More issues, SRS light, p303 misfire, and low battery voltage
#11
#12
My issue was misfires and the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) was throwing a code. I consulted with some wrenchers I know and they concluded that there is a lack of grounding throughout the engine bay (more specifically, a lack of electrons making back to the battery).
Maybe try getting a hold of some electrical sprinkler wire (or in my case, electrical dredge wire) and connecting them to solid grounding points throughout the engine bay. Then take the end of that wire cluster and solder then end into a big enough wire connector that can mount to the neg. terminal. Be sure to mount them away from pulleys, belts, etc., and button them up nice and neat. I'm interested if at least a few of those issues resolve themselves.
I'm not too experienced with car wrenching, but my friends are aces at this kind of stuff. And they immediately recommended this fix after having seen my issues.
Maybe try getting a hold of some electrical sprinkler wire (or in my case, electrical dredge wire) and connecting them to solid grounding points throughout the engine bay. Then take the end of that wire cluster and solder then end into a big enough wire connector that can mount to the neg. terminal. Be sure to mount them away from pulleys, belts, etc., and button them up nice and neat. I'm interested if at least a few of those issues resolve themselves.
I'm not too experienced with car wrenching, but my friends are aces at this kind of stuff. And they immediately recommended this fix after having seen my issues.
Also with your misfire issue, did it actually misfire? Did you feel any drop off in power or the engine running sluggish? I haven't gotten it in some days now, but when I did I felt no difference.
Thanks.
#13
The negative terminal of your battery goes a couple of places then attaches at the front right of the engine, just below the alternator. The ground strap is at the rear left, just behind the heads. The bolt at the front and the nut (over a post) at the back are generally afterthoughts, but without then you can have a lot of amperage running in odd places, trying to find a way to to ground.
If you were going to run extra grounds as suggested above, there is a good spot between the battery and the fuse box where the ground wire is bolted (if memory serves... I am not looking at it now). I think it is right behind the battery box or the box for the jack. I'm not an electrical guy but what is where I have grounded extra projects like offroad lights.
If you were going to run extra grounds as suggested above, there is a good spot between the battery and the fuse box where the ground wire is bolted (if memory serves... I am not looking at it now). I think it is right behind the battery box or the box for the jack. I'm not an electrical guy but what is where I have grounded extra projects like offroad lights.
#14
#15
Sorry for the delay in response. I actually mounted those wires to the engine itself, like along the head bolts and also around the engine bay, alternator, throttle body, etc. Then I clustered the wires and connected to the negative terminal, not the grounding strap.
Thanks y'all for the help, I'll continue to post if something else comes up.
#17
#18
I'm glad the OP figured it out... Congrats.
Just for posterity I want to add to my previous post that if anyone adds extra grounding following the guidance above, make sure you ground to an obvious, real grounding point. When I mentioned my off road lights above, I neglected to mention that I initially grounded them to a bolt on the body in the engine bay, and I luckily ran my hand close to that spot without gloves after driving it with the lights on... To find that the fender was hot enough to burn me at that location. Clearly it wasn't a good spot to ground. Moving it to the spot behind the battery box fixed that problem.
If the strap is loose current will travel through the transmission, the metal handbrake lines, or wherever until it reaches something that connects to something else that is grounded back to the battery. Of that something has a small contact or is a skinny wires it will get real hot. As Dro mentioned, it can actually weld your handbrake cable to other parts. Imagine if you touched metal on the handbrake while that was going on. Dangerous situation there and it is surprising that the little grounding strap makes so much difference until you consider that the engine, transmission, etc have rubberized mounts to the frame.
Just for posterity I want to add to my previous post that if anyone adds extra grounding following the guidance above, make sure you ground to an obvious, real grounding point. When I mentioned my off road lights above, I neglected to mention that I initially grounded them to a bolt on the body in the engine bay, and I luckily ran my hand close to that spot without gloves after driving it with the lights on... To find that the fender was hot enough to burn me at that location. Clearly it wasn't a good spot to ground. Moving it to the spot behind the battery box fixed that problem.
If the strap is loose current will travel through the transmission, the metal handbrake lines, or wherever until it reaches something that connects to something else that is grounded back to the battery. Of that something has a small contact or is a skinny wires it will get real hot. As Dro mentioned, it can actually weld your handbrake cable to other parts. Imagine if you touched metal on the handbrake while that was going on. Dangerous situation there and it is surprising that the little grounding strap makes so much difference until you consider that the engine, transmission, etc have rubberized mounts to the frame.
#19
I had an old Volkswagen that had a loose ground wire that attached to the transmission. I noticed some weird dimming of the headlights a couple times, but no other issues at the time. Then about a week later, it wouldn't start anymore even though the battery voltage was about 13v with no load on it. I thought maybe it was a bad cell in the battery. So I had someone turn the key to the start position and hold it while watching the cells in the battery for boiling. After about 10 seconds, one of the wires going to a side marker light started burning. So that lead me to check the grounds. The bolt holding the ground to the bell housing had backed out just a little bit.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
twaszak
Discovery II
6
12-28-2010 01:37 PM