Technical Engine Bay Grounding (Earth lead improvements)

[Stilatos]

I wanted for some time to write a diy for grounding the engine bay but time is very little with work. ill just give a crash course on it and a link to the greek page with pics for you guys to see. Basically the grounding of the components of the stilo are very poor leading to many problems. One example is the interior lights not having steady lumination. Dont forget the stilo has 4 multiplex engine management computers. Grounding in general of all electric components will help them work better. Many greek stilo owners noticed that changing the grounds even helped smooth out the throttle body and smoother response. Alot of abs, ebd failures dissapeared (changing the battery to a bigger capacity must be done also to eliminate this). In general changing the grounds to a bigger gauge wire will really help.

http://www.stilo-club.gr/vb3/showthread.php?t=2536

Here is the link from the greek site with pics. Dont forget to disconnect your battery. Points to ground are battery to chassis, throttle body, transmission, valve cover,alternator, and engine management computer

Dont forget to cover the new wire ends with heat wrap. If anyone can find the time to write a guide go ahead with the liks of the pics.

 

[Deckchair5]

I guess you believe the Stilo suffers from bad earths
Those mods should fix the grounding for a lifetime. When the car finally corrodes away the earth lines will still be there

 

[Stilatos]

2-3 members have entered into the european db drag with their stilos and had to earth the car to avoid problems with interference in doing so they noticed differences in how the car has reacted. its a simple easy diy mod that might help alot of people especially with the throttle body.

 

[Yellow Peril]

So come on Decks, before we all start filling our engine bays with grounding cables like spaghetti, tell us if it will do what he says...or is it the electrical equivalent of snake oil?

 

[Deckchair5]

A strong connection to earth is always good. Manufacturer's use the minimum safe cable diameter for weight and cost. The connections to earth also deteriorate with time. Most of the electrical problems on cars are bad earths and bad connectors/connections but you have to weigh up if you want to go this far with improving them or just sort out problems when they happen.

 

[minimad99]

I wasn't sure from looking at the greek guide if they had added extra grounds or just upgraded the exsiting ones? anyone?

 

[Stilatos]

You cannot harm your car from this mod it will only do good. Its cheap and pretty easy. if you want you can upgrade your existing earths or just add new ones. The earth connections on the stilo has been known to be relatively poor. Its up to you guys if you want to spend around 20 euros which i think is very cheap to try it go ahead, worse case scenario you take em off.

 

[OzMoSiS]

bumpie for a really old thread

anyone done this?, i know shaun86 has

im looking for the cable lengths required so i can make some up.

i'll be using 35mm2 welding cable with crimped lugs and heatshrink.

The big 3 as its called

i'll also in the future replace the fused distribution thats on top of the battery

 

[kris lee]

I'm interested in this too, when I did my install I didn't think to upgrade the earth cables whilst I had the car in bits

 

[OzMoSiS]

you had the engine bay in bits??!!



shouldnt be too hard, i just want to get them all cut up and terminated perfectly before i fit them. cant be bothered to keep measuring and doing them on the fly. im not a very patient person these days also dont want to end up buying more/less than what i need.

someone must have done this, or at least know then length of the cables required.

 

[kris lee]

you had the engine bay in bits??!!

No, not quite, but the battery box was open and things would have been easier to do at the same time.

 

[OzMoSiS]

you're as lazy as me!

https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/138881-adding-extra-earthing-abarth.html

:thumbs:

i need proper lengths though. stilatos, you should know. loads of Greeks have done this

 

[kris lee]

you're as lazy as me!

https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/138881-adding-extra-earthing-abarth.html

Yes, however we did get the full install done in 2 days including extensive deadening of the boot and front doors

 

[Yellow Peril]

bumpie for a really old thread

anyone done this?, i know shaun86 has

im looking for the cable lengths required so i can make some up.

i'll be using 35mm2 welding cable with crimped lugs and heatshrink.

The big 3 as its called

i'll also in the future replace the fused distribution thats on top of the battery

Yep, I did it on my 1.6 and will be repeating the exercise on my Schumi soon. Deffo worthwhile. I cheated and bought pre-made earth cables rather than DIYing them.

 

[Stilatos]

All you need is some simple wiring in this case 2.5 mm some copper ends and heat shrink wrap.

Disconnect the positive cable from the battery and remove all metal objects from you bracelets, watches or necklaces just in case.

Here we want to ground the

Chassis
Gearbox
ECU
Camshaft cover

You can also earth the fusebox better and even the alternator

Measure the various lengths of cables you will need and start making them
Crip the connectors at the ends of the cables and then solder them for good measure.

Then add heat wrap to cover the exposed area and to waterproof it better.

Here are our cables we have made.

Chasis Grounding where the red shrinkwrap is

ECU

CAMSHAFT cover

GEARBOX

WE CONNECT ALL ENDS TO THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL AND THEN CONNECT BACK THE BATTERY

TIDY UP ALL WIRES UP AND YOUR SET

 

[volxstu]

Sweet i will make into a guide when i do it, i would do a couple of things different. Shouldnt the chassis ground go to the gear box, Alternator to Gearbox grnd, alternator + to batt + for TB3

 

[Morty Mort]

Hello.

I've been planning this for ages... Now my new 77Ah battery is resting in the hall, ready to be installed tomorrow. I've also purchased some meters of 21 mm² grounding wire. That should be thick enough. I don't see the point of bigger wire, as the terminals limit the flow anyway - really big ones don't fit at the battery negative pole.

Here's the plan:

1. Replace the ground wire to the gearbox.
2. Add ground to chassis.
3. Add ground to ECU.

Then I'm left with 1,5 meters of cable, which is a suitable length for grounding at the alternator mounting. Is it a good idea to ground here?

Morten.

 

[12[X]]

sounds cool let us know how you get on

 

[Yellow Peril]

Hello.

I've been planning this for ages... Now my new 77Ah battery is resting in the hall, ready to be installed tomorrow. I've also purchased some meters of 21 mm² grounding wire. That should be thick enough. I don't see the point of bigger wire, as the terminals limit the flow anyway - really big ones don't fit at the battery negative pole.

Here's the plan:

1. Replace the ground wire to the gearbox.
2. Add ground to chassis.
3. Add ground to ECU.

Then I'm left with 1,5 meters of cable, which is a suitable length for grounding at the alternator mounting. Is it a good idea to ground here?

Morten.

Our Greek friends recommend (and I've followed):

1. Battery to body (bolt on inner wing by the battery)
2. Battery to gearbox
3. Battery to throttle body/ECU
4. Battery to cylinder head.

Well worth it, in view of the Stilo's propensity for electrical gremlins...

Good luck.

 

[Morty Mort]

Our Greek friends recommend (and I've followed):

1. Battery to body (bolt on inner wing by the battery)
2. Battery to gearbox
3. Battery to throttle body/ECU
4. Battery to cylinder head.

Well worth it, in view of the Stilo's propensity for electrical gremlins...

Good luck.

Regarding number 4. It's better to ground the cylinder head than grounding the alternator? Will do that then.