grounding problem

45

Asked by acornl Feb 22, 2008 at 09:26 AM about the 1988 Pontiac Firebird

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Hi I have a 1988 firebird and when i bought it the engine had been replaced with a low milage one. I had to go back and tighten a bunch of bolts on the engine trans etc. I got the bugs out of it except theres a problem with the charging system I think. First I wanted to ask if the guy put the ground that goes from the battery on the manifold bolt would that cause my problem with the lack of charging? It charges but not very good and the battery and alternator have both been tested.

2 Answers

14,105

is it the right alternator for this car? I see alot of engine swaps were they use the alt out of the "doner" car and it is not right for the new car. Also did you check the wiring? was a wire "pulled" when the swap was done? The ground for this model should go to the Alt bracket. and there should be 2 ground straps on the engine and the one off the battery. Tou might want to test/check the power strap from the battery to the engine. Lastly you should take the whole car in for a "load test", and let them know that the engine was swapped. Best of luck.

45

I bought the car after the swap was done and had to go back behind the guy that changed the motor out and tighten up bolts all over the place. I just havent got past this and I wandered if the ground cable being bolted to the manifold was not a good thing. I believe its just on and stud with a tap on it. I bought the alternator for the car because the old one I thought was bad. It checked out to be good so I just let them have the old one for a core and kept the new one. I will try moving the ground to the alternator bracket maby its not getting a good ground from where its at now. I will let you know how I come out on it. Thanks so much for your advice.

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