Durania Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Today after seeing the overall gain a friend of mine had with replacing the ground points on his 240sx it got me to thinking. So i replaced the original factory ground with a bigger gauge wire. I just simply ran it back to the OEM engine grounding point. Now i just noticed that I have somewhat of an overheating problem and the voltage doesn't read as high. The wire is 51 inches long, could that have something to do with it. As of right now I am not in the mood to start replacing headgaskets and valve covers. Do you (the board in general) think I should get a smaller length wire, or start going about the thermostat replacement ordeal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nkx Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 the length of the wire would have something to do with it indeed. more wire, more resistance. i would also check to make sure you have good metal to metal contact on your terminals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeshoup Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Today after seeing the overall gain a friend of mine had with replacing the ground points on his 240sx it got me to thinking. So i replaced the original factory ground with a bigger gauge wire. I just simply ran it back to the OEM engine grounding point. Now i just noticed that I have somewhat of an overheating problem and the voltage doesn't read as high. The wire is 51 inches long, could that have something to do with it. As of right now I am not in the mood to start replacing headgaskets and valve covers. Do you (the board in general) think I should get a smaller length wire, or start going about the thermostat replacement ordeal? I would fix the voltage issue first. Your temperature gauge reading could be off due to a bad ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 Thanks!!! I will go by the Mart De Wal tomorrow after my Economics class. Go in and pick up a considerably shorter wire. If all else fails I could just put my OEM one back one. I am probably not the only one who gets nervous when that temp gauge goes above the normal zone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 If its a thick wire, the length won't make much difference, if any, were talking less than a 100th of an ohm between 1 foot and 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 Well Im probably going to fall back on the old principal: "If it's not broke, don't fix it". I just hope the overheating issue will go away when I change the wire back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 PROBLEM SOLVED: Switched the original factory ground back and solved both the voltage issue, and the overheating issue. Thanks People. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeshoup Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 PROBLEM SOLVED: Switched the original factory ground back and solved both the voltage issue, and the overheating issue. Thanks People. If you suspect the car to have bad grounding, its best to add ground wires, and leave the original. Most of the ground points you'll find in the engine are on painted surfaces. On both the XTs I've owned, there's a factory ground to the chassis right behind the driver's head light. Running like a 4 inch, 8-gauge wire to that point and scraping off the paint really helped in the XT6. Just get some ring terminals, wire, and run some new wires from the - terminal on the battery to key locations in the engine bay. You can't hurt anything by adding grounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 If you suspect the car to have bad grounding, its best to add ground wires, and leave the original. Most of the ground points you'll find in the engine are on painted surfaces. On both the XTs I've owned, there's a factory ground to the chassis right behind the driver's head light. Running like a 4 inch, 8-gauge wire to that point and scraping off the paint really helped in the XT6. Just get some ring terminals, wire, and run some new wires from the - terminal on the battery to key locations in the engine bay. You can't hurt anything by adding grounds. What I am going to have to do is reconsider my approach to doing a grounding upgrade. I made the mistake of getting longer wire thank what I needed and that caused some pretty bad effects. I will put more thought into this process next time I attempt it. As for now If it isn't broke, im not going to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted April 19, 2006 Author Share Posted April 19, 2006 Problem just came back, ran up the road and I notcied that my voltage was about 12 its usually higher, and also my heat hand was starting to rise considerably, im not certain if my fan is coming on or not. Anyone else had this problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted April 19, 2006 Author Share Posted April 19, 2006 Problem just came back, ran up the road and I notcied that my voltage was about 12 its usually higher, and also my heat hand was starting to rise considerably, im not certain if my fan is coming on or not. Anyone else had this problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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