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Re-grounded Battery... now won't stay running (Problem Solved)


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So i went around, and cleaned up all the grounding points for the battery, and then i threw in a new cable from the battery, so all was good, i had it all hooked up, tightened all the bolts, clear coated all the raw metal, went into the car, put the key in, started it.. it started find, reved up to about 1.75K RPM, like normal, and then it started to come down, like usual... but instead of leveling off at say.. 1000 rpm, or something like that, it keeps dropping, and the engine stalls out.. i tried starting again, and i get the same thing... i pulled all of the extra crap off the battery (lights, etc..) and it's still the same.

So, what do i do!?! my car's stuck in the shop, and i have to drive back to potsdam tomorrow morning! :eek:

arggg, i must have pulled something, or grounded part of the block that shouldn't be grounded? i dunno.. all i know is that i need to fix it, quick!

HELP!

 

oh yeah, it's a 97 impreza, obs, 170K miles, ej22, you know, that car..

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when you unhook a battery I was always told to hook it back up and start the car and DO NOT touch the gas for like 15 min or so. This way the computer can relearn stuff and blah blah blah.

 

Unhook it again...wait 30 min then hook it back up and do what I said above.

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Vac. Tube wins it today. right under the air box, big guy... i cant' believe i didnt' see it 1st time around. :eek:

On a brighter note, all battery grounds are good and clean, and i have another beefy line from the neg. terminal to the engine block.

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yeah... it's amazing how smooth of a ride it is, when the vac. tube isn't sucking air :rolleyes:.

As for the Grounding, it's awesome, i can now mash the brakes/abs to the floor, with ALL my lights running and there's no dimming of lights at all. ALSO the 4EAT seems to shift alot smoother than it did before... even when i peg it, it shifts very smoothly, no hesitations at all. The lights inside also look a little brighter than usual.. but that might be because i was wearing my glasses today :slobber:

i still have 2 more grounding points to check i think.. i only got 6 done.. there's 2 small wires on the inside of the engine body part... to the left of the battery, and down, and the same place on the passenger side of the car. They looked little, and hard to reach, so i didn't bother... they also looked pretty rusty.. i already had to tap out 2 bolts today.. didn't feel like doing any more.. and in that spot.. would have been a nasty job.. might actually have to pull the engine to do it.

As my bridge between the battery & engine block i used an old battery cable that i found in the barn, broke a pair of wire cutters trying to cut it.. so i moved on to the 3ft bolt cutters to get the job done :headbang: After that i slid some ring terminals on it, busted out the torch, heated the crap out of the end, and mented 1/2lbs of solder into the wire :brow:, until it started to spew out the bottom of the terminal, heated it a bit more, and crimped that bad boy right now.. oh yeah, there was some heat shrink involved in there somewhere too.. In the end i just bolted the ring onto the neg. battery terminal with the bolt that holds the terminal on there... I'm not really sure what i bolted to on the block.. it was a bracket for some thing.. that has little vac. lines on it.. eh.. seems to work well :clap:

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yeah... it's amazing how smooth of a ride it is, when the vac. tube isn't sucking air :rolleyes:.

As for the Grounding, it's awesome, i can now mash the brakes/abs to the floor, with ALL my lights running and there's no dimming of lights at all. ALSO the 4EAT seems to shift alot smoother than it did before... even when i peg it, it shifts very smoothly, no hesitations at all. The lights inside also look a little brighter than usual.. but that might be because i was wearing my glasses today :slobber:

i still have 2 more grounding points to check i think.. i only got 6 done.. there's 2 small wires on the inside of the engine body part... to the left of the battery, and down, and the same place on the passenger side of the car. They looked little, and hard to reach, so i didn't bother... they also looked pretty rusty.. i already had to tap out 2 bolts today.. didn't feel like doing any more.. and in that spot.. would have been a nasty job.. might actually have to pull the engine to do it.

As my bridge between the battery & engine block i used an old battery cable that i found in the barn, broke a pair of wire cutters trying to cut it.. so i moved on to the 3ft bolt cutters to get the job done :headbang: After that i slid some ring terminals on it, busted out the torch, heated the crap out of the end, and mented 1/2lbs of solder into the wire :brow:, until it started to spew out the bottom of the terminal, heated it a bit more, and crimped that bad boy right now.. oh yeah, there was some heat shrink involved in there somewhere too.. In the end i just bolted the ring onto the neg. battery terminal with the bolt that holds the terminal on there... I'm not really sure what i bolted to on the block.. it was a bracket for some thing.. that has little vac. lines on it.. eh.. seems to work well :clap:

 

Nice job - I need to do the same, having dimming lights slowing fans syndrome when idling. Looked over for grounds today, only found a couple. Trying specifically for the tranny ground, could not find it for the life of me.

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