battery cable question

[slc10844]

I have a 1987 Ranger and while I was working on it yesterday I noticed the negative battery cable went from the - post and attached to the frame. I always thought the negative cable attached to the engine. Where is it suppose to attach the frame or the engine and if the engine where?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

You can never have too many grounds but yes the large cable should go to the engine as the starter draws alot of juice. You can bolt it anywhere solid to the engine block maybe a alternator bracket bolt. Just look on the side of the block for a empty bolt hole? Is there another ground wire from the frame to the engine? Usually there is a ground from the back of the engine to the firewall also. Look for the ground from the frame to the engine it wouldnt hurt anything to hook battery neg directly to the engine especially if you live where it gets real cold. Upgrade to larger wire size and add a ground from the battery - directly to the alternator body. If your not having issues it is probably OK but if it was me I would want the shortest path to the starter.

 

[Earl43P]

Stock 87 Neg cable SHOULD have gone to the frame with a segment of insulation removed and a large terminal soldered there, THEN, that same cable should have continued on to the engine block.

Easy enough to do that with two cables, one from B- to frame, two terminals at frame point, second cable straight to the block. DONE.

Problem is, getting to the block ground point because the exhaust manifold and motor mount block direct access. Pick another good block ground point if you encounter that. Power steering or alternator bracket mount bolt would be fine.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Stock 87 Neg cable SHOULD have gone to the frame with a segment of insulation removed and a large terminal soldered there, THEN, that same cable should have continued on to the engine block.

Easy enough to do that with two cables, one from B- to frame, two terminals at frame point, second cable straight to the block. DONE.

Problem is, getting to the block ground point because the exhaust manifold and motor mount block direct access. Pick another good block ground point if you encounter that. Power steering or alternator bracket mount bolt would be fine.

Exactly.

I don't much care for the stock method of the ground cable, I've seen too many of them corrode to junk inside the insulation and everyone wonders why things are not working correctly. When I replaced the battery cables on my F-150 last year, I bought a coil of welding cable and crimped my own ends. Covered them in heat shrink and used a liberal application of dielectric grease too plus fastened them with stainless bolts. Of course, I'm a bit anal about wiring...

 

[matticus420]

my 93 has neg cable run from battery to starter with a spliced off piece off wire bolted to the frame looks to me like it was stock

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

my 93 has neg cable run from battery to starter with a spliced off piece off wire bolted to the frame looks to me like it was stock

Probably not stock since even my 95 F-150 used a single cable with a section of insulation removed and a lug crimped on to go from the battery to the frame and to the starter. That was apparently the way Ford did it.

But now my truck has more welding cable on it than my Lincoln arc welder does in the winter time.

 

[matticus420]

Probably not stock since even my 95 F-150 used a single cable with a section of insulation removed and a lug crimped on to go from the battery to the frame and to the starter. That was apparently the way Ford did it.

But now my truck has more welding cable on it than my Lincoln arc welder does in the winter time.

ur probably right but now im gonna run a cable to the frame then to the block

 

[96Indyram]

my 87 ranger ground bolts straight to the engine block on the passenger side on a bolt next to/behind the oilfilter.. have to remove oilfilter to get to bolt.

 

[adsm08]

The original configuration of the main grounds on the 2.9 is as follows:

The actual battery cable bolted to the engine block, just in front of the oil filter, and above the mount. Then a braided copper ground strap ran between the back of the head and the frame.

In my various wiring setups I have deleted the copper braid, I have had it run to the exhaust, I have had the battery cable bolted to the engine, the frame, and the shock, depending on the available hardware. All of these worked well, the only issue with any of them being that some of the gauges got weird with the copper braid gone.

That's what it's supposed to look like, and how it works with various alternative setups, but as said, you can never have too much ground.