Nelson1

I did change spark plugs, it did get dyno tuned and it was running fine. But I am getting some small sputttering/ backfire? For info i did change spark plugs , also tried my friends coil pack no change except at highr rpm sputter. So i grounded some parts of the motor, after starting engine waited and then drove I noticed very stable rpm, even after getting out of gear which usually just went crazy bewteen 1 to 3,000 rpm. Usually stabilized after 30 seconds or so. Now i feel it drives better but now when I turn on the a/c while driving and get out of gear car feels it cannot handle the load wants to turn off. Sputtering is gone but now this issue. I grounded valve cover to passenger side, valve cover to manifold , manifold to firewall. Do i need more ground wires? Or any suggestions? Someone told me might be a leak possible ?

Jp7

iTrader: (11)

Do you have high voltage on a ground?

Nelson1

At the moment i grouded the battery to driver side panel, passenger panel to valve cover. Upgraded intake manifold to firewall. I do know the battery was just connected to transmission before only. I did want to connect a cable from engine block to battery but need to buy some bolts. I guess im supposed to add a wire from valve cover to manifold and manifold to engine block. Thanks for the help

Jp7

iTrader: (11)

I was asking a question- did you measure high voltage on a ground?

ViciousLSD

iTrader: (2)

it would be kinda pointless to ground the valve cover. the cylinder head is grounded by the timing cover/engine mount. If you want i believe you can add a grounding cable beside the coolant thermostat housing. you'll need to make sure you have body ground from the battery negative terminal first or else all the grounding points would be useless. use a continuity tester. make sure sensors are grounded, you might be able to tell which wires are ground

Jp7

iTrader: (11)

It is so incredibly easy to understand if you have a ground problem.

The idea of a ground is to tie the negative of the battery, to the body of the vehicle so that they are at the same potential. Now- in any circuit when you have current flowing (from the engine to the body and then back to the negative of the battery lets say) there will be some miniscule amount of resistance. If there is a problem with the ground circuit itself, you will have a "voltage backup" where the pressure itself can't "relax" down to ground levels. When this happens it appears as elevated voltage!

To check this connect ONE end of your voltmeter to the negative and the other to the side BEFORE the ground you want to test.... so if you think your engine ground(s) may be bad- use the iron part of the block here.

The voltage should be very close to zero WHEN CURRENT IS FLOWING. How do we get current flowing? The easiest way is to start the engine. During a starting event there will be around 200 amps of current flowing and you may see for a brief moment the voltage on the block jump up to around 1 volt, since this huge rush of current wants to get back to the battery through your ground.

If your ground is bad- it will be much higher. I have even seen vehicles with ground circuits so bad, that the engine itself is stuck at 12V.

The basics of understanding will save you money and time.