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How do i ground my 5.3???

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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 06:42 PM
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Default How do i ground my 5.3???

I am not getting any spark on my 5.3 that I swapped into my foxbody. I have the pcm harness grounds on the back of the driver cylinder head as per BP, 4awg from the passenger cylinder head to chassis, and 4awg from bat. to chassis. any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 07:10 PM
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Is the battery in the trunk?

I have had numerous issues in the past by grounding the way that you are. I would recommend running a 2ga ground wire from the battery negative terminal all the way up to the block of the engine.

I had weird cranking issues on my ford when I first got it done, acting like the truck had a low battery. Ran the 2 ga welding cable from the battery up to the motor and cleaned all the paint off all the grounds and it has been problem free since then.

Clean secure grounds are important.

Sean
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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 07:39 PM
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yup I added a 4awg to the other head and put another one on the chassis. still no dice. it cranks great, it just wont start due to lack of spark
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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 07:45 PM
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Sounds like you missed the ground on the driver's side behind the power steering pump, that is the one for the coils.
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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 07:47 PM
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Originally Posted by ls1nova71
Sounds like you missed the ground on the driver's side behind the power steering pump, that is the one for the coils.
how is that one supposed to run? I have one on the face of that head running to chassis right now but is it supposed to bolt to the rack that hold the coils? I don't even have power steering on the motor.

and no, my battery is not in the trunk its in the bay...
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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 07:49 PM
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Could it be a bad sensor keeping it from starting?
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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 07:56 PM
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is it a factory harness or aftermarket? Factory harnesses have one that comes out right below where the coolant temp sensor comes out of the harness, and hooks to the block.

Also, make sure the crank sensor is plugged in, it's behind the starter and is kind of hard to see.
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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 08:18 PM
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aftermarket harness. im just going to run a 4awg from the racks to the chassis. crank sensor is plugged in it may be bad who knows. all I know is im not getting spark so I chalk it up to bad grounds right now...
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Old Feb 25, 2015 | 08:44 PM
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ok tried grounding racks to chassis and tried to read dtc's. no dtc's and no spark
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Old Feb 26, 2015 | 04:16 AM
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Generally the valve covers are isolated from ground because of the valve cover gaskets. That said, the coil brackets dont need to be grounded. The wire you say you have hooked to the rack, is that an engine harness wire, or an original fox body wire?. If its an LS engine harness wire, I would hook it to the block and make sure the connection is good. If that doesnt work, I would call whoever made the harness. Its hard to say how an aftermarket harness could be laid out, it's probably different than a factory harness.

Last edited by ls1nova71; Feb 26, 2015 at 05:11 AM.
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Old Feb 26, 2015 | 08:54 AM
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The BP harness that I have has no forward ground behind the alternator, it is all grounded behind the intake and to the battery for the relays. Are the injectors pulsing?
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Old Feb 26, 2015 | 11:48 PM
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Originally Posted by ls1nova71
Generally the valve covers are isolated from ground because of the valve cover gaskets. That said, the coil brackets dont need to be grounded.
I added a second ground to one of the coil bracket studs on my car. It made a huge difference in cranking speed and charging system output. The cover itself may be isolated but the bolts can carry a significant load.
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Old Feb 27, 2015 | 06:40 AM
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Is vats removed from your pcm?
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Old Mar 2, 2015 | 11:44 AM
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figured it out. thank you all for sharing your expertise...I grounded each head and block on both sides. seemed to help a lot.
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