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It sounds like you bolt into the battery, or the threads inside the battery itself are stripped.
Doing the big 3, there are two ground cables, one runs down to the starter from the negative post, and the other is from the batter to the post before the strut tower right next to the traction control/cruise control module.
I don't think he meant the "tune", just the learned idle parameters. And those will in fact reset any time the PCM loses power. There is an idle relearn process to speed things up (it will eventually learn on its own via basic usage), but even if the tune is spot-on there will often be some idle weirdness if you have a highly modified engine until it has a chance to re-learn (my '00 car was like this.)
I don't think he meant the "tune", just the learned idle parameters. And those will in fact reset any time the PCM loses power. There is an idle relearn process to speed things up (it will eventually learn on its own via basic usage), but even if the tune is spot-on there will often be some idle weirdness if you have a highly modified engine until it has a chance to re-learn (my '00 car was like this.)
Yea that's exactly what it is doing. Today I dove into it more and I thought I had it narrowed down because when I moved the car the power shut down again. With the voltage in half again I started to mess around and noticed the dip stick was a little loose. When I wiggled that the power came back. I figured maybe there were some wires associated with the starter that were grounding out somewhere. So I tightened the dip stick bolt then jacked the car up and pulled the starter. Wires are nice and tight, no cuts..etc. I checked the ground on the driver side under the headers for conductivity and its grounded fine. The battery grounds are fine as well. After I let the car back down I drove it around for a while with no issues until I got back. I shut the car down and the idle had reset again so something still isn't right.
Could the starter have an issue internally that would send a shock to screw with the idle? Still lost with this....
Where can I add another ground guys? I'd like to add a block to frame ground just to make sure its grounding completely. Anyone ever add extra grounds?
If you have already verified the motor is grounded, adding another ground can't hurt, but it seems like overkill. Out of curiosity, have you checked the PCM connectors for being tight?
If you have already verified the motor is grounded, adding another ground can't hurt, but it seems like overkill. Out of curiosity, have you checked the PCM connectors for being tight?
Yes I've removed them and reinstalled as well. I agree it seems like overkill as well on the extra ground but I'm running out of ideas at this point.
It sounds like you bolt into the battery, or the threads inside the battery itself are stripped.
Doing the big 3, there are two ground cables, one runs down to the starter from the negative post, and the other is from the batter to the post before the strut tower right next to the traction control/cruise control module.
I just read this again, I don't think there is a ground wire that comes from the battery? There is the 8 or 10 gauge purple wire that's the remote wire and the main power wire from the battery. The battery has a ground that runs to the fender and main one that runs to the engine block if I'm correct? There other main grounds are the strap on the driver side to frame (along with another that ties in here), the couple on the radiator bulkhead, and the 3 on the back of the drivers head.
So should there be a ground wire going to the starter? I thought it grounded to the block honestly.
Thanks for that picture and reference Chrysler Kid! I am going to add one tonight there because I've been able to drive it more with less issues but there are still issues there. Every other crank it will lose its idle memory and have to relearn the idle of the cam so I feel I still need to keep working on it. I'll add the ground to the alternator bracket and report back.
I appreciate all the help so far guys...this car will eventually be back to normal
Well.....I think that's the ticket. I added the ground from the alternator to the driver side frame and its been driving perfect....no issues so far! Thanks again for the help guys!!
Well.....its back. I thought it was good to go but today the whine came back while driving through the speakers. When I got to my destination it sat for about 2 hours before leaving again only to find it reset the idle parameters again. For the entire drive home it didn't want to learn the idle so I had to two foot to keep her running. When I was pulling into my neighborhood it shut off in the time it took me to push the clutch in from 5th gear to 2nd. It lost all power, shut down everything until I popped the clutch and all came back. I still believe without a doubt its a grounding issue I simply cant put my finger on it. Should I simply add more grounds? Would a bad computer cause this type of behavior?
So you're saying you have 12v at the battery and 1.3 or so volts to the positive post at the underhood fuse panel?? When the problem arises and you have low voltage to the fuse panel have you tried grounding the tester directly to the battery??? If you have 1.3v while grounding the tester to the strut tower or something near the fuse panel, then have 12v when you ground the tester to the battery, then you have a grounding issue. Otherwise, you have a issue with the positive cable because that positive cable goes right from the battery to the fuse panel, nothing in between.
Showing no check engine lights and yes Jimmyp3353 its definitely a grounding issue. Here is the latest...
Tuesday I checked the alternator and noticed I forgot to install the rear bolt that bolts it to the bracket when I changed alternators a little while back. Found the bolt in my stash and reinstalled that bolt. Before testing the car again I decided to add another 4 gauge ground wire from where the negative harness grounds to the frame (left of the battery in front of the wheel well) to the grounding location on top of the wheel well (same location the body harness uses).
I've driven it two days in a row now with no issues at all. I honestly didn't want to post the results because every time I post a positive result it messes up again (car must have built in wifi somewhere and is following this thread). I'm driving it again today after work and if all goes well I'm driving it to work tomorrow. I have driven it about 15 miles total since Tuesday with no issues so I plan on doing 30 or so today to build my confidence in it. SO I'm not sure if the extra ground cable fixed it or if the bolt helped ground the alternator more to the block???
Showing no check engine lights and yes Jimmyp3353 its definitely a grounding issue. Here is the latest...
Tuesday I checked the alternator and noticed I forgot to install the rear bolt that bolts it to the bracket when I changed alternators a little while back. Found the bolt in my stash and reinstalled that bolt. Before testing the car again I decided to add another 4 gauge ground wire from where the negative harness grounds to the frame (left of the battery in front of the wheel well) to the grounding location on top of the wheel well (same location the body harness uses).
I've driven it two days in a row now with no issues at all. I honestly didn't want to post the results because every time I post a positive result it messes up again (car must have built in wifi somewhere and is following this thread). I'm driving it again today after work and if all goes well I'm driving it to work tomorrow. I have driven it about 15 miles total since Tuesday with no issues so I plan on doing 30 or so today to build my confidence in it. SO I'm not sure if the extra ground cable fixed it or if the bolt helped ground the alternator more to the block???
Good to hear. hopefully everything works out. I run a battery in the rear with 0/1 and 4g positive cables run up front, and I only have 1 chassis ground in the trunk and I've never had a problem. Its a carb LS in a 4th gen with no pcm though.
Just to put some closure to this and hopefully someone can benefit from many days of trial and error with electrical issues. I have driven it to work 2 days in a row and I'm confident the issue is resolved.
The way the car was acting I immediately thought I had a positive wire grounding somewhere but the old advice is always check all grounds. My issue was a ground and by adding the extra 4 gauge wire I most likely masked the issue but it solved the issue at the same time. So in the end, triple check grounds because its most likely the issue. Thanks for all the input guys, its nice to have the car running like it is now.
08-04-2017, 06:25 PM
