My 90 Ranger has a wire coming off the positive terminal and I wonder what it was used to power.

[Erff Erffalotte]

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Thats to ground the ECM properly i believe. Its supposed to hook to the core support

 

[2011Supercab]

Somebody replaced the original positive cable with an aftermarket/generic negative cable.

 

[RobbieD]

If that cable is on the battery Positive terminal, don't ground the short take-off wire.

That's not an original cable. Being black, it's likely a replacement battery Negative grounding cable, used to replace the original Positive cable (which would have been red). As @rusty ol ranger points out, the battery Negative grounding cable would have a take-off wire to connect to and ground the body.

It looks like the yellow butt connector was never crimped a second time, so probably nothing was ever connected to it in the first place. It's just a case of a "close enough" aftermarket ground or universal cable used to replace a failed original battery Positive cable.

Just leave it be, or tape it up to neaten things. The factory point for constant Positive wire connections don't connect at the battery anyway- they are at the starter relay (solenoid).

 

[rusty ol ranger]

If that cable is on the battery Positive terminal, don't ground the short take-off wire.

That's not an original cable. Being black, it's likely a replacement battery Negative grounding cable, used to replace the original Positive cable (which would have been red). As @rusty ol ranger points out, the battery Negative grounding cable would have a take-off wire to connect to and ground the body.

It looks like the yellow butt connector was never crimped a second time, so probably nothing was ever connected to it in the first place. It's just a case of a "close enough" aftermarket ground or universal cable used to replace a failed original battery Positive cable.

Just leave it be, or tape it up to neaten things. The factory point for constant Positive wire connections don't connect at the battery anyway- they are at the starter relay (solenoid).

Actually after looking closer it looks like someone used a black wire for the postitive. I think i spy a "+" there.

Yeah...if its positive dont ground it

I assumed it was negative cause its black. Good thing i wasnt hooking jumper cables.

 

[dvdswan]

It's a replacement cable and they're made that way. People buy the black cables because red cables are more expensive. I don't know really, it's just a sign of the ages.