Technical Earth points

[weejim]

Hi
I have a 2000 1.9 JTD ELX, I have owned it from new. I was replacing the battery for the first time in 10 years and gave the connections a good clean and vaseline. I think it would also be a good idea to clean-up some earth points while I am at it. Has anyone any photos or even a description of where the main ones are in a and around the engine bay?. Have done a search but not getting any info from them.

Thanks Wee Jim

 

[jip0]

just follow the wires from the battery

 

[JTDman]

True but from memory i think one bolts to the body just below the batt tray and another in the same rough area goes to the top of the gearbox (i think)

 

[shaun1]

hes right one under the battery tray and one on the gear box

 

[weejim]

Cheers for the replies, now all I need is the rain to stop.

 

[shaun1]

your welcome, good luck with the weather lol

 

[boatlon]

Following this old thread as I have a huge problem with various dash faults , including intermittant fuel level inidicator , consistantly high engine temp signal , improper graphic displays, main beam creating other problems and whenver random switching of ancillary components like washers and wipers.

By connecting a temporay wire from the battery to the internal engine bay bulkhead , everything looks like resolves itself , so if I can find the earth associated with th the dash/instrument panel equipment.
It looks like an investigation to one of the earths under the battery tray might be a good place to start.
Has anyone else have any suggestions other than this place please.









ys

 

[jackwhoo]

Following this old thread as I have a huge problem with various dash faults , including intermittant fuel level inidicator , consistantly high engine temp signal , improper graphic displays, main beam creating other problems and whenver random switching of ancillary components like washers and wipers.

By connecting a temporay wire from the battery to the internal engine bay bulkhead , everything looks like resolves itself , so if I can find the earth associated with th the dash/instrument panel equipment.
It looks like an investigation to one of the earths under the battery tray might be a good place to start.
Has anyone else have any suggestions other than this place please.

I think you have proved that the fault is the battery negative to body connection or wire

 

[boatlon]

Thats great if true . ,I have been involved with FIATS and Alfas all my life , but when the owner who is quite an ethusiastic one puts his Multipla to a garage recently because it wouldnt start , you would have thought that , that earth point would have been checked , especially when they got the car going again .
So you can see why I have been scratching my head!

However , is the earth point below the battery tray the main and only one ?

Will check it out tomorrow , Thank you!

 

[jackwhoo]

The one under the battery is the main one to the body. There are loads of other ones for different circuits to return to the battery negative via the main one.

 

[jackwhoo]

If main ground proves too difficult to access, Maybe use a generic ground strap and make your temporary fix permanent .
Best wishes
Jack

 

[boatlon]

If main ground proves too difficult to access, Maybe use a generic ground strap and make your temporary fix permanent .
Best wishes
Jack

I am used to taking battery trays out , and I believe the other Multipla I have helped my mate with has had this , and as I write I replaced the engine in that model as well , so hopefully that will all come back.. Will let you know .

 

[boatlon]

U[date !
Removed battery tray etc. andcleaned all the earths on the chassis leg and smeared with vasiline.
All good after rebuid including instrument panel indications like fuel gauge temp gauge and mileage graphics.

However the rear indicator lights must have a bad earth as the tail lights , while on blink. So I have removed the lens on the rear left and checked everything there . The car has a trailer plug wired in so I will have to strip this down now. I then turned the car around for access tomorrow and noted the fuel gauge showing empty again!!!
One step forward two back!

 

[chris3234]

With the age of the car id have said it would be worth replacing both of the main earth cables for new ones as they are likely to be a bit corroded

 

[boatlon]

Hmm , I doubt whether this available anymore . Maybe a "con" check for resistance first , but certainly a heads up thank you.

 

[widemouthfrog]

When I had a problem with earthing several years ago, the main earth cable looked, on first inspection, to be fine. However, it refused to start one very cold morning while I was using it for work in the north of England and had to call out a local garage for recovery. The mechanic was excellent and showed me, when he took the earth cable off, that although it looked fine outwardly, the strands had corroded about 1-2cm down inside the insulation and one by one they had gone through. My cold morning start was the final straw and the few remaining strands couldn't cope. He fashioned a makeshift cable and ran it from one of the gearbox bolts back to the battery and the car started first turn of the key.

While it sounds like you've got an earth fault on one or more ancillary circuits and not the starter, the wire core corrosion thing may still apply. There are several sellers on eBay that will make up custom earth leads for you for not a lot of money. Personally, I'd take the measurements of the cable, count the strands, send them a photo of the end terminations and tell them the hole diameters and get new made. It may even be worth getting extra ones made as belt and braces, for things like the wiper motor. The last thing you want is that kind of stuff packing up on a cold winter's night!

And you're right - they're not available any more from Fiat. You may get lucky and find NOS ones on eBay though.

 

[boatlon]

Thanks , I did measure the continuity of the cable , battery negative to chassis and it read 0.003 ohms so not brilliant but still have with rear sides on a blinking with indicator very faint . In a passive state from tail light plug earth to earth point 0.000 but when on it shows nothing which is weird , so maybe still not enough contact with earth is how I look at it. I still suspect the trailer socket. I will renew this .
Thank you for your help.

 

[boatlon]

Thanks , I did measure the continuity of the cable , battery negative to chassis and it read 0.003 ohms so not brilliant but still have with rear sides on a blinking with indicator very faint . In a passive state from tail light plug earth to earth point 0.000 but when on it shows nothing which is weird , so maybe still not enough contact with earth is how I look at it. I still suspect the trailer socket. I will renew this .
Thank you for your help.

To follow on , I am not further on with the rear lights , they flicker on the side lights while operating the indicators . I have checked and changed the towing socket , so ruled that out , it was clean inside , so not to blame.
I notice while I have the interior floor up that the loom from the rear goes through the centre of the car going forward . Does anyone know if there is a collection of earths grouped to gether further down the line .

 

[boatlon]

To follow on , I am not further on with the rear lights , they flicker on the side lights while operating the indicators . I have checked and changed the towing socket , so ruled that out , it was clean inside , so not to blame.
I notice while I have the interior floor up that the loom from the rear goes through the centre of the car going forward . Does anyone know if there is a collection of earths grouped to gether further down the line .

Found an earth point near the bady computer at the front and under the foot rest ,centre . All good but no further forward

 

[jackwhoo]

Found an earth point near the bady computer at the front and under the foot rest ,centre . All good but no further forward

How about just adding your own ground point wire to the body at the vehicle rear and connecting to the existing ground wire?

Are you looking at lights with engine running? So voltage at normal running voltage.