Ok soo recently I put my battery in my trunk. Extended the power using 1gauge wire (a bit overkill I know), and the ground using a small line of 4gauge I believe, from the parts store. Battery is an optima redtop in a strapped tie down box. For the power I originally cut the termal off and soldered the end of the 1gauge wire to the original power cable and wire from the fuse box, which I didnt like the connection so redid it with crimped terminals together with a bolt/nut. The ground I sanded away a section of paint under the trunk carpet, and grounded off using a larger self tapping bolt.
Heres the problems: When on a bumpy road, my hazard dash lights flash very dimmly but pretty sure they dont flash outside the car. And if I hit a large bump in the road my service and theft system lights will come on for a few minutes or longer?? All my lights/electrical seem to be fine, the car hesitates just a tiny bit more when starting then before but thats it. Also this could be unrelated, but since I did this at wot the car is extremely lean. I need a tune, which before I relocated it my afr would go as high as 12-13, but now its up around 15-17?!? And no I do not drive the car hard with afr's like these, just testing which I do not stay on it. I think my fuel pump is going, but could relocating the battery have cause any other problems like shorting the fuel system wiring or what not?
im going to say that a new ground is needed. the ground for the battery up front is right on the battery tray which is spot welded to the actual 'frame' of the car. i cant think of a better ground than that...
I'm tired of wasting my time... now I'm breakin' free.
So a body ground isnt strong enough?Is there any spot towards the rear of the car for a good ground instead of running it up front to the engine bay?
Id say add another ground. Stock the car has two grounds. Like Brad mentioned one by the tray. The other on the engine or tranny for the ground. Either add another ground to the trunk area or run it all the way to the engine block. a tranny bolt to block would work.
~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
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2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
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I just tried moving the ground to a dif spot. I drilled a hole in the trunk and used one of the threaded holes for the factory rear exhaust hanger and a bolt/washer, and sanded away the paint since my exhaust uses a different hanger. Havnt driven it but noticed its still a little hard starting. Where would be another good spot in the rear for a ground? Think I should use 2g wire or is 4 good enough for the ground?
Well I had forgot that I unhooked the factory underhood ground, redid that and where it originally connected to the battery, I ground that down to the factory battery hold down bolt. Im keeping my tray anyways for mounting other things anyway. My engine bay is a cluster@!#$!! lol
It starts much better, hopefully that takes care of the issues while driving which Ill fidn out later. Thanks guys
icemike89 wrote:Well I had forgot that I unhooked the factory underhood ground, redid that and where it originally connected to the battery, I ground that down to the factory battery hold down bolt. Im keeping my tray anyways for mounting other things anyway. My engine bay is a cluster@!#$!! lol
It starts much better, hopefully that takes care of the issues while driving which Ill fidn out later. Thanks guys
I was going to suggest looking at the grounds in the engine bay and making sure those were all hooked back up.
Yeah, a better ground in the trunk should be fine. Do not bother running a wire all the way up to the engine bay. It will be a waste of wire and will only worsen the problem sine the resistance of the wire is more than the resistance of the body.
"Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience!" -Anonymous
When I did mine all I did was take the origional ground wire where it used to attach to the battery and attach it near the battery tray as stated above. I also just used a large self tapping bolt to secure a ground in the trunk. 2 yrs and I have no problems.
Yea it should solve the problem. I have the factory ground wire bolted down in 2 spots on the battery tray, then coming off the battery goes through a hole in the trunk and uses one of the threaded holes where the rear exhaust hanger originally was. Hopefully everything is cool and I can start moving some things around in my engine bay.
^X2
"Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience!" -Anonymous
Maybe I can shed a li'l wisdom passed-on to me about this...
While in senior-year career-school, my automotive-electrical instructor... a former Grand Spaulding Dodge technician... told me of that in prepping squad-cars for the local police, grounds were of critical importance. Basically, the chassis was well-grounded to the battery, the engine was well-grounded to the body, every bolt-on body component (Except for bumpers) was well-grounded to each-other... All to eliminate any possibility to electrically-produced noise that would interfere with radio reception.
So if the factory grounded the battery to the chassis with a short, heavy cable to the engine cradle & a separate heavy wire to the body for the body ground... take your cue from there.
Also: The longer the distance you try to make a given amount of current travel, the heavier gauge of cable you need.
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
