I see lots of pics of people grounding valve covers wrong...

WRONG:


CORRECT:


NOTE: Those are just examples, no flame intended.

I think it was worth making a topic about. I see tons of pics of incorrectly grounded covers. I realized my engine was grounded wrong once, and when I corrected it, I noticed a tiny difference in idle and acceleration. Call me BS all you want, but I can swear it. I would compare the feeling to running 93 octane instead of 92.

Maybe if everyone sees this, then everyone will stop barging in on topics and saying "dood that's grounded wrong!" Including myself..

 

Nameless this is a good topic... hehe.. I never thought about it before but if the point is to ground the head then your pics are correct... I always looked at it as grounding the valve cover which is what pic number one is doing.. The valve cover gasket and the rubber seals one the washers stop the ground from traveling to the head... But yea I've always done it what we are now calling incorrect so i'll try switchin it... Latez


[Modified by JDMspecEG6, 4:14 PM 11/28/2002]

 

Good topic indeed. 2 of my buddies' swaps wouldn't start on the first try due to poor grounding.

But I'd disagree about better performance due to grounding methods. It's either going to run or not at all.

 

ok. Well it does help performance.

Here's an example of the same type of thing I'm talking about:

The grounding clamp on a mig welder. The farther away from the welding arc you move it, the shittier the weld is going to be. Leading to poor penetration and an all around crappy weld, depending on the current and wire feed.

 

Apples and oranges. During cranking perhaps, but not during normal operation.

 

explain it all then!

 

I have a question about this whole thread. Since I don't have this type engine, can someone explain why the valve cover must be grounded. If you want to ground the sensors in the head, connect the ground there. If you want to ground the starter, connect the ground to the block. What sensors are grounded to the valve cover?

Just wondering?

 

Actually, stock ground goes to that little tab to the left of the valve grommet shown in the "CORRECT" picture....

 

Isn't the top picture of Taz Harvey's car?
Can't argue with that, well I guess you could.
But you'd think he'd do it correctly...

 

Nameless, you've changed you AVATAR like 3 times tonight that I have seen... Just haven't quite found the right one yet huh... hehe J/K... latez

 

Guess where the spark plugs ground to. Think about it and it will all make sense what Nameless is talking about.

 

No, the spark plugs ground to the cylinder head, not the valve cover. While the valve cover bolt might work just fine in practice, technically it is wrong. I'd admit to splitting hairs, except this whole thread is based on something that doesn't make sense, unless someone can tell me what component is grounded to the cover.

 

On the picture, where the ground goes to that bolt. That bolt is screwed into the head.

 

funny thread nameless, you da man!

 

Kb58

Sure, the spark plugs are grounded to the cylinder head, now where do you think the cylinder head is grounded to? Take a look at your battery and notice the single cable on the negative terminal going straight to the frame. It is not a part of the engine harness. The postive cable is. Sensors are grounded for the most part through the ecu, and it's all continuing back through that negative cable to the frame. I should be discussing how the alternator is involved in this circuit too... but that's not really important in this discussion.

This is not an invalid topic here, it has been discussed over and over. Take off all the grounds and see how your engine runs. It will still run of course, because you have the ground through the mount bracket/s which contact the frame. That is poor ground.

I hope to be investing in an earthing system soon to improve my own engine grounding. Do you think an earthing system would have been invented if it did not serve a purpose?


JDMspecEG6: haha I know. I can't find a good avatar. I'm about to give up...

 

the valve cover is actually NOT grounded. It is isolated from all charge by gaskets and rubber washers. The ground wire in reference in this thread will be in contact with a NUT that is screwed onto a STUD that goes into the HEAD, thus this ground wire is actually on the head of the engine.
1) The stud-screw comes out of the head
2) The valvecover slips over this stud-screw
3) Then a metal washer with rubber on its underside is placed over the valvecover
4) Then the groundwire terminal is placed on that washer
5) Lastly screw on the nut to the correct torque.

-This procedure grounds the motor directly to the frame. Nice

 

Okay thanks for clearing that up, I couldn't understand why ground would be going to the cover itself. So really we're grounding the head, not the cover.

 

So we should ground to the valve cover bolt?Cause on a stock H22a there is a hole for it on the side which is ON the valve cover but not connected to the head. explain that!

 

The stock location will give a good ground for the oil fill cap, that's about it.

 

He's just saying to connect to something that has a straight connection to the head, not something insulated by gaskets or plastic washers. So if there is a stud from the head protruding through the cover, yes, that IS a direct connection to the head.

 

Exactly. Try measuring resistance between the a bare metal surface on the valve cover and the head. I bet you will find that it is infinite. Remember that there is no actual metal on metal contact between the valve cover and head. There is, of course, the rubber valve cover gasket (which is an insulator). And even on the bolts, there are the rubber grommets (which prevent electrical contact with the bolts. It is therefore a MUCH better idea to ground on the valve cover studs.

 

If im not mistaken both picture are wrong... there is a hole in the valve cover that is only through the cover and that is where the stock ground is on my 91 Teg. In the second picture, that would be down and to the left of where the ground is. Or is this just for 2nd gen Tegs?

 

You are mistaken. Think about it and ponder how in the hell electricity could flow through gaskets and seals on the valve cover. The bolts are the only things connected to the head itself.

Anyways, I made my own earthing system yesterday, and I noticed right away my idle improved.

 

no brolli007 you are wrong the tab you are talking about has no conection to the head itself in the second pick nameless has it through one of the valve cover bolts which go all the way to the head making a correct ground, and to jesse h , I dissagree with you if you have a consistent ground your performance will be increased if you have a bad ground it wont run as well

 

you all have missed the point totally the ground on the valve cover is for safety and isolation of the spark plug wires incase of failure. it is basically a shunt. do we want a spark jumping to the cover and then to who knows where. no we want it going directly to ground. why they use the rubber grommets could be the bigger question. but it probably has to do with the possible ignition of blowby gasses in the head if the spark were to jump that way versus to the ground. some may argue and flame me but this is the only way it makes sense. and is something done in aircraft :isolation.

also a better ground helps keep from having a ground feedback where the ground path crosses another electrical component negatively in such a way that it affects its performance. such as when you have a bad amplifier ground and it pulls through your rca cables and causes noise or worse. on my 96 gsr the tranny is grounded to the chassis by the passenger side motor mount. i also added a earthing kit using 6 guage wire and used a series connection to avoid ground loops. jumps from component to component to the battery. this way is neat and theoretically not prone to added noise or interference from rf > multiple lines are not necessary as in the parallel configuration because they become like a tv antenna pulling in ignition and other rf . (radio frequencies) this is why most retail kits use sheilded wire to lessen this possibility. i hope this helps sorry about the grammer.


[Modified by vtecmissle, 10:06 AM 12/4/2002]