ricks4genshianne

About a week ago, I was jumping off a dude's truck here on post. I had initially had the negative hooked up as I would on my GP. When he went to crank his truck, I saw smoke coming off the negative cable, which was hooked to the pictured chassis ground:


When I noticed the smoke, I yanked the positive and negative as quick as I could. The positive was connected to the positive terminal of the relay boxes. I then reconnected direct to battery and, five minutes later, he drove away into the sunset.

What I'm left with is the automatic headlights causing dim left headlight, dim high beams, inop left turn signal, inop ABS, incorrect parking brake light illumination. If I turn the lights on by switch before releasing the parking brake, those faults MIGHT occur. If the auto-on isn't tripped, those faults are pretty likely to occur, but not guaranteed.

I've tried to chase that ground wire through the wiring harness, but keep losing track of it. Any ideas where it goes? What other connections, components and wires should I be looking for/at? Here's where that cable goes into the harness (and a shot of the positive terminal I was using):



Mind you, in my 98 Slowmaro, this is working on the driver's side. There are no codes being thrown and I'm not losing any power or performance at all. But, in case even that's unclear, here's a wider angle of the area just for clarification:



I sure appreciate any information, guidance, and/or suggestions yall can provide.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Ohhhh - this is bad.

First, you should never do that again. Those terminals aren't for charging or jumping. You need to hook the positive directly to the battery and the negative to a piece of stamped metal - not wires.

The wires you connected to are likely not able to take the current introduced with the other car hooked up to them. Hopefully the fuses and fusable links protected the equipment in the car - so that's where to start. Check all of the fuses inside the car and in the fuse boxes under the hood. (I think one of the under hood boxes is right next to where you connected the positive terminal.)

Shameless plug - I only use these cables for jumping: http://www.safetplug.com/default_orig.asp Their special design allows them to be hooked up directly battery-to-battery. All the sparking happens in the plastic connector. In addition to being easy to use, they also convey more power since you don't have to hook up to a body ground.

ricks4genshianne

THANK YOU for your response! Remember how I said those gremlins were unpredictable at best? They haven't shown themselves in the past couple of days. I will be damn sure to inspect all things circuit protection first thing.

What perplexes me, though, is where to hook the negative ends. I fancy myself a car guy, am more than 30 y/o, and have jumped plenty of other vehicles from plenty of other vehicles. This is the first time I've encountered problems like this. I prefer not to use battery negative on the master vehicle at all. Problem? I haven't found a good, clean, unpainted ground ANYWHERE on this car. Where would you suggest?

The Grand Prix recommends using the positive terminal at the fuse box to jump, but that same terminal on the Camaro can't handle such loads. Any idea why it's there in the first place?

I understand a vast majority of the batteries out there are pretty much garbage. I use Optima Red Top in both cars. Are leaking gases that much of a concern regardless of battery? I thought these high-quality batteries were "safer" than the average bear due to their construction and electrolyte technologies.

Again, thanks for your advice.

EDIT: I just visited that website. Looks like the company went under. Any ideas where to get a couple of those sets? I've already trolled Amazon and eBay.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Wow - I guess they are all gone. This site may have some left: http://www.yourstoreonline.net/safet...6/product.html

I've seen some cars have a separate set of jumping terminals - but the F-bodies don't have them. I'm not sure what the accessory post in our cars is for but its definitely not for jumping. The ground terminal you hooked to us just another body ground.

In general, to get the best jump, you should use the largest gauge jumper cables you can find and hook up as close to the battery as possible. All this eliminates resistance and allows for the transfer of more power to the dead car. The best place to hook cables is the positive and negative to the dead battery, hook the positive to the good car's positive terminal, and then the last negative to the radiator bracket on the good car. (Close to the hefty body ground at the battery but far enough away so that sparks don't get close to the battery itself.)

You don't need to worry about painted surfaces on the body ground. It shouldn't impact performance that much. But - those Safe-T-Plugs are great because you don't have to deal with any of this. Its a shame they didn't take off. I've used them for years and they've gotten me out of many jams. If my car were to be stolen, one of the worst parts would be that I can't replace my cables!

Lead car batteries are a commodity and every single one is exactly the same. There are only a few companies that produce the parts for them and they just slap different labels on the outside. Optima is an exception to this and people pay for the privilege. I'm impressed with the engineering and they appear to be higher quality/durability. If I were racing, in a very hot climate, or in a very cold climate, I might go for one. In the end, all lead acid batteries are limited by chemistry and not all that different for a normal daily driving situation. Thus, I'd question the price effectiveness of purchasing an Optima battery for a daily driving type of vehicle. (I'm pretty sure in my case, I won't get my extra money's worth.)

ricks4genshianne

That site was given a Poor Reputation by Web Of Trust on Firefox. I went there anyway and found that those cables are out of stock. Don't lose those cables of yours, you can't replace them. Too bad I was too busy this weekend to check those two or three fuse boxes. I should be able to do so today.

Again, any idea where that wire on the chassis ground that I used leads to? With this car being 13-14 years old an currently on its third or fourth owner, I understand that that ground could have been installed somewhere along the road by the owner and not the factory or dealership. I lose that wire almost as soon as it enters the harness.

Thanks so much for your responses and help, man.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

That's a stock grounding point and they are all over the car. Some electronic components connect directly to the chassis rather than using a ground wire from the battery. The catch is that they use small gauge wires and will give you more resistance if you hook up to them vs. a solid part of the chassis.

If you follow the negative cable on the battery, you'll find the heavy duty chassis ground where the battery connects. Its too close to the battery for jumping, so you'd want a chassis point that's closest to that point as possible but where sparks won't reach the battery.