Wiring an auxillary ground

CManT1914

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Feb 5, 2004

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Killeen, Texas

Nov 26, 2005

#1

• Nov 26, 2005

• #1

Okay her's the deal. I keep fdrying alternator cables. This is the second one in a littlem over a month. I think I have a loose or inadequate (like it's melted somwehre) ground wire. I need to know how and weher to wiure an auzillary grouind wire to supplemet my existing wiring. I know a few of you guys must have done tihs before. Any tips?

EDIT: Sorry fro the typos, I smacked my head really hard earlier playing footrball and can't think rightn now.

 

slvrbullit302

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Jan 6, 2004

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Alabama

Nov 26, 2005

#2

• Nov 26, 2005

• #2

I ran another ground from the motor mount to the frame of the car. Just got some #4 welding cable that I had here in the shop and put two ring terminals on it and bolted it down. Check all the little green screws on the core supports and back by the passenger hood hinge. This is where all the systems of the car ground to, look at the wires real close and see if any are melted, corroded, or loose.

 

CManT1914

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Feb 5, 2004

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Killeen, Texas

Nov 26, 2005

#3

• Nov 26, 2005

• #3

You got any pictures of the ground cable you wired? I'll check those other wires tomorrow.

 

Grn92LX

Fidanza Man!

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Jan 14, 2001

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New York

Nov 27, 2005

#4

• Nov 27, 2005

• #4

I added an extra ground to my car. I took a 4G wire and went from the power steering bracket (fms a/c delete) to the front swaybar mounting bracket. Extra grounds never hurt especially for an EFI car.

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

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Nov 29, 1999

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Nov 27, 2005

#5

• Nov 27, 2005

• #5

Chris, I did mine. I went from the pass. motor mount (where it bolts to the motor, not the K. That is important) to one of the ABS bracket bolts that goes into the frame.

The anti-sway bushing mount would have worked too - the other bracket was a little easier.

Good luck.

 

CManT1914

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Feb 5, 2004

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Killeen, Texas

Nov 27, 2005

#6

• Nov 27, 2005

• #6

So basically make sure the ground runs between the block and the frame huh? Shouldn't be too hard.

I need a new alternator as well. With the last meltdown, the post that the cable attaches to melted off and there is nothing left to attach an alternator cable to. So I'm gonna get a new alternator, a new cable, and an auxillary ground. Should this cure my starting issues with the slow cranking? (posted about it a few weeks ago, thinking it might be starter related)

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

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Nov 27, 2005

#7

• Nov 27, 2005

• #7

CManT1914 said:

So basically make sure the ground runs between the block and the frame huh? Shouldn't be too hard.

I need a new alternator as well. With the last meltdown, the post that the cable attaches to melted off and there is nothing left to attach an alternator cable to. So I'm gonna get a new alternator, a new cable, and an auxillary ground. Should this cure my starting issues with the slow cranking? (posted about it a few weeks ago, thinking it might be starter related)

Click to expand...

Ideally, you would attach the new ground cable to where the stock battery ground cable attaches (but it is buried, so I aint doing it. ).

But yeah, between the block and frame is where you want the ground.

The enhanced ground cable might help the starting issue. If not, the battery, battery cables and starter itself (esp if it could be a heat soak issue) are where I would look on the cranking issue.

Good luck Chris.

 

CManT1914

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Feb 5, 2004

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Killeen, Texas

Nov 27, 2005

#8

• Nov 27, 2005

• #8

Where does the factory main ground run to? You mentioned it's buried, is it near the passenger hood hinge like slvr mentioned? I guess it doesn't matter as long as I get a good groudn that works. If this doesn't fix it, I'll be looking into new battery cables for sure. SOMETHING SOMEWHERE is fawking up my electrical system, and I'm gonna find it :damnit: !!

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

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Nov 27, 2005

#9

• Nov 27, 2005

• #9

Chris, if I recall correctly, it attaches to the motor next to the OP sender. Does that sound right (I know you have been down there and remember that cable I am talking about. It is kind of a pain to R/R).

 

CManT1914

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Feb 5, 2004

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Killeen, Texas

Nov 27, 2005

#10

• Nov 27, 2005

• #10

JT, yea, there is a ground right there. I remember messing with that a lot when I was doing my gauges. I actually checked that this afternoon on the block side of the ground, and it was nice and tight, so maybe I should take a look at the other end of it (I never looked to see where it went).

EDIT: Holy crap JT! 14,000 posts!! Man, you would think with that many posts you would actually have something helpful to contribute.















J/K man!

 

joey408w

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Feb 17, 2007

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SoFla

Feb 17, 2007

#11

• Feb 17, 2007

• #11

If you have relocated your battery to the trunk, you will have grounding issues. They can be solved simply by running some 4-6 gauge ground wires to various points (battery to: computer; starter, and engine to chassis). You can buy cables and connectors an your local auto parts store, home improvement center, or boat supply store.

Some tuners have seen a 4-9 hp increase after performing this upgrade.

This will solve most mystery tuning issues.

 

BlownFiveLiter

have car, will race....wait, it doesn't run

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

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Chicagoland

Feb 17, 2007

#12

• Feb 17, 2007

• #12

Joey, Joey, Joey...
First, I wanted to say welcome to StangNet. Second, I bet this issue was solved in November of '05. I disagree with your assessment that there will be grounding issues from relocating the battery to the trunk however. Mine is currently sitting in my trunk and my ground is perfectly fine with the cable run from the battery to the quad shock bracket. Unless there was enough resistance in the cables to really cause a strain on the electrical system (enough that there would be issues with starting, and or staying running), there would literally be zero difference in the horsepower your car made prior to the additional ground, so my guess is that the tuning conditions weren't replicated identically when testing before and after the wiring changes. This will probably not eliminate any mystery tuning issues, unless the aforementioned issues were in existence before the tuning was necessary, and were only related to the ground. Otherwise, adding the ground would only solve the related problems, but have nothing to do with the tune.

 

blksn955.o

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Mar 15, 2002

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st.louis mo 314

Feb 17, 2007

#13

• Feb 17, 2007

• #13

The main batt. ground also branches off, one goes to the front rad. core support (little guage wire with a green bolt). FYI- all the little green bolts you see are grounds of some kind, I would go around and fallow the path of those wires just to make sure.

when I had some elec. issues I used some "jumper" wire, or just a 8ga wire and doubled up were the factory grounds were. My issue was so bad the car would not start though so when the car started...it was easier to tell the fix was in.

Another thing about the alt. if it is chrome or powdercoated. I had my alt. powdercoated along with the brackets. The alt. grounds threw the alt. case to the brackets and on to the block. The powdercoat stoped that conntact. For a quick fix on that I ran a 8ga with two loops, one on each end. I mounted one to one of the case bolts (the 3 bolts that pinch the case together) with the other end going to one of the strut tower brace bolts. I only did this for a short time as I didnt have time to take apart the car and sand/clean the contact points on the alt. and brackets.

 

final5-0

Mustang Master

Apr 6, 2003

6,817

12

79

DFW Texas

Feb 17, 2007

#14

• Feb 17, 2007

• #14

I do wanna pass along something I have seen many times
on these various boards over the years.

It kinda falls in that category of ..........

I might not understand all about it or even believe it
but
Its hard to argue with those who done it with success

I've seen peeps who move their battery to the trunk say ALL
of their weird, funky, and intermittent problems went away
when they ran a dedicated cable of sufficient size all the way
back to the original grounding location on the motor.

Grady

 

BlownFiveLiter

have car, will race....wait, it doesn't run

15 Year Member

Nov 29, 1999

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Chicagoland

Feb 17, 2007

#15

• Feb 17, 2007

• #15

Simply relocating my battery solved my hard starting problems for the most part, but replacing the positive cable to the starter and adding an additional engine to frame ground completely eliminated them. I replaced every cable when I had the engine out, and never ran a negative back to the engine from the battery. I have no issues whatsoever. My car doesn't even surge with a TFS1 cam, untuned.