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Battery Relocated, now grounded and may be running.
Well I started grounding, and grounding, and grounding. First I looked
at removing and cleaning the connection that is buried behind the left
motor mount, and above the transmission and behind part of the fender.
What a stupid place to put a ground connection. I gave up on that.
Upon starting at the battery tray mounting bracket hole I had an idea.
Wow! The tray is welded firmly to the frame just above where that ground
connection is. So I went for it. Sanded it down to bare metal around
the hole and cleaned it up. Wire brushed the bolt. Coated them with
Dielectric grease and whoopee a new grounding spot. I took that cable
and the original jammed them into the distribution block for my grounds
and connected everything back up. Then I wasn't satisfied so I ran an 8
gauge cable to the bolt on the back of the intake manifold where there
is another ground strap running from the firewall. While I was at it I
cleaned up the rear connection to the seat belt post again and coated it
with dielectric grease as well. The car started and didn't seem to
stutter and rev'd nicely. So I took it for a ride ran good. Brought it
back home parked it and let it sit for a little while the tried
restarting it reluctantly turned over slowly but started. I think the
battery was low so I have the charger on it for the night. We'll see
what happens tomorrow morning...
Thanks for everyone's input, I was in denial that it was a grounding
problem but you guys/gals set me straight.
Don
-----Original Message-----
From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org
[mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org] On Behalf Of Ben Harder
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 8:33 AM
To: Ron Pieper; dswalterwi; Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
Subject: Re: Battery Relocated but hard starting and running rough.
Yes, engine grounding is much more important than the size of your
main battery cable (to an extent)... on my mk1 I am running 2 gage
welding
cable(saving more weight than Ron! hehe) from the battery to the
starter
terminal. Ground for the battery is to the rear seat belt location
just like both of your setups...
So, that leaves you with grouding to the engine... make sure that you
have a good ground from the body to the tranny/engine bolt, which is
like the factory setup, except the ground cable will not tie into the
battery negetive terminal, obviously. I would also add a ground cable
from
body to the starter bolt and/or the alternator mounting bolt. Some
have gone as far as adding another ground to the mounting bracket on
the ignition coil. I see no reason to use cable "larger" than
say 4 gage for these grounds. Just my experience.
I can't remember exactly Don, but I think your rocco may have had
an additional ground or two in place? Yes? ;)
Hope you figure it out! Let us know...
Ben
--- Ron Pieper <rapieper@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Don,
>
> I used 00 welding cable from McMaster Carr. I believe it took just
under
> 16'. Your rear ground
> seems fine but what about your engine ground up front?
>
> Ron
>
> --- dswalterwi <dswalterwi@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > Ron,
> > I took the fuse and holder out completely direct wired to the
battery at
> > the rear of the car. I thought that had solved my problem. The car
> > starts and runs but the battery seems to degrade over a couple days
till
> > the car won't start. No warning lights and the volt meter shows
> > charging reading of about 13 volts (somewhere between 12 and 14
volts).
> > I went back to the Monolith battery (650 CCA, 900 CCA peak) thinking
the
> > small Stinger didn't have enough juice but the problem is worse.
> >
> > I am suspecting one of two things; one I have a bad ground which is
hard
> > to believe because the whole frame is acting as a ground as I am
bolted
> > to the seat post sanded 2 ft of 4 gauge cable. Two the 4 gauge line
> > that I am running to the front is dropping too much voltage. With
the
> > car off I can measure 12.94 voltages everywhere. With the car
running I
> > get about 13.9 at the battery. So I'm suspecting I should have went
> > with 0/1 gauge. Tomorrow I am going to try running a heavier gauge
line
> > outside of the car from the battery positive to the front. I have
> > connectors that will except up to 0 gauge wire. I suppose welding
cable
> > would be the cheapest and most flexible if that is what I decide to
go
> > with. I'm currently using expensive 20ft of 4 gauge fine strand
Stinger
> > cable designed for audio. If that doesn't help then I'm going to
put
> > the battery up near the front so I can jump the ground directly to
the
> > distribution block for the grounds. I am trying to isolate whether
it is
> > a grounding problem or loss of voltage. Any thoughts?
> >
> > Don
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org
> > [mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org] On Behalf Of Ron Pieper
> > Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 3:08 AM
> > To: Don Walter; Larry; Scirocco-L@scirocco.org
> > Subject: Re: I'm fused but won't start
> >
> > Don - Assuming your checked continuity with a ohmmeter, try checking
> > with a voltmeter, measuring
> > from the line (at various points) to ground, looking for a
difference
> > between fuse-in and fuse-out
> > conditions (do this when the engine is running). That should
identify
> > the source of your problems
> > - let us know what you find.
> >
> > When you take the fuse from the circuit, what do you put in its
place
> > (how do you wire around it)?
> >
> > Ron
> >
> >
> > --- Don Walter <dswalterwi@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > > It has continuity. All the electrical stuff works but the car
won't
> > start. If I remove it and
> > > direct wire it then all is well. Can the fuse it self be
restricting
> > the current?
> > > Don
> >
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