jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Those of you who understand electricity won’t be surprised by this. From personal experience and from stories I’ve heard, I know that a weak ground or no ground at all can produce strange effects.

I added two fuse panels to my car for dash cam, GPS, XM radio, LED lights, and three 12v outlets. One is switched with the ignition, and the other is always live. When I had some warranty work done on my car, I had to remove most of the connections. I’m gradually reconnecting everything.

When I was driving home yesterday, I could not engage cruise control. Then the tire pressure warning came on. Then the traction control light came on. When I got home and shut off the car, the brake lights were lit. I figured this had to be related to my extra wiring. The fuse from the battery to the extra fuse block was removed, so those wires were not powered.

I played around with disconnecting and reconnecting various wires. It wasn’t until I reconnected a ground wire from a toggle switch that everything worked right again. There was no power going to the switch, since the fuse for the extra fuse panel was removed. There had been no indications of trouble when I left the house and drove ten miles. It wasn’t until halfway through the trip home that the warning lights came on.

Definitely weird.

balancr Loc: VA

Likely there is another ground that is missing or high resistance. I have a lot of issues like that with my 04 Suburban. Some days remote unlock won't work, interior lights don't come on when I open the door. So I say to myself, here is a weekend project but by Friday it will fix itself.

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

You are indeed a brave man to add all of that to your car.

RickL Loc: Vail, Az

Untouchable territory for me, congratulations

catalint Loc: oslo

ain't that a bitch , ground connection can give such a headache.
I know the feeling ,since I am currently troubleshooting ground wiring problems on my car. Some weird shit going on, cause upon ignition the audio unit receives power, but no sound, pushing the brake pedal and I get sound back but with lots of noise and speakers going mad, sound goes off, comes back. So i've disconnected the unit until I have time to open up and do ground checks what I have not been able to check yet.

Sendai5355 Loc: On the banks of the Pedernales River, Texas

May years ago I had a portable electronic device that for some odd reason had a positive ground. When I would plug it into the car cigarette lighter-the engine would die.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

My favorite kind of problem.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Funny

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I had a 1962 MG Midget with positive ground - definitely a drawback when adding wiring.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

My idea was not to be brave, but to be careful. By running a wire from the battery to a separate fuse panel, I was avoiding any interaction with the car's wiring harness. I can remove the main fuse at the battery connection to disable everything, or I can remove individual fuses for individual items.

Sendai5355 Loc: On the banks of the Pedernales River, Texas

Had a Bugeye Sprite. It could be a challenge.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Ah yes. The Midget was the replacement. Very nice little car.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I had a 1955 MG A. I loved that car. It was my first car. I remember it well. Positive ground and all.

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

I once had a car that would run the battery down overnight sometimes. I never could figure out what was happening until I installed some ham radio telemetry in it. One night, I saw the battery voltage drop suddenly and ran outside to find the problem. Turns out the fan was running due to a loose screw behind the fuse block that shorted switched voltage to the battery.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

That's one way to skin the cat. LOL