I had started this while at sea couple of weeks ago but Dave beat me to it

Grounds, Grounds, Grounds


“All I ever hear here is check my grounds”

Are you having white smoke on startup, slow cranking, errant voltage to lift pump, dim headlights, IP sometimes acts like the fuel solenoid isn’t getting juice, relays aren’t picking up their end of the work.

Well here it goes again check your grounds, see attached photos from some preventative maintenance I was doing while swapping passengers side glows, since I had the inner fender off; and one of the main grounds was fully accessible, as an experiment I thought I’d check what my resistance from block to frame was, 300 ohm WOW, with only 14” of GND strap to the frame that is way too high. I had been having intermittent glow issues, but also knew I had at least 1 maybe more bad glow plug on passenger side.

Modern computer controlled engines literally live or die for want of good electron flow, every circuit relies on good solid & clean grounds. Sensors with resistive feedback are impacted by poor grounds, charging & starting circuits, lighting, glow plugs etc. need good grounding. Cleaner the better, poor grounding causes premature device fails as the circuit heats up as it tries to see paths of least resistance. In attached photos cleaning up main grounds resistance frame to block was reduced from 300 ohm to 0 ohm. I don’t have glow problems any more & found only 1 bad glow out of the 8 so maybe 2 things going on in the glow circuit.

Also take notice of fraying of the strap left unattended/un-inspected, that strap sometimes breaks in half and because it is hidden under the turbo/starter sometimes hard to notice until doing maintenance in that area.

So step one in any problem if you haven’t checked them in a while is take a look at the grounds, all of them.

 

Yep it was the bad ground that flattened that tire , , it would not be that way from a good ground.

 

Yeah - but was it on the ground when it happened?

Besides - it was only flat on the ground side - is that grounds for concern?

Odd that we boil vegetables, throw out the water and eat the vegetables - why do we boil the coffee, drink the water and throw out the grounds?

Methinks I've just about ground this down to a nub..............

 

I think if we all just stay grounded we will be fine .

 

clean tight and bright

 

That hole stripped when I cleaned that ground on my truck and I had to find a new bolt for it.

I'd like to kick the ID10T ENG that that put that bolt there under the exhaust manifold.

 

Nuther archived "well grounded" story http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157085

 

Yeah - but was it on the ground when it happened?

Besides - it was only flat on the ground side - is that grounds for concern?

Odd that we boil vegetables, throw out the water and eat the vegetables - why do we boil the coffee, drink the water and throw out the grounds?

Methinks I've just about ground this down to a nub..............

:funnypost
By the way anyone have a P/N for that braided GROUND strap??

Thanks,
Louis

 

Great thread, guys. Show-and-tell is wonderful.

Now when TD or gmctd tell somebody to "clean your grounds" they have no excuse for just doing the battery terminals and calling it a day.

 

some more left out from 1st time posted

 

Awesome

Thanks Turbine Doc! Somebody has been having fun with the digital camera.

Please add to the the Sticky's

Why on earth does the 6.5 have so may grounds? Or did my other vehicles have as many and I just never noticed them?

 

Already there in reference area hint-hint-hint pays to spend tome in reference area 1st one never know what nugget of wisdom to be found there, and it does require some reading.

As for why on the gnds, it ain't just 6.5 all on them that run "fly by wire" fuel regulation need solid voltage to maintain clean control signals, multiple gnds allow 1 sub-system to not tax the other one when a single point gnd would get "dirty" and kill entire electrical system.

Folks forget the 6.5 DS-4 was the 1st commonly available "smart Diesel" with ability to electronically meter fuel so better mpg than purely mechanical IPd older engines

 

Yeah Good grounds is right! My buddies grand cherokee wouldnt start, wouldnt even turn over!!

Cleaned the contacts on the starter, problem solved

 

Doing turbo swap I found a couple more I had forgotten about

 

Doc
You,re a great guy . My yearly thanks for your never ending ,above & beyond dedication to sharing with the 6.5 community .
Now,if spring would only come here, I would go out & check my grounds.

 

I am a firm believer in using conductive electrical grease, never seez and dialectic grease on connections.

 

Whats the difference? I thought it was just to stop the corrosion from forming?

Louis

 

And whats diabetic grease?

Louis

 

And whats diabetic grease?

Louis

You silly boy. That's used by diabetic gay men for something or other. I'm not sure.

 

Conductive grease is conductive - like the wire. Many greases like dialectic grease are non-conductive. I have some conductive copper never seez that I like to use but I'm about out and bought a small amount of a differant style of conductive grease that I don't like as well. Fastenal had some copper never seez of a differant brand but it was non-conductive which I found surprising. So not all copper anti-seez lubricants are conductive.
If anybody knows where I can buy conductive copper anti-seez please send me the manufacturer & as much other info as you can.
You can check for conductivity or lack there of of the grease or antiseez with a continuity tester. If you put both probes in and you have continuity it's conductive.
Thanks

 

So when I rub regular old grease on my Batt connections am I not getting as much current/flow and/or ground?

Thanks,
Louis

 

So when I rub regular old grease on my Batt connections am I not getting as much current/flow and/or ground?

Thanks,
Louis

Correct if you coat the terminals before attaching the cables. I usually coat the area with conductive grease around the base before attaching top post connectors and on the top after connecting to prevent any air from getting in that could cause oxidation. I also completely coat the area surrounding the clamp bolt. I coat the perimeter of side post connections before making them and the visible area after making the connection.
No air most often equates to no corrosion

 

Well better go wipe off the grease I just smeared all over the Batt connections......thanks for the advise.......I would imagine any AutoZone or like parts store would have this conductive grease?...Correct?

Thanks,
Louis

 

The grease you have on is fine as long as you didn't coat the terminals before attaching the cables. Then it is possible that you could be interfering with your connections. The important thing is to coat the connections to keep air from getting to them. If you have a good connection I wouldn't worry about it.
It is nice to have some conductive connection grease around though. I use it on just about all wire connections. You have to be very careful on multi-terminal connections - due to the fact that it is conductive. I usually just apply a small amount to the female side and dialectic grease on the outside.

I buy my conductive connection grease at an electrical supply house.

 

The grease you have on is fine as long as you didn't coat the terminals before attaching the cables. Then it is possible that you could be interfering with your connections. The important thing is to coat the connections to keep air from getting to them. If you have a good connection I wouldn't worry about it.
It is nice to have some conductive connection grease around though. I use it on just about all wire connections. You have to be very careful on multi-terminal connections - due to the fact that it is conductive. I usually just apply a small amount to the female side and dialectic grease on the outside.

I buy my conductive connection grease at an electrical supply house.

I coated the terminals before attaching them.

Louis

 

I usually just spray the red gooey, tacky, sticky stuff on connections after I tighten them...does a pretty good job of keeping air/water out of loop.

 

That stuff got a name?

Thanks,
Louis

 

Electric grease

Dialectic grease ......Or Good ole Johnson & Johnson petroleum jelly will due in a........Tight pinch HA HA
Sorry for ya you happy fellers out there ......who do not have GIRL friends with that self lubricating hidden switch

 

Can you buy ground straps, or can you replace them with wire?

 

Not sure where you can buy the straps, but if you decide on wire use welding cable. The wire needs to be very flexable, just like the straps, or it will probably break right when you don't need it to. [One of those Murphy's Law deals]