[Shotimes] grounds?

[Jason Hartberger]

Yeah, and imagine that I do it for a living... if you ever want to get 
serious about tracking down wiring problems, get a TDR - a Time-Domain 
Reflectometer. It'll tell you exactly how far from it an open or a short 
is... I'm not *real* sure how it works, but by golly, it works... I tracked 
down an open speaker cable to 3.63 feet from the connector to the back of 
the head unit... get a tape measurer... voila, 3.63 down the line, there's a 
kink in the wire and it's broke inside... two cuts and two splices later, 
I'm in business again. Good stuff. Oh, and another thing... when the MAF 
sensor connector is dangling in the engine compartment, you get really 
*#@($% mileage... :P

Jason

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Malachuk" <bmalach1@nycap.rr.com>
To: "'Leigh Smith'" <leighsm@comcast.net>; <shotimes@autox.team.net>; 
<TechSHO@topica.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 7:42 PM
Subject: RE: [Shotimes] grounds?


> Well I went ahead and put a ground into the body. MY gas gauge works AGAIN
> properly!!!!!!! :-) seems that I can finally stop running outta gas in my
> car when it's not rainign and I haven't been keeping track of the mileage.
>
> I learned more about how things are routed in a SHO wiring wise than I 
> think
> I wanted to know. And I learned one improtant thing.....tracking down 
> wiring
> problems is SCARY.
>
>
> Bruce J Malachuk
>
> * 94 Opal Frost MTX
> * 93 Emerald Green MTX
> * 93 Black ATX - parts
> * 95 Silver Frost ATX SE - SLO
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]
> On Behalf Of Leigh Smith
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 6:46 PM
> To: Bruce Malachuk; shotimes@autox.team.net; TechSHO@topica.com
> Subject: Re: [Shotimes] grounds?
>
> Sounds to me like you are right on track. Except that I think you have an
> "open" (cut or broken wire) not a short. The rain helps it to complete the
> circuit.A wire can break inside the insulation and be especially difficult
> to find.
> A new ground almost anywhere should be ok. The special resistance is in 
> the
> sender unit itself.
> Lee
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bruce Malachuk" <bmalach1@nycap.rr.com>
> To: <shotimes@autox.team.net>; <TechSHO@topica.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 5:50 PM
> Subject: [Shotimes] grounds?
>
>
>> Well I've had a problem with my fuel sender since I bought my 94 Opal
> Frost,
>> seems that the gas gauge only likes to read when it is raining out. I 
>> jsut
>> spliced in a new connector to the fuel pump and gauge sender, and key on
>> still same problem Wait it gets better. If I unhook the ground from the
> pump
>> and leave hang against the metal of the guage sender/fuel pump assembly
> low
>> an behold the gauge works without a problem. So I figure out that I have 
>> a
>> bad ground, Orange wire with yellow stripe. EVTM says go to G103 which is
>> one th front fender by the airbox. So I test across that to the battery
>> negative. I get a beeping from my multimeter. I test that ground location
> to
>> other grounds in the engine bay, beep beep beep all the time. Soooo then 
>> I
>> go back to the gauge sender, test the O/Y connector in the harness to the
>> rear brakeline no beep. Try other places, no beep. Realize that there 
>> muct
>> be a short somewhere in the harness running from that ground to the rear
> of
>> the car. The fuel pump sees the proper volts all the time, and runs 
>> right,
>> and when it rains the sender was accurate. :-) So I'm left with a 
>> quandry.
>> How do I fix this even if the fix is a "cob job" cause I don't want to go
>> thru the hassle of dropping the tank again and I refuse to cut a hole in
> my
>> floor.
>>
>> Seeing how AFAIK the car always has a ground going on there shouldn't be
> any
>> reason I can't just take a self tapping sheet metal screw and attach a
>> "second ground lead" to the wire going into the wire supplying the ground
>> for the fuel sender. I'm thinging under the rear seat would be a good
> place
>> for that :-) I know there are resistance questions involved with the
> sender,
>> but a ground is a ground is a ground right? I would think that the fuel
> tank
>> it self would be grounded to the body fia the straps and bolts holding it
> up
>> correct? Which may be why when driving in the rain (how dare I?) the 
>> gauge
>> starts to work properly as there is enough of a better ground tank to
> body.
>>
>> So any major reasons why I shouldn' just ass in a second ground and call
> it
>> G103A in my mind :-) I'm not up for trying to rewire the harness
> containing
>> the current O/Y wire from the front of the car back.
>>
>> Bruce J Malachuk
>>
>> * 94 Opal Frost MTX
>>
>> * 93 Emerald Green MTX
>>
>> * 93 Black ATX - parts
>>
>> * 95 Silver Frost ATX SE - SLO
>> _______________________________________________
>> Shotimes mailing list
>> Shotimes@autox.team.net
>> http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shotimes
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