Gollum Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 So in my current '81 I knew I needed to replace the battery terminal clamps and was just lazily putting it off. Sometimes I'd have to fiddle with them quite a bit to get the car started, but I guess I'm just lazy about some things. So I finally buckled down and spent $5 on new clamps, and $7 on a terminal and clamp cleaner. A previous owner had replaced one of the clamps at one point, and when unraveling the mess of electrical tape I found that the old job hadn't ever been connected correctly and was just shoved together... Problem? There was enough length left to cut it back down bellow the old splice and attach the wire correctly to the new clamp. It all buttoned up nicely and when I went to start the car not only did the car start up great, but I noticed my clock worked... The clock hadn't worked at all since I've owned the car... So I started going through everything and noticed the blower motor for the heater worked great, unlike before it wouldn't stay on full blast... And other little things here and there seemed to be better as well. Upon taking the car for a drive I noticed that the engine was more responsive, and was much more willing to rev through it's upper range. Before it kinda ran out of gusto over 4,500 that I just attributed to old rings with low compression. The engine DOES have over 250k now. What's more, is I was normally getting around 350 miles on a tank in mixed driving if I let the tank get dangerously dry. I could reach maybe 400 tops if I was on a road trip. This tank will easily see 380 by my guess and that's mostly around town driving, with plenty of spirited fun with the new power up top... I'm betting by the looks of it I could reach 450 per tank highway like my first ZX I owned. So, it all just goes to show you how much good clean electricity means to your car and all of it's systems. It always amazes me how sometimes fixing the littlest things can yield such huge rewards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 The low battery voltage contributing to your cut out above 4500 rpms is classic dirty connections, I think if you clean all the ECU pins, sensor connections, and injector connections you will have even better response above that point. The resistance builds in the injector connectors primarily, and that inhibits their correct working, if it's acute enough the ECU goes into failsafe and your mileage goes all to hell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 The thing is tony, it wasn't really a cut. It'd rev to 7k just fine. It'd rev to 7k in gear just fine too! It just didn't like it much. The power dropped off CONSIDERABLY over 4k. And I know peak power is only arond 5000,5500 anyways, as I've owned 5 of these dang cars now, but this one had been the most gutless up top. Now that I've fixed some of these electrical gremlins it's the STRONGEST up top NA L28E I've owned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 And my headlights work a lot better too! Who would have thunk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckolander Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Amen to that brotha, I'm still fighting my own electrical gremlins, if only mine were as simple as yours........I just need a whole new wiring harness lol... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1ghtymaxXx Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I rusty alternator ground cause my car to go through 2 alternators and 3 batteries in 3 years, as well as caused the main fusible link box to catch fire and made for some crazy voltage spikes. After years of frustration I realized the fix was nothing more than a new cable and some sandpaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FricFrac Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Absolutely the first thing to do in your engine bay is to make sure there is a good solid ground and good connections at the battery. The rest just follows. I also highly recommend running a star ground. I usually use the chasis ground from the battery to the chasis near the battery tray in the stock location. Run at least a 10 gauge wire through the passenger side firewall where the main harness enters and ground it by the stereo. You can use that as a main ground point inside the car. If you are running more than stock stuff of course you'll want to upsize. Run a second 8 gauge ground from the same star point in the engine bay through the passenger side fire wall and keep running it across the interior to the ECU. That will be one of the most important grounds for your ECU as it give the ECU the reference for 0V. Run a third 8 guage ground from the manifold to the ECU through the driver side firewall that the engine harness passes through. You want all your grounds to run to the star point for the ground but you want to run the ground reference for your sensors to the ECU to make sure it is 0V for reference from the sensors. So sensor grounds to ECU then ECU to the star ground point. Clean up the connectors (or better yet replaces the EV1 injector plugs) and run the grounds and you can potentially eliminate a lot of electrical gremlins in an older car.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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