78supercab

So I focused on grounds when i started today. Removed my battery to block ground and cleaned up the block nice and shiny, tightened everything up and nothing, everything still dead. So I started looking for a block to frame ground wire and couldnt find one anywhere... Maybe a previous owner removed it while troubleshooting and gave up? No idea. But I added a new ground cable from the block to a nice shiny spot on the frame and the truck came to life, A few pumps of the gas pedal and it fired right up! Is there anything wrong with what I did? I only heard the truck run when I bought it and it was on jumper cables so who knows if it had ran much previous to that. The truck needs a ton of work so I'm sure I will be back with more questions.

Steve83

Probably not, but did you study the diagram I posted above? Did you read its caption?

burnthelight88

Grounds are the key to the trucks of this vintage. I go on threads like yours all the time, along with other members, and we beat dudes up over grounds. And many posters get mad about it and tell us everything is fine, and usually near the end they find it was indeed a ground problem. Like I said before, many guys add one from radiator support to ground. Make sure that you also have one from firewall to engine (located in the back near the top), engine to frame (your solution this time), and bed to frame. All these grounds need to be kept clean and free of oil, and a star washer at the back of the connection helps.

Steve83

That's a poor grounding system - Ford stopped doing that in the early 80s because of all the problems it can cause; especially as the vehicle ages. A single trunk ground is superior, when built correctly. This is how Ford did it in the 90s (which was a big improvement over the 70s & 80s):


(phone app link)

Note that most grounds are trunked either to G100 or G201. On my truck, I trunked most of them together, so they don't actually rely on the body or chassis for grounding any more - they go almost entirely by Copper to the battery (-) terminal.


(phone app link)Oil doesn't interfere with grounding, when the ground terminals are installed clean & tight. Electrical grease (which is NOT dielectric, or thermal, or chassis, or battery snot, or conductive) helps maintain the quality of the connection.


(phone app link)That's only necessary where a terminal is installed against body paint. Otherwise, it only allows contamination & corrosion to encroach between the terminal & ground surface.

BareBonesXL

The starter draws a lot of current. That's the main reason the battery cables are so thick, for starting. If your "cable" isn't thick enough it might get warm and melty with each start. Extended cranking could start a fire.

Just a thought.

78supercab

i did study it, thank you for the help.