Electrical Prob'..........Bad Ground

[Veedubya]

Hello members......Gotta problem....yesterday while backing out of the drive way ,I backed off the curb(not that high)...thought nothing of it. A few hours later,I tried to start it and nothing...No clicking,nothing. I turned on all the power(radio,heat and lights) and everything went dim and the radio turned off. I checked the small stuff and I replaced the Amp in the main fuse box(70A). Still nothing....The man said something about a bad ground....I noticed the negative a little corrided(where the Wire is bare closest to the engine). Could that be the problem or the usual Starter or Alternator.

[buzzbomber88lx]

it's not going to be the starter if you lost all power...I would have to say a ground because it is robbing power from the battery. the alternator isnt going to cause the car to not start unless it wasnt charging the whole while you were driving the car but you probably would have noticed the battery light come on or something

[Mac]

Well there is a few things that you can check. The battery, and the battery connections. Make sure the conections are tight and clean. You can pull the cables off the battery and clean with battery wire brush. Also check the other end of the battery ground wire.

Check the ground on the valve cover, again make sure that both ends are clean and tight.

Also check the alternator. Look at the connections and the belt. Make sure the belt is not loose or worn.

It sounds like your battery or alternator might be bad, but check the simply things first.

You might want to change that ground cable (that you noticed corrosion) first and see if that helps.

[Veedubya]

Thanx,both of you...I noticed the ground wire on my Valve cover a lil' frayed and the negative battery cable..that funky greenish color on the bare areas. The guy at Advanced said something about resistance against my battery.....Oh yeah,Why do we have that ground running from the valve cover to front of the car? Jus' curious!