Cleaning up grounds

[TechnoLoGs]

My Taurus appears to have two screws, connecting ground (negative cable) to frame. They look dirty. If I sand to bare metal, use soapy water - is that how I remove the corrosion? - and reconnect connections, could that possibly help things? And to what degree? Thanks!

Question is about ANY car's grounds.

 

[VNTS]

Pull them off, wire brush the bolts, eyelets on the cables and the area where the bolts screw in. Reattach and put some silicone grease over it to keep moisture off. never hurts to clean the grounds.

 

[HerrStig]

I'd do all of the above, but substitute a stainess nut and bolt, and use some copper containing antiseize or "No-Ox" as well.

 

[eljefino]

Sometimes just unbolting and re-bolting scrapes a layer of crud off!

You want what's under the bolt head to be clean. 100 ways to pull this off.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Been using Royal Purple Power Degreaser. Good?

car feels a weed tiny bit better after cleaning it a little tiny bit.

 

[Chris142]

Use electronic cleaner or brackcleaner

 

[SLCraig]

I always wire brush/wheel my grounds, and coat with something like Fluid Film when they're done.

 

[larryinnewyork]

I have 4 "Ground Wires" in my engine compartment.

Once I knew they were clean, I painted them GREEN.
About 2-3" up from the Contact/Bolt.

Out of sight, out of mind (Nope).
This way I know where they are and can always deal with them
more easily if need be.

Under the vehicle, I coat them with grease.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

I lost a screw doing it, but now I have both grounds going into a clean screw ground!

Whoo, were they dirty.

I have pics.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

So now that they are clean, I might notice a huge difference?

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Getting new thermostat, VSS, and oil filter today.

*btw: Both grounds are now in the one screw, to the left. Shouldn't make a difference, correct?

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Use electronic cleaner or brackcleaner


This. After scrubbing with sandpaper or brushing, spray liberally and wipe clean again.

Don't use soap and water....if you tighten the bolt up and its still wet you will get corrosion again. Install the ground and bolts DRY...after tightened apply the die electric grease or whatever all over the bolt heads and ground area.

 

[andyd]

Pay attention to the wire strands under the crimp, If they are green, the cable will need replacing because the cable needs to be cut back and re-crimped. Making it too short. AMHIK. Vaseline is a good grease to put on connections. Star washers ensure a good bite onto sheet metal.

 

[mjoekingz28]

On a Intrepid I had, it would have an occasional no crank issue. I took brake cleaner and a toothbrush to the starter cable and got good cranking after that.

I didn't even have to disconnect it, I got lucky with that because you have to disconnect the transmission mount to change the starter.

So if you're looking for grounds to clean, the alternator, starter and battery are the big 3. But as I get older I'm more in the boat of "if it ain't broke...." because the bolt could strip or round off the head.

 

[punisher]

Always good to check those grounds. They do cause problems, believe me on that (lots of crank, no start concerns). Also check that grey connector with the two grounds running through it. They tend to get garbage in them, develop high resistance and melt internally. If the connector is in good shape, smear some grease on it to keep out water and save a future headache.

 

[meep]

if they aren't too bad, heat the connector good with a butane utility torch and get some solder in there to electrically bond it. Whenever I have to make grounds, I absolutely solder the crimps.