x2nervisx

Ok so I'm cleaning out all the grounds that i can think of on my 83 944. I noticed 2 connectors that aren't connected to anything. I've snapped some pics. Any idea where these connect to?

The first one is right in front of the blower assembly and right behind the engine. The second one is a single wire that comes out of the same harness as the wiper motor cable.

rexx

The second one is for the under hood light.

x2nervisx

one down, one to go. Thanks

Rock

Cant quite remember what that top connector goes to, but a bigger question.

Where is that ground cable in the picture going to? There should be one ground wire that attaches right by the battery, and another that attaches to the engine below where that one is pictured.

Its been a while since I had an early car, but on the later cars no ground goes where that is. Im 99.9% sure that its the same for an early car. Amirite?

EDIT- That grounding wire HAS to go to the engine. If not, you will have battery problems. Its like that with the early cars as well. Right now it looks as if you have nothing grounding to the engine.

Todd Holyoak

The first connector is the power supply for the heated 3-wire O2 sensor that came on all cars but was only used on cars destined for california.

x2nervisx

That black ground cable that's bolted to the chassis is bolted to the back of the engine.

Rock

Does it come off of the battery? That cable needs to go to the battery. The battery should have 2 places where it grounds, one to the inside of the battery box, and the second should be the back of the engine.

Before you go about switching it around, try this. Grab a set of jumper cables, take one side and clamp it to the negative terminal (make sure they are both corresponding sides of the jumper cables, like black/black), take the other side and clamp it to that ground. See if you battery light goes off.

x2nervisx

The way its connected is theres a cable from the negative battery terminal to the chassis. Then there's that ground cable from the chassis to the back of the engine you see in the picture. There is no direct cable from the negative battery terminal to the back of the engine. Is there supposed to be?

Rock

Yes there is supposed to be a cable from the battery to the back of the engine, not one from the back of the engine to the chassis.

The 944 engine does not have a lot of places to ground to. It is held by rubber mounts to an aluminum crossmember, and from 4 bolts to an aluminum bellhousing.

Putting a ground from the battery to the back of the engine only makes sense as it completes the circuit.

I've made the same mistake you did, my car had a parasitic drain that would cause it to die after a few hours of running. The cause, I had the ground cable improperly installed.

There should be 2 holes on the back of the engine, near where the sensor bracket is. One is a larger 13mm bolt for the battery-engine ground, the second should have 2 smaller brown cables coming off of it from the wiring harness.


Like I said, what you should try is connecting that ground wire to the negative battery terminal using jumper cables just to see if it makes any sort of difference.

x2nervisx

I'll definitely try that and report the results tomorrow. Thanks again for the help.

944Ross

I think his is correct for an early car. They use the firewall to conduct over to the place he has the black cable connected. Stock uses a braided cable from firewall to block. (Going by memory) Late cars are as described in Post #7

It can't hurt to try jumping tho.

Rock

If thats the case then im an idiot. I swear my 84 had the same setup as a later car however. Lets see what happens tomorrow I guess

944Ross

If you're right, than I'M an idiot! But it's how I remember it on my '84. Always seemed to me that the starter would want a better, more direct connection.

blackwolf

This is correct. At least according to both the '84's that I have. I upgraded the ground cabling in both of mine when installing new audio systems a few years ago.

Rock

Well I guess I dont know!