Ground Issue: Sizzling wires!
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 400
Likes: 1
From: California
Ground Issue: Sizzling wires!
Well, i just started the vette up after a week of sitting in the rain with a car cover on and found that the ground to the Alternator sits at thr Driver side of the front of the Radiator support on my 79...near the Condensor. well, its conviently located next to LOTS of water which means rust. i went to start it up and got it cranking over and got it to idle then shut it off and looked under the hood to find my ground for my lights. That when i saw the ground wire for the alternator gettin crispy, now the only other time thats happened to me was in shop class when i had a bad ground on my project engine. now here is my real question. Does the radiator support act as a ground for the alternator, if so, can i relocate the ground on the upper bolts near where the weatherstripping goes so as to keep a clean ground? any other Grounding suggestions would be helpful.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 400
Likes: 1
From: California
what would be a good place to relocate the ground wire for the alternator so its more accesible if i ever need to mess with it, cuz trying to get to where its at right now is not something i want to do every couple years.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,429
Likes: 14
From: CA
The alternator itself should be grounded through the housing. The gound wire from the alt is suppose to go to the engine.
It's possible that someones' messed with it. I would start from the battery and check all the grounds by removing each connection & cleaning it. Your battery neg goes directly to the frame. The engine should have a ground strap on it somewhere & it should go to the frame. If you can't find the eng strap, you can get a new ground from Napa (It's a big gage wire) and bolt it on to a clean spot on the block. Once you make sure the frame & eng are grounded well, make sure the alt-to-eng ground is good.
It's possible that someones' messed with it. I would start from the battery and check all the grounds by removing each connection & cleaning it. Your battery neg goes directly to the frame. The engine should have a ground strap on it somewhere & it should go to the frame. If you can't find the eng strap, you can get a new ground from Napa (It's a big gage wire) and bolt it on to a clean spot on the block. Once you make sure the frame & eng are grounded well, make sure the alt-to-eng ground is good.
