lots of electrical issues w/ wire hide

[jammer84_03]

well. i started off by blowing up my engine (dropped a valve seat in #1 and had to yank it). while i had it out i figured i would do a little extra by relocating the battery to the trunk with a taylor relocation kit, and also hid the wires in the fenderwell and completely going through and replacing most of the steering system.

now i got it all back together, and i have no power whatsoever, no door chime, courtesy light...nothing!!! i grounded the battery to the stud atop the rear strut and sandwiched it between the two locking nuts on the strut itself. i havent grounded the engine with a additional 4ga wire yet but i will do that when i get home.

the battery checked out fine and had plenty of juice when i brought it in.

i have double, triple checked my wiring and everything is right.

if i dont have a good enough ground will that cause me to have no power whatsoever? im not the most brilliant when it comes to electrical work, but i think i can hold my own with doing something as simple as this should have been. any thoughts anyone?

 

[FobraR]

If the battery is not grounded, there is no return path to complete the circuit. Hence no power. Dont use the rear shock as a grounding point. Ground the battery to the frame/unibody and make sure its bolted to bare metal, no paint. luk

 

[jammer84_03]

alright. i will have to change that when i get home. i saw jrichker's schematic on grounding, and saw everyone was using the shock tower for the ground. im going to get 15 ft of wire tonight and do some serious grounding.

i was thinking about using the seat belt mounts, or would that also be a bad idea? should i just nut and bolt a wire somewhere to the floor after grinding it away?

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

I used the quad shock mount when I relocated the battery to the trunk in my 95. There should be a grommet in the floor back there, so you shouldn't even need to drill any holes.

 

[93 LX]

i grounded the battery to the stud atop the rear strut and sandwiched it between the two locking nuts on the strut itself. i havent grounded the engine with a additional 4ga wire yet but i will do that when i get home.

I am not sure if the stud on the shock is grounded. Isn't it isolated by the rubber shock mounts? Ground the engine.

 

[jammer84_03]

now that you mension it. it does have the rubber grommet. thats a definate dur dah dur moment. i will change it first thing when i get home and post my findings right away. although i still need to grab some terminals for the engine to chassis grounds. im just taking my old neg ground and going to turn it into a new ground. its a 4ga so it should do fine.

now for another question. i had to really stretch the starter cable and only one of the brackets would reach on the drivers side engine (where the neg battery went on the block). does this have to be there for any kind of grounding purposes?i had to slide it down on the wire and now its just kind of loose but it is holding it up from sagging.

 

[jrichker]

Some more help...


Starter solenoid wiring for 86-91 Mustang

Starter solenoid wiring 92-93 Mustang or upgraded high torque mini starter.

 

[jammer84_03]

thanks for those schematics. those helps on makeing sure the wiring was right from looking at another post earlier. i was able to get my battery back from advance auto this morn, so i am going to get to it tonight, and tomorrow as well (as i have the day off to make sure i have everything correct. ( i installed a 255 lph fuel pump and adjustible fp reg. with 94-95 rails) i believe the base pressure needs to be set at 39psi correct? also i got a uego that i am going to get hooked up next week so i can keep a good look at my a/f. i know i've been running a little lean.

 

[jammer84_03]

ok. i got the ground to the quad shock bolt. completely ground to shiney metal. re-ground all the other ground locations so i believe i am good there. had the battery re-tested and bam. it was bad after all! so i got another one. will know later if it is all working

 

[SQUEEZE&STROKE]

When I relocated my battery to my trunk I grounded the battery to the frame rail in the trunk, then ALSO ran a ground wire from that point to the motor mount bolt AND from that same bolt ran a strap to the front frame rail.

It sounds overkill, but It solved ALL my electrical issues...

 

[jammer84_03]

ok. the new replacement battery got it cranking over. i got my fuel pressure set @ 39psi, and now im looking at why it wont start. im thinking i might have stabbed my dizzy in 180 off. so im going to pull it and crank it over and reset it when i get home and hope that fixes it.

in the mean time i did some more wiring in the interior of the car and got some it cleaned up. mind you i have pratically no cash invested in all of this. so far i spent a grnad total of $14 on the 4ft ground wire i had to have made. all the rest was laying around from when i wasnt able to do it before.

 

[jrichker]

Some help for the distributor & firing order just in case you need it...

Putting the distributor back in is fairly simple. Pull #1 sparkplug, put your finger in the sparkplug hole,
crank the engine until you feel compression. Then line up the TDC mark on the balancer with the pointer
on the engine block.

The distributor starts out with the #1 plug wire lined up at about 12:00 with you facing it. Align the rotor
to about 11:00, since it will turn clockwise as it slides into place.

Align the distributor rotor up with the #1 position marked on the cap, slide the distributor down into the block,
(you may have to wiggle the rotor slightly to get the gear to engage) and then note where the rotor is pointing.
If it still lines up with #1 position on the cap, install the clamp and bolt. If not, pull it out and turn 1 tooth forwards
or backwards and try again. Put the #1 spark plug back in and tighten it down, put the clamp on the distributor,
but don't tighten it too much, as you will have to move the distributor to set the timing. Note that if it doesn't
align perfectly with #1 position, you can turn the distributor until it does. The only problem is that if you are too
far one way or the other, you can't turn the distributor enough to get the 10-14 degree optimum timing range.

At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light and start the engine. Set the timing where your car
runs best. Don't forget to disconnect the SPOUT jumper connector when you set the timing, and plug it back
in when you finish.

The HO firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Non HO firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8

 

[jammer84_03]

yeah, i think i had the motor turn when i was getting everything setup before i dropped it in. i have the vc baffle removed so i can watch the rr's. i was just going to watch the intake rr and when it come to full rest im just going to line up my timing and re poke the dizzy.

now do you start with the spout out or in. i always start with it in then remove to do the timing. then plug it back in after i shut it off.... is that correct?

 

[jrichker]

now do you start with the spout out or in. i always start with it in then remove to do the timing. then plug it back in after i shut it off.... is that correct?

Yes.

 

[jammer84_03]

ok. i got it fired up!

now the problem i am having is the amp light it on and the guage is almost in the red. it has fired up a few time and ran for at least 20min no problem with the light on the entire time. what could be wrong? i did a 3g install a few mths ago and im wondering if the little black and white wire is what is giving me the issue. i have the 4 ga, hooked to the battery side of the solonoid, the yellow is going to the lug on the alt to have the alt see what the batt needs. now im not sure what isnt working right

 

[jrichker]

Stangnet 3G install sticky 3G Alternator Install: A How To - Mustang Forums at StangNet
Alternator wiring

Old alternator power plug

 

[jammer84_03]

well. i have two possible reasons why it wasnt charging. i had the fuse tripped on purpose. that why it would remind me to redo the wiring. and one of connectors looks like it pulled itself loose.

i redid all the wiring connections, re-soddered the conections and shrink wrapped all of it. that and covered it with new electrical tape, and covered it with convaluted black tubing.

i did manage to crack p/s pump return, and now i have to get that replaced before i can crank it back up. the pulley is almost jammed on there so this could be intresting tomorrow.....

 

[jammer84_03]

btw....thanks jrichker for the diagrams and help. you a very under appreciated on this site! so i give my kudos to you for sure!