Throttle Body Negative Grounding.

[Huskyguy68]

I recently came across a few youtube vids with some Mazda3 owners grounding their throttle bodies to the negative battery post ( or ground it to chassis) with a thick gauge cable/lugs. Did a bit more online research and besides the many very pleased Mazda3 owners who did this wire upgrade,i found a few more bits of online chatter coming from Tacoma, BMW, Dodge Charger , etc, owners who found it gave better idle, better mpgs, better throttle response, better-crisper Automatic shifting response.
At worst, either no change or just better idle/smoother shifts. The cable is fairly cheap to buy. Here in Canada, a four Gauge 25 inch cable with lugs on each end is only $11.49 plus tax. It would take only a minute or so to install . I suppose if it does absolutely nothing, I can remove it and ground other areas of more importance.
Any thoughts/advice on this TB grounding?

 

[StarCaller]

Grounding the throttle body to improve response.

 

[AJB0009]

My initial thoughts: It can't hurt. The TB is likely mounted to a plastic intake plenum of some sort, so it would rely on the ground wire in the harness plugged into it.
4 AWG seems to be overkill. You would be dealing with a very small amount of current (if any). I would think a piece of, say, 18 AWG would be plenty big.

 

[CleanSump]

You would think an 8 or 10 gauge wire would even be more than needed for the purpose.
It's not like grounding the starter or the entire system to the frame and body.

 

[supton]

I’m seeing my next business venture, only I should make sure that it’s oxygen free copper with gold plated contacts.

 

[Astro14]

It’s likely 18 gauge wire feeding the control signal to the module - so, why would it need anything more than 18 gauge to ground it?

There simply cannot be enough electric potential to need that kind of current flow capacity to ground.

Which tells me this is snake oil belief.

 

[GW.]

Never heard of such a thing….you could always just use a regular wire with alligator clips to temporarily try it.

 

[Huskyguy68]

You would think an 8 or 10 gauge wire would even be more than needed for the purpose.
It's not like grounding the starter or the entire system to the frame and body.

True, the only reason I went to 4 gauge as it was on sale at a decent price with lugs already attached . As mentioned, I figure if throttle grounding does next to nothing, I can always remove it and install it somewhere where it will improve a grounding connection. ( or return it for a refund! )

 

[Mainia]

A Hail Mary action, and I bet 99.8% placebo effect. But, it is a 5 minute job with temp alligator clips. 18 ga would suffice, but I have a lot of 12 ga. around, I may try it for the lulz. If any car would needs this kind of voodoo, a Hyundai Kia would.

My only thought would be static electricity "charge" from massive air flow and a bad TB motor ground lead would be the only thing I could see IF it helped. Otherwise complete, voodoo.

 

[Huskyguy68]

A Hail Mary action, and I bet 99.8% placebo effect. But, it is a 5 minute job with temp alligator clips. 18 ga would suffice, but I have a lot of 12 ga. around, I may try it for the lulz. If any car would needs this kind of voodoo, a Hyundai Kia would.

lol, let us know the results! I'm sipping coffee and will install my 4 gauge wire soon. As I mentioned in my other comments, the 4 gauge /25 inch wire was only $11.49. I have previously bought much smaller copper gauge wire from Home Depot or an electronics shop ( always copper wire/no lugs) cut and sold by the foot. So yah, the four gauge is overkill, It can always be removed and used elsewhere .

By the way, I read that sometimes when fiddling underhood , changing or adding parts, it's a good idea to do a simple ECU reset. If nothing happens with your Kia wire upgrade, try the ECU reset. If still no change, I guess a placebo effect as you mentioned.

 

[Mainia]

My car is a Hyundai, I do it all the time, my car is a tuner car ( go to my link at the bottom and scroll) I clear "adaptives" every 2 mouths, and reflash my ecu if things get flaky. My car has a Big 3 custom grounding/alternator setup with 4 gauge oxygen free wire and 2 more engine to chassis and 1 more 4 gauge to transmission wire leads "over and above the OEM points that also received the 4 gauge wire. All "star wheel" chassis grounding points received "paint off sanding" and anti-Ox additive and then Fluid Film spray over through out the chassis. The car is a daily driver year round I live in a salt world here in Minneapolis suburbs, you can't be to careful with grounds here.

 

[AJB0009]

Never heard of such a thing….you could always just use a regular wire with alligator clips to temporarily try it.

I was checking the oil on my Corolla this morning and thought of exactly the same thing.

 

[martinq]

I’m seeing my next business venture, only I should make sure that it’s oxygen free copper with gold plated contacts.

Please make sure that copper is plated / tinned for corrosion protection. I have no end of frustration with copper wires / cable being used in outdoor applications and corrosion. I know you're (probably) kidding but plated copper is so much nicer, durable, reliable than raw when it comes to the outdoors.