The Search for the Negative Battery Cable Ground

C5 Corvette

Registered User
I do not understand Ford engineers and their decisions in laying out and designing components for there engines sometimes. MY SC had a bad battery ground cable so I was thinking changing the negative battery cable "should" be a snap. To my dismay and 30 minutes later I was still trying to find the negative cable ground either on the subframe or the engine block,:confused: I had eventually found the ground to the bad negative cable. But problem was it was connected to the engine just below the header behind the oil filter body, plus the subframe was in the way and there was no way to get at it!:mad: The cable was severely eroded "know wonder the car did'nt start":) and I was racking my brain trying to configure out how I'm going to reach that cable without pulling the oil filter body off the engine "that job did not look easy either". Even "if" I could reach and remove the battery cable, how could I snake the new one in? I basically got feld up, rolled up and tucked away the old cable, then installed the new ground cable on one of the 3 driver side strut tower studs. Thinking it could be a poor ground I took the chance anyway and cranked the engine, lo' and behold the engine started and ran perfectly!:D A good ground is a good ground I guess. For the life of me I don't understand why the Ford engineers would put the negative battery cable so out of reach and "nearly out of sight" preventing a simple maintenance repair. I guess that the Ford engineers in all their wisdom thought the negative battery cable should last forever and there should be no need to make it simple to change it.:rolleyes:
 
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Yep it is on the motor mount>

Not to hard to change but it is time consuming. They way you have it now will also work. If you put the car on jack stands. Look up through K-member there is a space for a socket to get right to it.
 
I will look into it

I think you may be right, but I did not have jackstands so the car was sitting too low for me to look further. I also need a bigger jack to jack the car higher. Thanks:)
 
You tried harder than I did.
I took one look at where that cable disappeared into never never land, cut the cable short, and just connected a new cable to the alternater bracket. :)
 
C5 Corvette said:
I basically got feld up, rolled up and tucked away the old cable, then installed the new ground cable on one of the 3 driver side strut tower studs. Thinking it could be a poor ground I took the chance anyway and cranked the engine, lo' and behold the engine started and ran perfectly!:D

You still need to run a ground from the battery to the engine. At the moment you are forcing the starter (and the rest of the engine) to ground through a small cable intended for the EEC sensors. Eventually something is going to give if you do not connect the battery directly to the engine.
 
One quick question. If I mount the battery in the trunk like I want to, does that mean I have to run the negative cable all the way from the trunk to the engine? I thought I could I could run it to the back of the frame and call it a day. :eek:
 
tim said:
One quick question. If I mount the battery in the trunk like I want to, does that mean I have to run the negative cable all the way from the trunk to the engine? I thought I could I could run it to the back of the frame and call it a day. :eek:
Do NOT run a ground cable back to the engine. You must run a heavy ground cable from the engine directly to the frame rail and from the battery directly to the frame in the back. If you want to do it on the cheap (I know you do Tim) go to a welding supply house and get 4awg welding cable for power and ground. (For those running big alternators, AC and/or big stereo's use 2awg.
 
Dave you are so right the cheaper the better. I have read that there are regulations on the box and a cut off switch. Again Cheap is goog.
 
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