In case there's any doubters re: grounding.

[jeffspower]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

What are you making reference to? You should have 2.1 volts per cell... is that what the surprise is?

I'm talking about taking a voltage reading of the coolant. Here's a little info on it:


http://www.carolinarodshop.com/Store...ectrolysis.htm

[Bishops Trucks]

Great thread with great advice. I.m sure we all hate the dreaded electrical gremlins.

[Longhorn Man]

Wow... I guess I was a little more tired than I had thought.

[68gmsee]

Originally Posted by jeffspower

I'm talking about taking a voltage reading of the coolant. Here's a little info on it:

http://www.carolinarodshop.com/Store...ectrolysis.htm

I put in a new radiator couple of years ago and not sure what the author is trying to tell us. He says to make sure the radiator is not used as a ground and is functioning properly... But, water is a good conductor and radiator coolant runs through the engine which is grounded...

I guess it's just something that happens.

[jgrh64]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

if the frame and cad are grounded, and the engien and frame, there's absolutly no reason to add the clutter of the valve cover straps.
Personally, i've always thought those were retarded myself.

I have had many old vehicles(rust belt) and if you don't like the look of valve cover to firewall then please run it somewhere else, I had a cable shifter melt because of a bad ground here(power flowed through cable for ground), others had slow starting issues -you need battery to frame, to engine, to firewall (body),to core support, to bed

[prg machine]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

ed the starter is bolted directly to the engine, which is where the neg cable should be ... odds are, no. Whie it IS possible in theory, I have never heard of nor seen this ever happening.

Along the lines of this subject, I just had an alternator rebuilt, the stock one with the external regulator. The black wire that led to it for ground had all of the insulation toasted off of it....it had gotten extremely hot at some point. I asked the owner of the rebuild shop what he thought caused it............he knew exactly what caused it... a bad ground lead from the battery to the block or a corroded connection..... then what happens is that small wireon the alternator for the ground becomes a ground source for the big juice required to turn your starter!!!!

He also said he has seen older cars that had a choke cable and the owner went to pull it and there was nothing................the cable had 'broken' (actualy burnt in two)!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, you guessed it !!!!!!!!!!!! The cable became the ground strap for the engine.

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by jgrh64

I have had many old vehicles(rust belt) and if you don't like the look of valve cover to firewall then please run it somewhere else, I had a cable shifter melt because of a bad ground here(power flowed through cable for ground), others had slow starting issues -you need battery to frame, to engine, to firewall (body),to core support, to bed

You missed where I said the engine gets grounded to the frame. Aesthetically there is much better ways of doing it, and ways that won't have you cussing when you go to remove a valve cover.
I go overboard on gounds. On my longhorn, (daul batterys) I have one battery grounded to the frame, the other one directly to the block. I have always felt that hooking it to an Alt bracket was half assing it (GM's 70's idea). Then the block is grounded to the frame, the core support is grounded to the frame with a fairly massive braided strap, the cab and bed are both grounded to the frame, a strap on the frame, and a 1/0 cable on the bed. I have NEVER had a ground problem on any of my trucks after I go in and ground them the way I want them done.
When I was a teen, I had an 81 Citation crap box, and the lights and wipers and everything would dim at an idle and upon deceleration. I knew the idle dimming wasn't too much to worry about, but the deceleration dimming seemed odd. I then realized that sitting in neutral with my foot off the clutch, that reving it did nothing to produce more power. I later discovered that my engine to body small straps had been left out, and it was grounding the whole car through the clutch cable. I saw it arching one night when i had the hood up do give my dad a jump. I had that car for about a year, and my dad had if for 3 or 4 years prior, and it had ALWAYS done the dimming thing. I ran a wire, and all problems were gone. My old man felt like a tool, and his so-called mechanic buddy looked like a retard since he charged my dad like 5 hrs labor and still come up empty handed as to why the car did this.