On Fri, 9 May 1997, Jim McDougal wrote:
> Dear collective wisdom,
> To cut to the chase, the problem that has me asking for your
> help is a polar reversal. Something has caused the engine block to
> become positively charged. Now I can't start it. The starter (already
> bench tested) won't do a thing, but I can hear a motor in the fuel
> injectors doing its thing while I try to turn the engine over. If I
> connect a test light to the neg battery terminal and try touching the
> engine block, it lights. Is this the cry of a normal car looking for
> collectable obscurity. Should I convert the rest of the car to positive
> ground?
No, what you should do is connect the engine block to the frame. The test
lamp lighting when wired between the engine block and the negative
terminal is a sign that the engine block is not well connected to the
negative terminal. Start with the strap that (should) connect the engine
to the chassis, then the strap that should connect the chassis to the
negative terminal of the battery. One of them is broken inside or not
making connection at the end(s).
Simple quick test--get out your jumper cables and connect one of them
between the negative terminal of the battery and the engine block, and see
if your problems disappear.
WRG
W. R. Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8629
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