No ground in 95 GT

swhitcomb · Nov 10, 2013

Ok, here is some weird stuff....

I have no power in the car at all. I have been checking fuses, replaced the battery, etc...

This morning.

1. took a voltmeter and going from the positive side of the battery to any location on the car (header bolts, etc) I get 0 volts.
2. going from the negative cable (disconnected from the battery with positive hooked up) to the negative post I have 12 volts

It is like the system is reversed or something is positively charging the engine block and body and I can read 12v off them and have no body/engine grounds

Any clues?

g36 monkey · Nov 10, 2013

[MENTION=11896]ttocs[/MENTION]

This seems a bit out of my league

Addermk2 · Nov 10, 2013

Pics of your battery please.

swhitcomb · Nov 10, 2013

Here is a pic of the battery.

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swhitcomb · Nov 10, 2013

This is the Positive connected to the battery, voltmeter connected to negative post and the ground cable reading 12v.

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swhitcomb · Nov 10, 2013

Positive post to ground cable.

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swhitcomb · Nov 10, 2013

If I go from the positive post to anywhere on the body or engine, I cannot get a ground at all. Very confusing and frustrating.

If I disconnect the power from the under hood fuse block, the 12v reading on the ground cable goes to zero, but I still cannot get a reading going from the positive post to any ground source other than the negative battery post.

ttocs · Nov 10, 2013

1.) So when you are testing the pos, you have the ground connected right?
2.) I can't tell, it looks like you have the meter set the A-category=amperage=current does not necessarily equal voltage. Is that a A or a V?
3.) Disconnect the stock ground next too the battery, scrape/sand the paint off of the connections(if the connectors bottom has been painted as well) and then reconnect it to the chassis, and the battery.
4.) do you know where the stock chassis/block ground is to check it?

swhitcomb · Nov 10, 2013

Ok. Reconnected and cleaned the connections, again. I now have power again. Really strange... If I loose it again (and I am betting I will), I will let you know what I did right before it goes south. Thanks for your help. I feel like an idiot, this shouldn't be this difficult.

ttocs · Nov 10, 2013

willing to bet it was a bad ground with all the paint that was on the bolt/connector. Was there metal under it or was it painted as well? Grounds will drive you absolutely batty chasing gremlins so step one of any electrical problems is - check your grounds. By check I mean give a strong yank/pull on the connections, they should not move any/zip/zero/zilch/nada/nothing. Even if it doesn't move, remove it, clean the surfaces and then reconnect them.