Smoked my Ground Wires

[DSMProblem]

Well, my DSM has been a problem child since 1997, so it has been sitting for a while. I went to move it from the front to the back driveway, but the battery was dead and leaking. Took a battery from another car, just to move the DSM, and put it under the hood. Started right up, but I forgot one very important fact: the battery I put under the hood was taller than the one I took out.

So with the car running, I shut the hood like an idiot, and of course, the hood came into contact with the positive and negative terminals on the battery. The car shut off right away, but not before smoke came pouring out of the hood. I opened the hood as fast as I could, and the smoke was coming from the ground wire connected to the intake manifold and the small ground wire coming off the battery connected to the firewall.

I assume the smoke was from the insulation on the wires, because those two wires look pretty hammered.

Now since then, the car will not rev past 4000 rpms (which is bad). The car also now drains batteries while sitting. Keep in mind, the car doesn't go anywhere, so it's not like I am running the battery down while driving it: I have put exactly 1.6 miles on the car since I fried the two wires.

I did a search, and I think I win the bonehead of the year award: no one else has reported that they fried their grounds like I have, AFAIK. I have not found any problems from doing this, but I have not found anyone but me who has been able to smoke my two ground wires. No one else has reported a problem with REVS after this, and no one has reported a problem with the battery draining after this kind of thing.

Are my problems related to me being an idiot and ruining my ground wires?

 

[turbosax2]

Did you replace the ground wires yet? If not, do so. Just get some 4 gauge wire from a car audio store (or equivalent) and make your own grounding wires.

 

[DSMProblem]

Have not replaced the grounds yet-it's snowing here, so I haven't gotten out there to check if any other wires might be toast. Any suggestions of where to look for more ruined grounds/wires?

 

[turbosax2]

The first thing you need to do is replace all of the ground wires. You may have caused other problems but you won't be able to find them until you have good ground wires. Please fill out your profile so I know what car you have so I can help you out better.

 

[DSMunknown]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/278755-got-my-98-gst-steal-look-why.html

Pay attention to post #12.

 

[turbosax2]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the locations of ground wires on 1g's, so I'll let somebody else handle that.

 

[DSMProblem]

Oh Jesus, so I almost blew up my EVO battery in my DSM and almost started a fire. I updated my profile-91 TSi AWD, stock.

 

[DSMProblem]

OK, so the ground wires are good to go, but there is what looks like a small ceramic capacitor attached to the firewall, passenger side, with a small gauge wire attached to it. The wire looks pretty hammered (fried), but I don't even know the function of the cap. or even what it really is. Anyone?

Hopefully I can just splice a new one in-the wire is just cooked from the firewall down about 4". The entire wire looks OK, though.

 

[DSMProblem]

I fried my noise condenser! http://members.shaw.ca/dsm.1000q/Engineprimer/1G/noisecondenser.htm

 

[turbosax2]

If the "noise condenser" is anything like it's equivalent on 2g's, it's just to block out static for your radio.

 

[DSMProblem]

Yeah, hope so.

Anyone out there know where all of the grounds are at on a 1g? I've found the one from the negative terminal on the batt. to the firewall, the one from the intake manifold/firewall, the one from the tranny. to the frame, and the one on the 02 housing.

 

[DSMProblem]

well, that did a big nothing! Car has nice new 4-Gauge ground straps but will not rev past 4000 RPM. It's an intermittent problem, also, which led me to believe that it was a problem with the car being warm. It is not-I JUST started the car (23 degrees outside) and it will not rev when cold either.

Makes me think that it is not a boost leak problem, because it revved like a champ two days ago. After I let it warm up, it didn't want to, and now today when it is cold, it doesn't want to.

 

[turbosax2]

Boost leak test?

 

[DSMProblem]

Boost leak test?

I would think that if it had a boost leak, it would always have a boost leak? Like I stated above, it revved just fine two days ago (for a time)

 

[turbosax2]

I would think that if it had a boost leak, it would always have a boost leak? Like I stated above, it revved just fine two days ago (for a time)

Sorry, missed the part where you said that. A boost leak test never hurts though. Do you have a friend with a car you can borrow parts off of? I would try swapping electrical parts (coil pack, ecu, etc) one by one with known working parts if possible. You can eliminate potential problems pretty fast that way.

 

[DSMProblem]

You think it is either

1)Boost Leak
2)Coil
3)ECU?

I have a new CAS, so I think I can rule that out.....

 

[highpsitsi1990]

try the coil first

 

[highpsitsi1990]

howe would a boost leak cause a smoked ground wire? ^^

 

[DSMProblem]

howe would a boost leak cause a smoked ground wire? ^^

Me shutting the hood on a battery that was too tall caused a burnt ground wire. Now (coincidence?) the car does not want to rev past 4000 rpms.

 

[DSMProblem]

OH bloody hell-leaky caps on the ECU.

I would like to take the time to thank the wanker that stole the ECU from my car in front of my house. No, you didn't have to stop by the house first and offer to buy the car first and mention that you need a ECU, but thanks for doing that!

I would also like to thank the ass that bought my old ECU off ebay, disputed the transaction with paypal, and didn't send the ECU back.

I would further like to thank the junkyard that sold me the bad ECU.

DAMN IT!

Anyone know someone in Colorado that can fix my ECU?

 

[turbosax2]

Steve can fix your ecu.

DSM (Talon Eclipse Laser) and 3S (3000GT and Stealth) ECU Service and Repair

 

[Jetrosr]

Now since then, the car will not rev past 4000 rpms (which is bad). The car also now drains batteries while sitting. Keep in mind, the car doesn't go anywhere, so it's not like I am running the battery down while driving it: I have put exactly 1.6 miles on the car since I fried the two wires.

I did a search, and I think I win the bonehead of the year award: no one else has reported that they fried their grounds like I have, AFAIK. I have not found any problems from doing this, but I have not found anyone but me who has been able to smoke my two ground wires. No one else has reported a problem with REVS after this, and no one has reported a problem with the battery draining after this kind of thing.

Are my problems related to me being an idiot and ruining my ground wires?

About the battery draining...

Do you have a Multimeter with a 10Amp scale? (big A) If so, turn off the dome light switch (so it won't come on when you open the door) pull the keys out of the ignition. Then hook one lead to the negative battery cable and one to negative post (positive connected normally). Now you are reading the amp draw for your car. Now pull all your fuses (then put them back), one at a time, while watching the reading on the meter. When the draw changes after you pull a certain fuse, the draw is on that circuit. Use a schematic to see what that circuit feeds, and start going down the line until the draw goes away again. Eventually you'll end up with your hand on the culprit.