• Welcome to the Land Rover UK Forums

    You are currently viewing the site as a guest and some content may not be available to you.

    Registration is quick and easy and will give you full access to the site and allow you to ask questions or make comments and join in on the conversation. If you would like to register then please Register Now

can i earth straight to the chassis?

M

macandrc

Accelerating Away
i am having real trouble getting a good enough earth contact to allow the engine to turn over, where is the best place to earth too on the chassis?

my chassis is painted will this prevent a good earth? I have made my earth cable using the wire from a jump lead is this okay?

colin
 
macandrc said:
i am having real trouble getting a good enough earth contact to allow the engine to turn over, where is the best place to earth too on the chassis?

my chassis is painted will this prevent a good earth? I have made my earth cable using the wire from a jump lead is this okay?

colin
Click to expand...

Nope, especially if you rub away some of the paint.

As far as positions, anywhere that is out of the way and doesn't risk getting dislodged when offroading!

Jump lead should be ok. What were they rated too?
 
i have got the engine clock earthed to the bolts holding the suspension turret and the battery earthed to the chassis. both are painted so i might rub it down to bare metal and see if it helps.
 
For the best possible earth, run an earth lead from one of the bolts holding the starter motor straight back to the earth/negative terminal of the battery!!

A jump lead will be OK depending on cable size...

Something along the line of 35mm2 would be ideal.


Can make you a lead up if needed.


Ian
 
so it doesnt need to be earthed to the chassis? i will just bolt the earthing cable to the engine block (will try and get a big enough connector for the starter mounting bolts) and straight to the battery terminal?

Will that not affect the earth from the starter which goes to the engine block?
 
macandrc said:
so it doesnt need to be earthed to the chassis? i will just bolt the earthing cable to the engine block (will try and get a big enough connector for the starter mounting bolts) and straight to the battery terminal?

Will that not affect the earth from the starter which goes to the engine block?
Click to expand...

Nope...

The negative terminal is attached to the chassis... and thus earths the whole chassis... thus the whole chassis is negatively charged!

But, the earth won't be as good as it could be due to the number of connections etc etc. All of them will degrade the earth slightly.

By going straight from the earth to the battery, you will get the best possible earth. Personnally I would do this in addition to the standard vehicle earth points.


Ian
 
you are corect, that makes a huge difference it now turns over a dream! On a slightly different point but related, now that i have the engine tuning over i can't get it to start. It is a new TD 19J engine built in 1986 and never run, and after turning it over there is a pressure build up at the injectors when i unscrew the pipes, is this a blockage? If so whats the best way to clean the injectors, air line?


Thanks

Colin
 
there are two earths though , the battery earth and the starter earth , one of which needs to be on the chassis.
 
Let me put the cat into the pigeon loft. :D :D
You can't earth to the chassis.
The engine is insulated from the chassis by the mounts.

The body is insulated in places from the chassis.
You need an earth to from the battery to the engine.
Then an earth back to the body otherwise you'll have no lights.

No I'm not going to crawl under mine tonight to see how it's done but there's an earth from the battery box to the gearbox on mine.
I'll check in the morning if the ground is dry.

Personably if I was to do the job I'd take a cable from the battery to the engine. A starter mounting bolt is a good place BUT. I'd strip a bit of insulation from the cable so I could solder a mounting tag to the cable to earth to the body.
Then another cable from one side of the gearbox mounts to the other.

For all battery leads get the heavyest cable you can. I use truck battry cable nad truck battery terminals generally both screwed inti the lead then soldered.

Overkill maybe but I know it works.

My ten bobs worth.
 
the earth from the battery goes to the trailing arm bracket on the chassis , the earth from the engine goes to the bulkhead to chassis bracket on the chassis end of it.
the bulkhead is an earthing point for most of the electrics and it is connected to the chassis via the big bolts and brackets holding it on.
quite a lot of the lights earths is connected to the body which is in turn connected to the bulkhead which is then connected to the chassis completing the circuit.
bypassing the chassis with the engine to battery earth is a good idea although not really necessary providing all your earthing points are clean and making good contact but it wont hurt, but make sure your battery is earthed to the chassis where the front trailing arm bolts on other wise you will have a broken circuit.
 
Back
Top Bottom