Ground Locations?!?!

[Tanzimur]

Al rite guys having a slight problem with my starter and alternator while driving the volt gauge is usually at 14v but as i go through little bumps and such i can see it flickering between 12 and 14v so im guessing i either did not secure a ground down or im missing something.

As for the starter, sometimes ill try to start the car cold or warm does not matter itll either click like i have a loose battery terminal or not do anything at all. But the lights on the dash and all that good stuff is on and does not dim down. And all this has been happening after my engine swap so just wondering if anyone can please tell me all the grounds location for starter and alternator much appreciated thank you!

[Tanzimur]

Also i forgot to mention some days ill be driving down the road and nice straight roads and i can see the voltage drop and such and ive already replaced the tension-er as well belt is brand new.

[A1 A2 German]

The alt and starter are self grounding.

Jack the car up, under the passenger side frame rail you should see a ~7" long ground wire going from the rail to the motor. I'd remove this and check for corrosion. As I did the big three, I went ahead and replaced the oem ground with 0 gauge.

I had this same problem, it was my 17 year old oem alternator, it wasn't fully bad.....just kinda bad so what get a so so charge. I can give you a kol short cut too if you like for the big three. It'll delete the quite long battery cable running across the rain tray, through the false fire wall, down the frame rail, over the hill and through the woods to the starter post. You'd use mush less wire and considered you up'd the gauge size to 0 or 2 gauge you'd get a stronger start.

[Tanzimur]

The alt and starter are self grounding.

Jack the car up, under the passenger side frame rail you should see a ~7" long ground wire going from the rail to the motor. I'd remove this and check for corrosion. As I did the big three, I went ahead and replaced the oem ground with 0 gauge.

I had this same problem, it was my 17 year old oem alternator, it wasn't fully bad.....just kinda bad so what get a so so charge. I can give you a kol short cut too if you like for the big three. It'll delete the quite long battery cable running across the rain tray, through the false fire wall, down the frame rail, over the hill and through the woods to the starter post. You'd use mush less wire and considered you up'd the gauge size to 0 or 2 gauge you'd get a stronger start.

Alrite thats sound great and i checked for corosion on the motor mount ground and ye that wss the it was loose and covered in filth but my alternator is flly gone as of today nothing coming out of the post on the rear of alt .2v if that

[Tanzimur]

Ye the alternator was bad, and even tho it showed 12 v on the dash battery's charge was 28% causing the no start situation...

[A1 A2 German]

Good you got it figured out, nailed it.

You can upgrade to the 2001 facelift 120amp alt too if you like, just make sure when they sell it to you it comes with the facelift pulley (as at times they just sell the raw alt).

[Tanzimur]

ye lol i was reading up on that and got confused on what alternator to get because mine had valeo stamped all over it and i grabbed the regulator for the bosch brand so it did not match up but luckily i grabbed one off a 98 a4 drive by wire alt! 90 day warrantie

[Avant Nate]

Before throwing out your old one:
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...es-%28Valeo%29

[Tanzimur]

Ye lol i still have my old one and ive ordered the regulator online 20 bucks! got my junkyard pulled one on but still having a no charge problem, i took the multimeter positive from the big nut a.k.a. big nut on the alternator to the battery post ground and had 12.4v but i then took the ground on the manifold and it was 14+v so alternator is working i then relocated the negative terminal that goes to the battery in a different location still the same but i get no charging from alternator.

I looked at all my grounds on the frame rail and motor mount and cleaned all of them off even the alternator wires i sanded the terminals that go to the rear of the alternators still no luck!

Car is on jacks as of now and wont turn over it just clicks like i dont have enough battery juice to get it started even after i try to jump it with 14v going through just clicks like a bad starter, and this all happened after i cleaned the grounds...

But i did get this and im trying to search so if anyone can chime in that would be great!

[A1 A2 German]

You could have a combo of bad battery due to poor charging.

Walk both your battery and alt into any Checker or Autozone and have tested. I'd also wire brush the alt bolts and contact points too...possibilty you're not getting
a good alt the motor ground.

Every six months I pull and clean all the cars battery terminals and grounds, esp the battery to chassis ground contact.

[Tanzimur]

Ye i work at oreily auto parts and the battery and alt came out good... can i not just run a 0 gauge wire from the negative side of the alternator to the positive terminal? to get the battery to charge?

[A1 A2 German]

^

You want to run O gauge from the neg side of the alt to the postive?

[Tanzimur]

^

You want to run O gauge from the neg side of the alt to the postive?

Or vise versa lol wouldnt that be a basic fix?

[A1 A2 German]

I don't know what you're saying or wanting to do.

I'd grind and sand the alt, bracket & bolt contact points from were the alt touches anything.

I replaced all my oem cables with Stinger 8 gauge and recently did full Stinger 0 gauge including ground. Cables typically don't go bad really, however maybe one semi broken inside the insulation. If you want to shorten your draw, you can have both the alt and starter cable run to the back of the coolant flange area, from there they tie into a T-fitting. One comes from the right, other the left, then you have one more outlet that'll go to the battery. Since now by the coolant flange you're only 10"-12" from the battery. So your battery cable can drop down your heater hose garmet area to tie into the T, now you're shortened your needed battery cable by over 5'.

Ebay, type in: 8 gauge T-fitting, $6.

[MrSnickelsnizer]

The way the stock cable is routed is fairly asinine to say the least. I wanted to shorten it as well but figured it works so whatever.

Ye i work at oreily auto parts and the battery and alt came out good... can i not just run a 0 gauge wire from the negative side of the alternator to the positive terminal? to get the battery to charge?

Yes. The main stud on the back of the alternator is where you would hook the positive. Although you would have to either run another line to the starter or leave the stock wiring plugged into the battery positive terminal. There is no ground wire on the alternator.

[Tanzimur]

I don't know what you're saying or wanting to do.

I'd grind and sand the alt, bracket & bolt contact points from were the alt touches anything.

I replaced all my oem cables with Stinger 8 gauge and recently did full Stinger 0 gauge including ground. Cables typically don't go bad really, however maybe one semi broken inside the insulation. If you want to shorten your draw, you can have both the alt and starter cable run to the back of the coolant flange area, from there they tie into a T-fitting. One comes from the right, other the left, then you have one more outlet that'll go to the battery. Since now by the coolant flange you're only 10"-12" from the battery. So your battery cable can drop down your heater hose garmet area to tie into the T, now you're shortened your needed battery cable by over 5'.

Ebay, type in: 8 gauge T-fitting, $6.

Alrite lol ye im talking about making my own harnes the smarter way like you just explained but its finally charging now after i got my battery charged up and such soo omw to work i shall find out if its all good thanks for the help guys! will let ya know

[robert1190]

I have a similar issue I had to replace the onboard power supply and now my horn is always on my wipers are always on and my headlights flicker anyone have any input is there something I'm missing bad ground i changed all fuses and relays

[Murph_129]

R.I.P

[Cybersombosis]

Where is the on-board power supply located that you had to replace? It sounds like you had to take the steering wheel, the wiper and headlight stalk off and shorted something to ground when you put it all back together.

Doug

[Gmancanada]

Are there two wires that get connected to the main stud at the back of the alternator?