Engine Ground Straps

[soldout162000]

What would happen if the ground straps were not attached from the engine to the firewall and to the frame?

Thanks

[pat mccarthy]

bad things. system will try to find a ground oil lines or any lines made of a conductor and they can get very hot and burn down your ride you can not over ground .

[techinspector1]

Absolutely agree with Pat, you cannot have too many grounds.

[blwn31]

I have a buddy that built a '44 Willys Jeep with an Injected 302. The engine wasn't grounded good, so the power found it's own ground through the power steering line. Needless to say it got pretty hot. Power will follow the path of least resistance to ground, no matter what it is if it can conduct.

[R Pope]

Most on-and-off electrical problems can be traced to poor grounds.

[Dave Severson]

IMO, good ground wires from battery to frame, engine to frame, dash panel to body, and body to frame would be the absolute minimum. No reason to invite the electrical gremlins in for a visit !!!!!

[shine]

alt failure , poor lights, electronic equipment will fry, computer will crash. you name it.

[soldout162000]

So, can I just use some thicker primary wire to run grounds?

Thanks again.

[Dave Severson]

For the battery to frame and frame to engine you would of course use battery cable, size at least equal to the size of the positive cable. For the other grounds, I would suggest a heavier gauge of primary wire, say a 6 or 8 ga. I'm probably not the best authority on the newer type cars with all of the electronic goodies, might want to wait and see what some of the more knowledgeable members suggest......