torontob

Hi everyone,

I need to find and clean all ground wires on a Honda Civic 2009 DX-G. I have the following diagram but it's not very clear. I have cleaned all the green circled and labeled them where I found them. I can't find the red ones. Can someone please tell me where exactly the red end-points are and if they are hand-reachable while opening the hood.

P.S. I think the reds are alternator, radiator, and transmission grounds but the diagram is really messy and looking under the hood I can't locate them. Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks a lot

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

are you looking for the MAIN grounds so you can upgrade with thicker size wire? because there are way too many grounds to list all over the car. i know there is one ground from battery negative to chassis... prolly are some more if you look around.

torontob

Yes, I am looking for the main ground ones. Like I said, I have already cleaned the green circled ones in my diagram which includes Battery (-) to chassis and left and right sides of the engine.

I think there are 3 other main ground cables and if I am not wrong they are from Alternator, Transmission, and Radiator to chassis. I need help locating those.

Thanks,

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...ml#post4565758

So are you still getting the loss of power as before in this thread ^^^

torontob

I am not getting it today but I did two days ago before cleaning the third main ground cable that I found. So, I want to do the job at once. Clean ALL main ground cables. Yes, it's the same issue but from what I cleaned so far I know that the other remaining two or three main cables are also corroded badly.

Thanks

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

it also helps to sand down the paint that the grounds bolt to. this will give a noticably better connection, but you need to remove and clean them each year because the metal will start to rust underneath. paint is a poor conductor of electricity, so you are only getting a small contact area from the bolt threads to the ground wire. my car starts way better after shaving down the grounding spots on the chassis and putting some grease under there to keep corrosion out. if you don't mind maintaining them, its worth doing for the best connection. that single chassis ground from the battery is what makes the entire car work.

torontob

gearbox,

Yes, I agree. I did sand-paper all ends and used Coke as well.

What ground cables and points do you clean usually? I need to find all the main ground cables (probably 5 or 6 of them).

Regards,

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

well i have an older civic, so there are three main grounds i do (battery to chassis, chassis to trans, chassis to engine block). when i have the bumper off, i do the ground connections under there on each side which tend to get corroded. i also redid the ecu ground to the engine block with a new ring terminal because the old one was messed (not sure where yours would be, sounds like a honda electrical manual may be a good idea for your car).

lazlong

http://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage...vlB&usg=AFQjCN

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

To have all the items missing you have in the other post... you have a major point that has an intermittent connection (either battery + voltage, or major ground)

The large grounds near the battery/engine to tranny that GB mentioned would be those.

When the missing items problem occurs a little troubleshooting would go a long way you know.

torontob

Hi Gearbox,
I think the ecu ground and the ones under bumper are what I need to clean as well. Can you please detail a bit on how to get there?

Thanks

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

im not sure exactly where they would be on your car, but poke around the engine bay and see what cables are bolted around the engine block. the ecu wires are pretty thin. when you remove the bumper, you should see a bunch of grounds all connected to the same place on each side of the car. i dont know which of these would help exactly, but after cleaning my main grounds, ecu, and the bumper grounds, the engine starter is much happier and you can tell its getting more juice. car drives smoother with no hesitation. the factory grounds are also pretty small usually and worth replacing. if you find a battery specialty shop or maybe the auto store too, you can buy a few different sizes of 4 gauge ground wire with ring terminals clamped on and replace the stock wires with those. electric130 on this site also makes custom kits if you want them to be the same size.

torontob

Stupid car died on me today again after two months of cleaning engine and battery ground wires. This time for good. Didn't turn on waiting 4 hour.

The car battery is a 430 coal calibre or 330 (whichever is closer to a new battery) and the idiot at the dealer told me they recommend to change the battery. Well, the car doesn't start with a boost even. So, it's not the battery. Do an AVR test after installing new battery for $39 and charge $102 for diagnostic on top. Isn't there a law in Ontario that says Diagnostic fee should be refunded or applied to the problem when a problem is found?

Is removing the bumper a hard thing? I want to remove it so I find the ECU and the transmission ground wires because I am pretty sure it's the ECU ground wire that is causing this. Please see my diagram with green and orange. I found the green but can't seem to be able to find the orange ones which are responsible for ECU and tranny.

Thanks

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

I have a test for you next time the problem occurs....

With ignition off put key into ignition, set the dome light to "door" or switch on the map lights. Leave the drivers door open.

Start at the + & - battery terminals, tug and twist on the wiring leading into the large battery terminals while watching the lights inside to see if they flicker on/off or come on while moving the wiring at battery around and listen for the door open beeping as well.

If nothing changes...? Move your way over to the under-hood fuse box and on the beveled side near the engine there is a plastic wiring loom and a large terminal (you cant see it) that feeds + voltage to the fuse box. Move the loom around and look and listen for any changes again while moving the wiring.

Gunner

No the bumper is easy to remove..

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/2...nt-bumper.html

torontob

Thank for the input Craig. I tried all that several time and even while another car was boosting it. No lights, no flickering, and no door beep. Nothing at all. But here is what I just got from the dealer:

He said that the Main Fuse had a screw missing holding it down so it WAS DRAINING THE BATTERY and maybe lost contact and hence the car wasn't starting at times.

It is true that a screw was missing (the fuse has two screw on two sides of it holding it down) as my brother during the first year blew the fuse by boosting the battery by conecting RED to BLACK and lost one of the screws...They say it's all good now and I should be on my way. They also put a new battery and did an AVR test but they didn't clean the grounds and told me my terminals were clean (of course because I cleaned them). I understand what he says in a way and I kind of see that as the problem now, however, I want to take your input on this as well. Because one screw still held the fuse in place very very tight and why the behaviour was so random and at different times or after driving the car for so long it happened? It was as if something was coming so hot and then the car had issues.

Any input is much appreciated.

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

There is a good chance that will solve it for you. Would make sense.

An intermittent open connection would not drain battery, but easily could have caused the symptoms you experienced.

Thanks for update.

torontob

Picked up the car and it runs well for now. I guess time will tell.

I asked the mechanic and he showed me where the transmission ground is which turned out to be the one I already cleaned and it's on the driver side very close to where the engine ground is. The ECU ground is inside a plastic shield so that's all good as I think it's feeding ground off battery or something.

The battery is now at 600 coal calibre with the new one. Last one was 430 or 530....or even 330.

My phone battery died on me during the last year and new GPS I bought is either not charging well or is just bad on battery but if the fuse was the trouble then it explain those two issues as well :-)

I think 6 months time will tell what the issue was. Thanks for all the help guys. I learned a lot of good things from you guys.

thericepatch

I recently had to hunt for the ecu logic ground and finally found it. As mentioned above, it's in the plastic harness. Customer's car will start with a scanner plugged into the obd port, but dies if scanner is pulled. I believe this is the issue. Posting this for my own reference as much as helping the next guy.