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Burned ground wire when cranking engine

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Old May 23, 2019, 12:23 PM
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Burned ground wire when cranking engine

Hey everyone,

So this morning I went to go start my car and the car didn't start. At first, seemed like a dead battery, but then smoke started to rush out from under the hood and smelled like an electrical fire. Really wasn't sure what was happening, however by the time I opened the hood, I couldn't recognize the source of smoke. I thought it might have been the starter locking up and at quick glance didn't see any wires burnt, and 5 minutes later, I started the car and it started right up and ran fine, like nothin happened.

However after doing some more checking, I noticed the ground wire from the intake manifold to the firewall was burnt and chard. Not really sure why this happened, since I believe the wire is an engine ground to a chassis ground - (seems that there was too much voltage running through the wire and got too hot, like a short but I'm not an electrical guru). I took a thorough look around the car and underneath it and didn't notice any other wires that were burnt. It's weird considering 30 minutes before this, I drove back from class and the whole morning the car was fine and nothin like this has happened before. Anybody have any thoughts why this might have happened? Thanks, I appreciate it!

Old May 23, 2019, 02:12 PM
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Update

So went to take off the ground wire and saw that it was pretty corroded.. and considering this wire is 15 years old and has been outside all of it's life, I'm guessing that's the reason why it happened, not sure tho

Old May 23, 2019, 02:26 PM
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the main ground from the block to the battery attaches at the transmission just above the starter. Check to make sure this is connected otherwise all the amps from the starter would be going through that charred wire of yours.
Old May 23, 2019, 03:38 PM
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Wow check the grounds from the battery. Something must be bad, loose, corroded, missing.

I've seen this happen before but I can't remember what it was, it may have been the starter cable but for some reason I recall it being related to the ignition coils.
Doesn't the coil pack harness have a special ground for the head on that engine? Just a guess
Old May 23, 2019, 04:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Biggiesacks
the main ground from the block to the battery attaches at the transmission just above the starter. Check to make sure this is connected otherwise all the amps from the starter would be going through that charred wire of yours.
Can you access that grounding point by taking off the starter shield and looking up through there? From the top, it's kinda hard to see, turbos in the way 😂😂
Old May 23, 2019, 04:53 PM
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Originally Posted by 4G63_Crazy
Can you access that grounding point by taking off the starter shield and looking up through there? From the top, it's kinda hard to see, turbos in the way 😂😂

It's higher up then that, here is a pic of the location from the FSM






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