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2025-07-16 06:33:08

otto@diaspora.psyco.fr

#DIY #automotive

I've been having electrical issue with my 94 Suburban. Batteries going bad (but under warranty) - 3 replacements in a year. Eventually the starter, distributor and alternator also went bad...

With each fix the "slow-start" issue remained - like the battery was low. It finally dawned on me that I must have an issue with the ground wire either to the engine block or chassis. I checked both and they were secure...

Then I called a friend who is a automotive savant - he asked if I had disconnected the ground wire to check for corrosion?

Me: duh! Why didn't I think of that?

Anyway, I pulled them apart and sure enough they were heavily corroded. I cleaned them and re-installed. Then turned the key and no slow start issue! (I'll be ordering new battery cables to replace both since they are original from 1994)

So if you have older vehicles, try cleaning the ground wire connections to avoid these issues.

I wonder how many cars are in junk yards because of this simple problem?

an once of prevention...

Alderaan 2025-07-16 08:24:54

Carter Braxton

techriot@hub.natehiggers.org

@Otto Pureblood Now you know. So what about the distributor, the alternatiors and the batteries that you thought all went bad? Were they really bad in retrospect, or were they just done in, by the intermittent ground? If they're still around you should recheck them.

I found out the importance of proper grounding when I would attach two way radios, linear amplifiers and attennas to my vehicles. Clean grounding to the chassis was a must, for both the radios and the antennas as well.

It was of utmost importantance to also ground the base of the antennas to the chissis as well. Grinding away any paint on the underside of the mounting surface of the anntena's base was key and using a heavy gauge wire to attach it to the chassis. It's good that you worked it out.

2025-07-16 10:44:49

Otto Pureblood

otto@diaspora.psyco.fr

They were also bad... Caused by the intermittent ground. If special note: the voltage regulator is inside the alternator that was allowing the alternator to put out 14.4 to 14.7 volts. The circle of life in electrical form.

Not to mention the water pump was leaking from the weep hole... And by "leaking" I mean gushing.

Also, let me add a "fuck you" to the chevy engineer who thought the voltage regulator inside the alternator was a good idea.

Bespin 2025-07-16 11:00:47

Carter Braxton

techriot@hub.natehiggers.org

@Otto Pureblood That's true. I usually opt for third party alternators myself, I usually use Leece-Neville's. There was a time when I had a setup where I had two alternators running with dual pulleys.

The original alternator would charge up the battery up front and the second one would charge up the batteries in the back, that run the other electronics such as inverters and such. I'm sort of a mad scientist or at least I once was. I'm not a scientist any longer but I may still be mad.