Why wont my car ground properly?

[dave_s1987]

personally id attach at the block,generally cast iron and good for that sort of thing.if your intake is cast iron it might work as well but then you have a huge wire attached to your manifold...id imagine it would look funky.could also take an exhaust manifold bolt out and use that

Fair enough, thanks for the tip. I would prefer to ground to the block too but I didn't see and easy access bolt holes. I have a small ground wire attached now but it's behind the distributor and a pain in the *ss to get too. I'm going to jack it up tomorrow and check to see if there are any spots to put it on the lower half of the block though. Hopefully I find one easy to access and be good to go.

 

[oldsofb]

Good article for ground wires: http://www.hotrodwires.com/how-to-ground-automotive-electrical-system.html

Wiring Schematic

The article even mentions ground wire straight to starter or as close as possible on the block. Good luck.


Hutch

 

[somaphox]

if anyone diagrees with this please state so so i can re evaluate my own car lol but what i did was remove one head bolt on the bottom by the front and i replaced it with a studded head bolt that came on an olds 350 i got out of the junkyard.it was the old style reusable head bolt that had a big thick stud and nut on top of it,used that to ground my battery and havent seen any leaks or issues since pulling the old one and re-torquing the new one back into place so you may be able to just pull a bolt slip it on there and go about your business otherwise theres usually unused bolt holes in most engine blocks ive seen you could use for such a thing or attach at the lower p's bracket...i guess it would also help architecturally if i asked what sort of engine you actually have =P

 

[pontiacgp]

I have my battery in the trunk, I have it grounded to the body and through the trunk floor to the fame, then in the front I have the engine and body grounded to the frame. I used 4 gauge wire for all the grounds.

 

[dave_s1987]

Thanks a lot guys, that's a great info to have.

My plan for tomorrow is to run a 2 gauge ground from the battery to the starter and since my battery has both top and side posts I am going to attach another 2 gauge ground from the battery to the frame just for extra. I am also going to get an actual copper grounding strip to run from the motor the frame. Hopefully that will get me up and running so I can finally get this thing fired up

thanks again for all the advise

 

[Pontiac455]

Its either a bad connection on the alternator bracket or bad connection between the starter and the block.

 

[ItsnotaGN]

A 10 gauge wire is definetly not large enough to handle the start circuit. The car originally probably had at least two large grounding straps, if the battery was grounded to the frame, there should be one from the frame to the block and one from the block to the firewall. Remember, the engine is mounted with rubber mounts and the body is bolted to the frame with rubber mounts.

 

[Sleeperchevy454]

Hey guys, just thought I would see if someone can help me out. I have been having a lot of trouble getting my new motor to finally start up. When I was finally ready to start it I could not seem to get any power to the starter. I checked all connections and was receiving good voltage to all areas. The previous owner had a battery relocation kit in the trunk so I checked the ground connection at the frame and cleaned it up and sealed it but it did not make a difference. Then I checked the instructions and it said to run 10 feet or more of positive wire you would need 00 gauge wire (very thick) and he only had about 14 feet of 4 gauge. So today I put the battery Back under the hood and ran a much shorter 2 gauge wire for the positive and the negative. It did not make any difference at all. Still get all power to the lights and good voltage but it won't engage the starter at all. When I remove the ground from the frame and ground it to the on the starter it engages and works great. I've tried cleaning up 4 difference spot on the frame and rad support but it does not make any difference. I don't have a long enough negative cable to run to the motor but the block is grounded to the frame already anyways.

What I am doing wrong here? It's getting very frustrating trying to get this worked out, so any insight on what I need to do would be more than greatly appreciated.

Dave

Is there a ground cable going from the frame to the block itself if not probly not grounding to good through the rubber motor mounts and such hope this was helpful

 

[lilbowtie]

If you know your activating your starter - My first guess is going to be a bad earth strap (starter ground) I run one right off the starter to the frame. Tried to get a pic but the engine diaper is in the way - you get the idea.