# Found an interesting ground...



## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

So,
(I will take pictures tomorrow, I've been pushing it off all week) If you follow your engine sensors, all the wires from them snake around the drivers side of the engine inside a loom along the top behind the VC right next to the intake manifold. You will see (if you have the emissions thing it will be behind this) 4 small black wires with silver dots. These 4 wires get joined into two pairs of wires to 2 eyelets screwed into the block.
Obviously these are grounds. Take a good look, the odds are they are corroded. Not rusty, corroded. Look at the wire inside the eyelt if it is a flat grey, almost like concrete its a dead wire. 
Reground these connections. Try to unscrew the eyelet and cut off the dead end of the wire and add a new eyelet (really really hard, I can't do it (it isn't a strength issue, its a not break the screw issue), so I may do the alternative) just cut the wire, splice in some new, and ground somewhere else, or in the same place.
Since this is a major engine sensor ground, you will see mileage increase, as well as power and emissions, and possibly idle. Who knows, I'm dying to do it, but I can't figure out how to remove the screw without stripping it, and/or buying a high quality drive bit.
Once again if you have the emissions thing (later B14's) you will have to remove it to access these screws (they just block the screwdriver) same goes for a strut bar depending on the type.

Seth


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Ok, (images 100K each or so)
This is where it is:








This is a closer look:








And even Closer:









In the last pic in the grooves on the eyelet you can see the bare wire and how bad it is.
I wonder if B13's with GA16DE's have this problem.

Seth


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Hmm,
Maybe this should be moved to the 1.6L section now that I think about it...

Seth

P.S. With all the hype about grounding kits, this is a free or $5 mod that needs only a screwdriver and a wire cutter. And this is more effective than a grounding kit since it replaces the bad gorund altogether, not make your engine a 'better' ground.


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

So,
I did it. Its was a major paint in the butt to get the two screws loose. Alot of interference, and they were stubborn. I'll skip how I did it. Anyway, as you cans see, I cut off the 4 wires and put eyelets for each and then put them back individually using the same screws. 
What did it do? I have no idea. I think my car idles better, or at least returns to idle better and holds rpm better when slowing or stopping. In general I think it holds any idle better even at speed. As for economy and power, I couldn't tell you since its almost impossible to tell. Still it may be mind over matter. Either way this is better than what was there before. Maybe I'll have to re-set the ECU (like disconnect the battery overnight or something) to see a difference.

Seth


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## GA16DESentraXE (Dec 17, 2002)

Good find! I'll check on that soon and let you know if the B13 is the same...


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## 98 nizmo200sx se (Apr 10, 2003)

would it matter if you used bigger wire


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Hmm,
I doubt it since the whole thing is this 20 guage, and why would extra 3 inches of 12 guage make a difference. Still it can't hurt.
So after two days of driving with this 'mod' the only difference that I see is a crazy good idle. It is rock solid at 600 rpm. No twitches nothing. same thing at speed, there is no hesitating, nor jerkyness when decelerating. We'll see how economy does.

Seth


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

sethwas said:


> *Hmm,
> I doubt it since the whole thing is this 20 guage, and why would extra 3 inches of 12 guage make a difference. Still it can't hurt.
> So after two days of driving with this 'mod' the only difference that I see is a crazy good idle. It is rock solid at 600 rpm. No twitches nothing. same thing at speed, there is no hesitating, nor jerkyness when decelerating. We'll see how economy does.
> 
> Seth *


ill have to try this then.... mine looked pretty corroded but at least i dont have all that extra equipment in the way, i can put a screw driver or wrench on it no problem...


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## azkicker0027 (May 31, 2002)

so is this also a reason to get that hyperground wire ground set that's popular nowadays????which gives more power, torque, and confidence......and why it's pretty corroded, is because it's near the coolant bleed screw......


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

No,
The 'hyper' ground makes a 'better' ground out of parts in your engine bay. However it is useless if your existing grounds are crap. That means your wires that aren't grounded well to the engine block to begin with won't really use the hyper kit. The hiper kit works for all systems that use electric grounds, this is only cleaning up the wire specifically for emissions sensors.

Seth


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

Hmmm, I'm gonna get right on that. I'm a freak about grounding and I have good reasoning. On my mom's 96 Maxima, I did a bunch of grounding on my own. I cleaned up the negative battery terminal so it would make good contact. Then I bought 10feet of black 4AWG Monster Power cable, 10 copper 4AWG eyelets (autozone), and some 4AWG heatshrink and went to town. I took just over a foot and grounded it from the battery terminal to the driver's side chassis. Then I added grounding from the battery terminal to the tranny, from that point on the tranny to the intake manifold, from that point on the manifold to a point on the side of the block, and finally from that point on the block to the passenge's side of the chassis.

The work took me about 2 hours and now the engine starts SUPER fast, the idle is dead on with no jumping or twitching, and there is so much more noticable power, I could literally peel out the entire first gear upon test driving it (it's an auto also).

I would do this to my car if I didn't now have my battery in the trunk. BTW, rom my battery, I have 3 short 4AWG wires going directly to the chassis (3 seperate grounding points in the trunk) and then I have a ground goint from th original grounding point to the tranny and from a point on the passenger's side chassis to the block. I have used my dremel to shave all the paint from the grounding points on the chassis.


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## Equivocal (Sep 6, 2002)

Hmm. Is there any place with a description or diagram of all the grounding points on the 200sx/sentra? Im thinking I will try the whole grounding thing soon, Ive got a slow start and Im sure my car would be alot happier with better grounds.


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Unfortunately,
I think you just have to snake around in the engine bay. A wiring diagram will show you where the grounds are in the harness, but not where the harness is.

Seth


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## Honest Bob (Nov 7, 2002)

ooo! I've got to try this! Maybe when I change the oil in my car tommorow or monday...


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## MNPULSAR (Apr 8, 2003)

sethwas said:


> So,
> (I will take pictures tomorrow, I've been pushing it off all week) If you follow your engine sensors, all the wires from them snake around the drivers side of the engine inside a loom along the top behind the VC right next to the intake manifold. You will see (if you have the emissions thing it will be behind this) 4 small black wires with silver dots. These 4 wires get joined into two pairs of wires to 2 eyelets screwed into the block.
> 
> Seth


Great find - If you are interested check out my post an a fuel pump issue that was due to a ground problem http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=47639 
Thanks for your grounding enthusiasm


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## jimaphill (Feb 7, 2004)

It tried this fix on a '97 Pickup and even soldered the wires to the connectors, but it made no difference. 

No Check Engine light

No hesitation or sluggishness

No problem before engine warms up.

Rough idle seems to be worse in hot weather.

All plugs look good and the same.

Throttle body and plate have been cleaned off.

O2 sensor test gives equal blink/dark times.

Also, just yesterday the 4-speed automatic quit shifting into 3rd or 4th, and shifts from 1st to 2nd seem to occur at much higher speed, even with light throttle. This too is 100% consistent. Could it be related to the rough idle?


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