds. When I rewired the 66, I ran the battery ground cable all the way fwd to the bellhousing and have never had any electrical problems. I also used 2.0 welding cable for both battery cables.

Outlaw

 

iskwezm

10 Year Member

May 24, 2005

4,159

20

79

Rowland Heights,California

Apr 24, 2007

#10

• Apr 24, 2007

• #10

dennis112 said:

Clicking solenoid is often caused by a low battery.

Click to expand...

its also a symptom of high resistance on a bad ground.

 

HistoricMustang

Active Member

Apr 11, 2003

2,359

0

46

Confederate States of America

Apr 24, 2007

#11

• Apr 24, 2007

• #11

I actually use two grounds. One off the back of the intake and one off the block to the front frame rail using heavy duty welding cable.

It is imperative that you get a good ground or all kind of electrical gremlins will hang around for a long time.

HistoricMustang