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Bad Grounds

I

ionroller

New member
I think i hace bad grounds on my car. My lights seem to flicker headlights and interior, and a couple of times it will say charging system failure. does anybody know where the original grounds are, or are there any good places to add new ones?
 


could be a bad alternator or a bad battery

grounds are at the battery and on the transmission, not sure of other ones.
 
i dont think its a bad battery or alternator. My lights just flicker like there is a bad connection, and its everything on the car does it.
 
check the relays under the hood. have someone turn the lights on while you listen for the relays to click. keep listening when the lights flicker, if the relay flickers its a bad relay.

also look for corrosion on the battery terminals, and clean it off. the alternator charges the battery, check alternator connections. if you take the alternator off and bring it to a parts store they check it for free.
 
Just so happens I have a couple pics ready to go for you. I installed my own version of a ricer grounding system this summer. I was going to do a write up on, but I figured there wouldn’t be any interest in it. Anyway, if it is a grounding issue cleaning the negative battery post and body ground should fix it. To be honest the body ground on our cars sucks, it has very little contact area.

batterygroundmarked.jpg


The other is the tranny ground.

trannygroundtopmarked.jpg
 
ya i looked over the ground at the battery and it seemed fine, and cleaned the terminals on the battery. When my car is off the interior lights dont flicker, but it only when i turn the car on they do. Im starting to think it is the voltage regulator inside my alternator. I checked it with my volt meter and it seemed fine, but what if the voltage spikes are too fast for my meter?
 


Mine does the same from time to time. Especially when I get off the gas and the RPMs come down. I believe I have an alternator problem.
 
Mine had been doing that for a while too. Now that we've got our first sub-freezing day of the year, it won't start at all. I'm almost sure it's not the battery; all of my accessories come on. The engine clicks when I try to start it though. Alternator??
 
not flashing flickering. and yes everything electrical in my car will flicker. If it take my alternator to auto zone will they be able to tell if i have a bad voltage regulator in my alternator?
 


ionroller said:
not flashing flickering. and yes everything electrical in my car will flicker. If it take my alternator to auto zone will they be able to tell if i have a bad voltage regulator in my alternator?
Click to expand...

Mine did, and still does. It's not that often, but noticeable;
and I'm guessing it's bad actuator shorting time to time;

try this and see if you have any code:
http://www.grandprixforums.net/f81/97-03-climate-control-hack-6429.html

I wasn't able to reproduce it when I wanted to,, so if you CAN reproduce it if you want to, like by pressing on brake pedal, I'd guess that'd be a bad battery.
at least mine did it and it was bad battery;
 
if you want to upgrade the grounds you can. i went from the ground by the battery like in the pic, with some #4 amp wire to the bolt on the alternator bracket. then make another wire to go from the power on the back of the alternator to the bolt on the relay center. i also run the voltage booster from zzp. no more flickering or dimming lights.
 


There are also grounds under the headlights too. Just remove them and you'll seen them on the frame, you can't miss them!
 
TomDaBomb2u said:
Mine had been doing that for a while too. Now that we've got our first sub-freezing day of the year, it won't start at all. I'm almost sure it's not the battery; all of my accessories come on. The engine clicks when I try to start it though. Alternator??
Click to expand...

Take your battery somewhere and have it tested. It is mostly a bad battery.
 
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