Techno Duck

I am in the process of trouble shooting a wacky voltmeter gauge. Its been reading about 12v under most conditions. I have cleaned every external ground in the engine bay and have verified the alternator and battery are up to par with a digital voltmeter. Battery cables replaced with IceShark's (RIP) stuff about 5 months ago and that includes the supplemental ground. I stuck my head under the dash and hit 4 of the ground points (technically its two ground points with two lugs each) and the ground in the rear hatch. I have a feeling i may be missing more. Are there any on the DME side (passenger) and any behind the instrument cluster i missed? This is for a late model car.

I am going to pull the instrument cluster tomorrow to clean those black 'football' looking connectors as others have referred to them tomorrow. Im not looking forward to it though... removing the gauge cluster on airbag cars is a PITA and i also need to take out my gauge panel in the center vents.... DOH!

I think ill create a picture guide for all the ground points tomorrow, seems this type of question is brought up often. I know about the diagram but i feel like not all of them are listed..



Case in point, there are two locations (as i mentioned above) under the dash and the diagram only lists it as one. So im wondering what other ones i may have missed that are incorporated in that one point in the diagram.

Ben951S

Pictures of all of the ground points would help.

I would do '2' pictures of each. One kind of up close, and another 'zoomed out'. If you did callouts on the pictures that would be good, but doing the 'close' and 'afar' pictures would be great!

I am going to have to check my footballs too....


You got that crappy little wire between the frame and the engine, right?

Techno Duck

Well after attempting to remove the gauge cluster, i couldnt pull it out more than halfway. I honestly do not know how the hell i got that thing out in the first place to install the LED lights. Anyhow, i cleaned what i could reach and i must have either jiggled something in the right way or cleaned something because i finally get normal reading from the voltmeter. I estimate its still about 1/4 of a volt off but good enough for me. Those black football looking connectors on the back looked fine but i cleaned them anyhow.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the ground points. I know im missing the one on the bellhousing, but there is so much crap covering that up on my car its impossible to get a clear picture. Mind you all of these locations are for a late 944. I know they are a little different on the early cars, specifically the under dash grounds.

1) Right front frame rail, right under the headlight motor, outboard side.

2) Left side of engine bay, just behind the strut tower.

3) Rear hatch, inboard of the left tail light.

4) Left frame rail..self explanatory.

5) Battery tray, on the fire wall

6) Under the dash, far left corner. There are two ground points, two lugs on each point.

7) Right side of engine bay, just behind the strut tower.

Ben951S

Sticky/Add to FAQ


Are those pics going to up a lonnnnnnnnnnnggg time?

Send to Clarks-Garage to get them hosted.

alordofchaos

+1, or add to the DIY Nice pics, thanks!
File --> Save As

This thread and the pics are going into my 944 folder on my computer, under "electric"

Techno Duck

I have the pictures hosted on my webspace. So as long as i keep paying the bill, it should remain up.. .

thekidd

Yeah great pics, very helpfull. Now that I know where they are, a little cleaning wont be bad. Definetly try and get those pics on other forums and pages. What is your webpage name, or a link to it would be great, too!

Richgreenster

I know that iceshark used to sell grounding cables for our cars but I can not find them now. Do any of you guys know where I can get some and where they go?

I am bringing this old thread back up because it helped me a lot.

Wipeout

IceShark passed away several years ago. Try PM-ing Robby (same RL username), I think he has some of Dan's stuff left.

86 951 Driver

Holy old thread Batman. Anyways I have been looking for this info for a while. Now I can get all the ground points cleaned off. Hopefully this will make a difference.

86 951 Driver

I didn't see the 2 ground point that are by the shock towers on my car? Should there have been some? Also for the gauge cluster where are those grounds at?

UltimatE157

My car as well does not have the strut tower grounds. '86 951. The ground on the front driver side frame rail has a dozen wires on it, as compared to the 2 or so wires posted by the OP.

In the garage posting as I clean the grounds... Hopefully my electrical gremlins go away.....

86 951 Driver

Cleaning the grounds helped out a lot. I was shocked. It didn't help my running issue. But it did smooth out the idle a little bit as well my gauges seem more accurate as well.

FRZ

I'm tryin' to know what is the beige part on the second and last picture.

Mine at the left is burned: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...arts-help.html

thanks

VirginiaF1

Pictures in post #1 no longer show.... Deleted?