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Another Ground Strap Question

roadrunner777

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2018
Messages
44
Location
Bemidji, MN
So... I was just under the hood, kind of bracing myself to try and get to zerk fittings for the first time.  Then, I noticed a couple of ground straps that were in bad shape.  One is firewall to hood.  I can fix that, it's obvious.  The other ground strap goes from a stud near the hood ground strap back under the firewall near the trans bell housing.  I am assuming this is the engine ground, based on what I have read so far.  If someone can confirm that, it would be great.  Is this really the primary ground for the engine??? It's a tiny stud, I would be surprised to see the starter amperage make it through that.

Assuming it is... well.... it's in really rough shape.  I think if I give it a good tug, it will just let go.  The thing is, the engine side, by the diagrams I have seen, the engine side of this grounding strap goes to the top of the trans bell housing.  I see no way to get to that without dropping the engine.  I think I'll probably end up getting a generic ground cable and finding places on the engine and body somewhere.

Anyway, if anyone can confirm this.  At this point, I cannot call the truck drivable, if it's going to depend on what's left of this strap.  Thank you.
 
Quit possible that that's the correct location. If you have enough extenstions, swivels and double jointed arms, You can reach it. (y)
 
I believe the ground strap you are referring to is the main ground strap from the block to the truck body. You can add additional ground straps to the one you see there. The one to the hood is to help with noise that weakens radio reception if I remember correctly.

If you look at the main ground wire from the battery it goes to the block. This wire is the one you actually use to start the truck. The engine block is well grounded to the battery assuming the wires are in good shape. I upgraded the wiring in my truck to 1/0 gauge and I ended up running a wire from the battery to the alternator bracket and then from there to the firewall ground to provide a better ground to the vehicle. Some vehicles will have a small ground from the battery to the fender but that is really only to help ground the radio antennae.  I left my original wiring in place and just added to it.

No such thing as too big of wiring when you talk about power transmission.
 
The ground strap to the hood hasn't been on my truck for maybe 10 years.  Don't sweat that one too much.  I do occasionally pick up spark plug hum on the radio but the way it comes and goes for weeks at a time tells me there's something else that needs to be addressed.
 
I just came back from working on ground straps!  The hood one was a $6.00 part at O'reilly's... easy fix.  My radio is on it's last legs, but you know, at least there's one less corroded thing under the hood.  And... thanks to another thread, I got the hood worklight working.  I'm not sure, you know, it's not much light and you can't move it around.  I might just remove it at some point and replace it with a socket for a real worklight.

But, the bigger news is that the corrosion on the bigger ground strap was limited to a spot close to the firewall lug. So, I was able to cut out the corroded section and reattach the lug, still with a little bit of play in the strap.

It, unfortunately, did not help my jiggling voltmeter, but that is so far down my list, it will be a year before I will go after it, if I don't just get used to it by then.

So, this is wrapped up.  Thank you all for your help.  Back to the zerk fittings!
 
enoniam said:
The ground strap to the hood hasn't been on my truck for maybe 10 years.  Don't sweat that one too much.  I do occasionally pick up spark plug hum on the radio but the way it comes and goes for weeks at a time tells me there's something else that needs to be addressed.

Well, maybe I get to help someone else today. Spark plug noise in a radio is typically sparky static on the AM band.  Hum is usually alternator, and if this were old-school, I'd tell you to replace a little condenser mounted on the alternator.  Today, it's probably integrated into the regulator.
 
roadrunner777 said:
Well, maybe I get to help someone else today. Spark plug noise in a radio is typically sparky static on the AM band.  Hum is usually alternator, and if this were old-school, I'd tell you to replace a little condenser mounted on the alternator.  Today, it's probably integrated into the regulator.

So would replacing the alternator do the trick?
 
I'm not comfortable enough with Chevy and this platform to offer expensive advice.  I see the regulator is a separately replaceable thing, under $25.  And, there are noise suppressors out there.  I'm sorry, I'm not ready to offer solid advice with just the word 'hum'.  I don't want to waste your money.
 
Apparently the nut for my 2013 hood grounding strap got lost when it was painted. Could someone please tell me what size nut I need. Does anyone have the part number? Here is a pic.

Thanks,

Tom
 

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Your best bet would be to take the nut that's on the other end at the engine firewall and bring it to a home repair store and find another of the same size and thread pitch. It would be metric and all I can remember is the nut takes a 10mm socket.
 
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