Ok, so back last December I was fooling around with a charge pipe on the passenger side under the hood on my old turbo setup. Ever since then I noticed that the car would run irratically until it kinda smoothed out in higher RPMs (about 2-3K). I thought that maybe it was turbo related (vacuum leak or something). After checking everyhing that I could have moved, and not noticing any change, I then thought maybe it was because of my TPS being broken, so I fixed that but it still continued doing it. Then I thought that maybe it was my loose cheapo homemade ground wire off the battery (that had been relocated to the rear of the car, with a gounding point drilled and attached on the chassis in the rear) so I replaced that with a new one from Autozone, making sure the grounding point was cleaned free of any paint or rust that would cause any interruption in the ground, after hearing people say maybe it was a grounding issue.

Well, after since then switching turbos and switching TPS and battery ground cable, it still runs irratically.

The other night on my way home, I was noticing the car was running irratic (now nothing new) but what caused more concern was that my temp sensor was bouncing up the the hot section of my gauge, so I pulled over in a BK parking lot, hoping that it wasn't overheating, lifted the hood and noticed that there was a very small small arc bouncing between my turbo's dump tube and my radiator (only while the radiator would brush the dump, as it's not secured normally at-the-moment). I figured that perhaps it was a grounding issue from the engine to the chassis.

So when I got home, I noticed that the ground wire from the valve cover that runs near the driver's side headlight was loose (stripped bolt hole), so I removed it and relocated it to a small bolt hole that had held a bracket for the harness on the driver's side of the intake manifold and connected one loop of the ground strap there, and as the car was running, I was attaching the other end to a small bolt hole up by my strut tower bar, a small spark arced from the strap to my strut bar (which is attached to the chassis). So I firmly attached that end of the ground wire to the chassis, while the other end was firmly attached to the intake manifold. The idling smoothed just a little bit and it doesn't run AS irratic as it did before, but it's still doing it. Anyone have any idea what this may be?

Do I need more grounding points off the engine other than the one that is off the tranny, off the valve cover (which I relocated) and off the ground for the ECU harness?

Any input would be great.

 

Still sounds like something is grounding out somewhere. All you can do is run wires... kinda sucks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by badboyr66 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">All you can do is run wires... kinda sucks</TD></TR></TABLE>

What do you mean?

 

where are all your gounds right now? post up where you have em and/or a pic

 

follow all the wires and look for something cut... melted.. or ripped

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beyondspecs_jamar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">where are all your gounds right now? post up where you have em and/or a pic</TD></TR></TABLE>

Each ground that I know of that are connected are:

- The negative terminal of the battery to chassis.

- Tranny to chassis.

- Ground that WAS on valve cover to chassis is now relocated to the IM to chassis (because as stated before, stripped bolt hole in the valve cover).

- Then the ECU ground at the thermostat housing.

Should there be more?

 

that sounds about right. are any of the wires frayed at all? have you tried using a high gauge wire for the first 3 grounds you mentioned?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beyondspecs_jamar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that sounds about right. are any of the wires frayed at all? have you tried using a high gauge wire for the first 3 grounds you mentioned?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, just stock diameter cables...

The tranny and valve cover cables are a little frayed looking, but still very conductive...

 

measure the volatage between the negative battery terminal and the engine block while running.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by krustindumm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">measure the volatage between the negative battery terminal and the engine block while running.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok, what should I be looking for?

 

i moved my batrery to the back, and the car wouldnt run right so i kept the ground in the back, and also ran a wir frm the battery to the tranny ground, adn it ran perfect, try that, and secure you rad, lol

 

anything more than a couple tenths of a volt means you need a better ground.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondazc89 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i moved my batrery to the back, and the car wouldnt run right so i kept the ground in the back, and also ran a wir frm the battery to the tranny ground</TD></TR></TABLE>

Even though I have a new ground attached in the rear to the chassis from the neg terminal, I will also try this (ground line to the tranny)!

(and yes I will secure the rad, LOL)

 

Ok, so I ran a new ground cable from the rear of the car all the way forward and mounted it the same (section to the frame, then to the tranny) and she still runs irratic...

Then I changed the fuel filter, thinking maybe it was clogged, (cuz who knows how long it was really one there prior to my aquisition) and she STILL runs irratic.

Anyone else have any idea what problem this could be?

Here is a recap of what I have done to try to resolve this (has been an issue for the past 9 months or so):

New Plugs
New Plug wires
New Cap
New Rotor
New grounds (no more sparks)
New Fuel Filter
New ECU (not replaced to resolve the issue, but to convert OBD type)

ANYONE have ANY suggestions?

 

measure the voltage between the top terminal of the battery (while cranking) and the post in the engine bay where the wire connects, same deal, if more than ~.5v, you need to get better connections or wire.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BoostdRex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Each ground that I know of that are connected are:

- The negative terminal of the battery to chassis.

- Tranny to chassis.

- Ground that WAS on valve cover to chassis is now relocated to the IM to chassis (because as stated before, stripped bolt hole in the valve cover).

- Then the ECU ground at the thermostat housing.

Should there be more?</TD></TR></TABLE>

theres also a ground right above the ecu. just below where the blower output (air output) and one on the stearing coloum. and one above the hood release on the dickpanal.

 

You typically will have a big strap from the chassis to the transmission, and another smaller strap to the valve cover. Electrically speaking, the best is from the head to the chassis, since that's the first thing the spark touches after arcing through the spark plug.

Are you sure it's just not the FITV or maybe another intake leak? My car went from a irratic idle to a rock-steady idle with just 1/4 turn of the idle screw. If it started running fine above 2-3k, I'd assume it is a leak. At that rpm, even a big leak will become part of the normal airflow going into the head.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HiProfile &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Are you sure it's just not the FITV or maybe another intake leak? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Uhh, what is that? FITV?

 

i would fix the valve cover and ground it there again just for ***** and giggles... re-tap the hole and use a bigger bolt