I've just installed the famous earth installation on my subaru, from the ECU groundplate, manifold, suspension tops and alternator and I must say the results are amazing. I took my car for a drive and it feels sooooo much smooter. Also when I push my car over 4000 rpm it accelerates much cleaner to the red band. There is an stretch of road in my neighbourhood with some difficult and tricky corners and sometimes when I corner there on full speed my car hesitates and coughs like there was an fuel or ignition cut but thats all history now. I recommend this installation to everyone. Cheers. Wally.

 

Ok, I've noticed this mentioned a few times now. What is it, what's involved, how much, etc? Also, would a dawes render this mod pointless?

 

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/sho...ight=grounding

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/sho...ighlight=earth

Why would a dawes render it pointless...???

Dan

 

I done this bar the ecu ground plate (think I'll do this too).
It took away a lot of my 'cold start' trouble in the mornings, I done four earths to engine and strut tops. Gonna do more and the ecu one, which I didn't know about.
James

 

Hey JAMESWRX, what sort of cable and connectors have you used, I did it with an 6mm° cable and steel plate conn. Cheers.

 

I didn't have the first clue what the mod was all about. I figured it had something to do with the ECU and given my ECU doesn't control boost I figured it might be pointless. I have a better idea of what it is but if anyone wants to put it in kiddy talk then that would be appreciated

 

wally,
I think I used the same, done it the expensive way though (two boxes of pre packed audio ground cable from Halfords) but it was worth it. And I'm gonna do some more to see if it's better still.
James

 

I havent done the ECU blanking plate either, but as for the rest of the engine bay ive put a few cables in. I reckon the purpose of the earthing kit is to give all the various sensors that are located around your engine bay a good clear electrical signal. The better the signal the better all the sensors respond. That was my understanding anyway.

It makes hauling all the presents home from the shops a little more responsive

 

Where is the ECU ground connection, any one have any pics

 

ECU ground connection is inside your car, where the engine computer is, connect the steel plate with a cable to BAT NEG

 

)this sounds familiar to the thread i started,hehehe
which reminds me,i have to do this mod myself to my new car,tut,

[Edited by buzzerboyroy - 12/15/2002 9:14:11 PM]

 

completely shagged my car up just to prove it doesn't work 100%


kev

 

How the f_ did you shsg your car up doing this mod?

 

completely undriveable when cold, misfires and cuts out all the time for the first 5 mins of each journey, took it off and it's fine


kev

 

Sounds like a dodgy/damp coilpack that only wasn't 'showing itself' before the mod because it the earth wasn't good enough?

 

There is no way that adding extra earth cables, if connected correctly and securely to your bat neg and points around the chassis/engine etc. is going to make your car run worse.
Most likely you had a poor connection when you retightened to the bat neg., which you cureed when you removed them.

 

There are ways that it could effect it badly - it would just be a little odd! It's meant to improve running largely because of the better sensor readings - if a sensor is knacked, a bad earth could be covering it up. A little odd, but it could happen, you never know...
Although I still think it's more likely that the better earth path means something that couldn't (and shouldn't) earth before can with the wiring/earthing improvement.

 

I would assume that the two most likely candidates are:

1) Battery earth was not very good with extra wiring.

2) Ground feedback loop

If you earthed a bit of the chassis that is already earthed via someone else, it is possible to set up a ground feedback loop. The chances of doing this are very very low, but you might want to play about with some differing earth points.

Also, if you have a knackered coil-pack....earthing the engine better is actually going to make the coil pack "leak" more!

Again, I suspect the earth mod itself is not at fault, but something related.

Anyway, as you said, you took it off and everything went back to normal, and it cost you less that £15. If I was a gambler, I would risk those losses

 

it's a Legacy so i have individual coil packs on the the end of the spark plugs i haven't tried taking one wire off at a time though, i was wondering if the wire i used wasn't up to the job, it's the same guage as the earth wire to body, so who knows


kev

 

So whats the deal here guys! does this actually work and to what extent.

 

Arron, it's cheap and a lot of people have had significant improvements in the running of their cars (ESPECIALLY legacy owners!) so I would reccomend it. It is about £15 worth of bits from Halfords, so can you really go wrong?


flat4 is the first person I have heard to have a problem and (no offence intended, flat4) it's cos he is weird Seriously, though, I am very surprised he has had a problem and it is a likely symptom of something else.

With regards to the cable guage..if it is too thin then you are just going to make no difference.....there is obviously an earth anyway, just adding a second inadequate earth makes no real difference.

flat4, maybe you should get in touch with BuzzerBoyRoy who will probably be able to show you pictures and give you better advice about this than me.

 

hehehehe
flat 4 you have a problem me thinks !!!!!

i sounds like one of your coil packs are up the spout,,they are prone to heat problems as they are literaly 'in'each head.
they go very brittle and crack.
i had it happen to my legacy gt a few years ago.

either that or you have a sensor somwhere that is faulty.

the new earth shows you just how bad the earthing on the car was as it was not showing a fault.hence you do have a bad earth problem on your engine,

in my honest opinion i would re-do the earth so that you get the fault again,,and then try each coil pack.
i know they are a pain to get at but its the only way.(process and elimination)

while the coil packs are out,check the plugs also as it may be a faulty sparkplug going down to earth??maybe??

all the best

roy

 

there's always one, happens to be me this time i might get round to checking it all out but it runs fine as it is at the moment, checked all the coils when i changed the plugs last month, i might try putting one lead on at a time, and take it from there not fussed if i don't get it working


kev