Thank you for all the responses. Apologies for my delay after you've put so much time and energy into helping with this. I appreciate it all!! Last night was taco Tuesday so I met the guys and didn't get home in time to work on the Jeep. I will be checking this today between meetings. Thanks again!
Working through final wiring issues on my build and I'm stumped
- Thread starter Gormy
- Start date
Thank you for all the responses. Apologies for my delay after you've put so much time and energy into helping with this. I appreciate it all!! Last night was taco Tuesday so I met the guys and didn't get home in time to work on the Jeep. I will be checking this today between meetings. Thanks again!
Really? That's strange. The Jeep I bought originally had a ground wire running from the G105/G107 location on the block that Sab pointed out above to the frame rail. The frame I bought had a ground wire screwed in further up that attaches ahead of the distributor. Everything else was stripped from the frame, but that was still attached. Are you saying that both of these were not supposed to be there?
With the body lift I installed 1" engine mount spacers which have torn the ground wire off the frame now anyways as the engine moved while running, and the wire was pulled very tight. So it's no longer connected anyways. But I'll put the picture below to show how it looks.
Nope, no ground to frame. If you look at a factory ground cable, you should have two big wires from the battery terminal, one to the tub, and one to the engine block. Those are your main grounds. If you're trying to start your rig through a ground that run through the frame then through any other incidental contact from the frame to the tub, that will give you a high resistance connection.
That’s wild. I wonder how this this was starting before with it grounded like that. And why anyone added it. The wiring for the headlights was a mess. So I’m not surprised that this was too. I guess people really will do anything to keep a car limping along.
Dern it. That's two forum members in two days pointing out how my reading comprehension needs improvement.
Awesome catch, Mike_H!
Looks like I'll still have some more diagnosing to do. I took the ground wire off that attached it to the frame, sanded both the G105 and G107 ground wire connectors until shiny, sanded the nut and bolt that grounds it to the engine block, disconnected my ground jumper from the battery to the starter relay, and it's back to not starting. And my NO BUS error remains. Must be a broken wire somewhere along the way.
No "intentional" frame ground past about 99, maybe 00. There is some connection between the frame and tub via hard brake lines and maybe some steering column bits.
But, as I was typing that out, I was going to refer to the ground strap at the gas filler neck on the early ones and then it dawned on me that while they do have a ground strap, the tub side of the filler neck is 100% isolated in the plastic bezel. So strange.
You probably wound up with a frame from a 97 which is the only year I've seen that ground wire on.
But did you connect the end that was grounding the frame to the battery negative? If not, you need to do so.
Dern it. That's two forum members in two days pointing out how my reading comprehension needs improvement.
Awesome catch, Mike_H!
You don't screw up enough for us to give you crap for much else so we gotta get our licks in where we can.
Yeah, but static discharge is much misunderstood. I wouldn't be surprised if it was added, and then discovered that it did nothing, so it was removed. I've seen that type of thing happen many times (not a static ground strap, but things done that don't work that quietly disappear.) Automotive engineers are always learning how their old ideas were stupid. Trust me, I speak from experience.
Both my 97 frame and the 99 4 cyl frame both had ground wires running from the engine to the frame. 97 was the G105/107 location and the 99 was just forward of the coil where the Alternator grounds. Definitely OEM wire. Not a heavy gauge wire either... maybe 8 gauge.
-Mac
I really feel like it was supposed to be there. I may go put it back on after my meeting ends, to see if it makes a difference now that the ground point is cleaned up.
I don't use that type of battery terminal (that clamp the bare end of the cable) anymore. Over the years, I've had all kinds of trouble with them being able to transfer high current loads. I'm not saying that's your problem, but I'd crimp a ring terminal on the cable and use a screw terminal connection at the battery.
Just for grins, try connecting a jumper cable from battery negative to anywhere on the engine and give the key a turn. That will ensure that that cable is not your problem. Then, as you said, you'll have to start digging into the three sections of harness I mentioned earlier.