I lost my ground - fixing lack of ground and adding alternative one in the car (Fiat Stilo)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
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Fixing engine ground, fixed issue with "Loose connection" and "Car security failure" when I tried to start the car. The ECU (Engine control unit) wasn't get the connection to battery negative terminal.
I know what you're thinking, don't worry, I clipped the tails of the cable ties after I stopped filming.
EDIT: After some time my engine block lost the ground connection completely and this tiny cable burned to crisp when starting the car (this IS a fire hazard if I would continue trying to crank the engine). Just fair warning: make sure that other high ampere loads (like starter motor) have their own good ground!
I replaced this cable with short 80cm (~32") 35mm2 (bit over AWG 2) connection to battery minus, but also added a copper braid (~32cm, 32mm2 - 12.5", AWG 2) connection to the engine from chassis just in case it will have any issues. Single connection is already good enough, two are an overkill, but I didn't want a repeat of the situation.
Best way to make a quick check if this solution is for you is to *safely* (no loose cables) connect the battery minus with the engine block using one of your starter cables and see if that helped. This is how I go home after I burnt this tiny connection. As always - it's better to check with a professional, because doing something like that is completely on your own risk.
I just wanted to hop in and thank you, had someone come in with a stilo abarth 2.4 and it literally gave every possible error code it could finishing with "loose connection return to dealer".
With the newly added ground cable all errors were gone and the car would crank/start again!
Make sure you read the pinned comment 😁 had to replace this tiny cable with proper thick one and this solve it permanently. It somehow also solved battery drain I had before 🤷♂️
@pandaengineering yeah i saw that pinned comment before i installed the cable, i used one of those fat amplifier cables! Also let the car run for about an hour and it didnt get warm at all (the cable). Thanks for the fix!
Very good !
my fiat stilo cranks but won't start on cold weather with the display "loose connection"!
could it be a bad grounding as well?
Try connecting one of jump cables between battery negative and engine block (somewhere safe). If this will fix the problem - it means it's a grounding issue. Wire I used in the video was just a "helper" connection, for a proper one, I would recommend at least 35mm2 (AWG 2), because of the cranking current it takes.
Otherwise I'd check the battery. ECU in Stilo can be very moody because of the battery, especially in early (pre-lifting) 1.6 and 1.8 engines.
@@pandaengineering my engine is 1.4 Lt. The issue began right after i replaced the battery with a brand new
Hi i have a question my fiat stilo stops working suddenly and all electricity is lost can it be because of thise i also have the loose connection problem
If you can't connect OBD II diagnostic cable or it doesn't show any errors, it's a good idea to check the fusebox first - it can be flooded if you washed your car or there was some heavy rain recently. To troubleshoot lack of ground, I just took jumper wire and connected it to battery minus, then connected the other end to engine block and chassis (several places to be sure). My first loose connection error was just due to some connectors that were actually a bit rusty, cleaning those when checking can work miracles. I found a lot of good advice on British car forums.
@@pandaengineering I have same problem. My fiat stilo was outside when was heavy rain and now It not start and says ”car connection loose” I had low gas so I thought thag would be a reason but its battery? Sorry I dont understand nothing about cars😭
You can try the jumper wire connection between battery minus and engine block metal parts. I just took one of the jumper wires and clamped one side onto battery minus terminal and the metal parts on the engine. Just make sure that when you do something like that the wire is well secured so it won't get anywhere near any belts. Also it should be clamped to the battery well so it won't move an touch the plus terminal.
Apart from this, I had another fault with Stilo after driving for ~5h during in heavy rain. It seems that all the water got inside the fuse box (the gray thing above the battery when looking at the engine bay). It created carbonized tracks inside, melt some of the plastics. My main fault was that I coudn't stop the engine and it also kept discharging the battery. I tried to fix it but eventually replaced it because I just wasn't sure about it to rely on it in the future. Fuse box faults can be really anything electrical. When I took it out it still had about half of glass of water sloshing around. Now the new (used) fusebox has a tupperware on it to keep the water out 😉
These are just some ideas, maybe you have similar issue. This one is specifically 1.4L made in 2004. I know that 1.6 had loads of issues with the ECU (the computer running the engine).
I don't get why you have pressed the engine and why connect the cable there?would you like contact with me by some app?I would pay for help,not for free,it's important for me
At the point when I was recording this video I was convinved that it's only a fault with ECU or other electronics closeby to the engine (all are bridged to engine ground). I had a bad connection that only was causing issues when engine was properly hot. After some time that tiny cable burned completely because starter motor also lost ground connection and this cable was loaded with ~300A 😁 since then I replace this with a proper 35mm2 cable and also additonal 32mm2 connection to car chasis 'just in case'.
If you want someone with that kind of skillset, I really recommend getting in touch with a trained car electrician, especially if your car isn't 20 years old like mine. I really have no proper training and I'm making this channel just to share some ideas.
@@pandaengineering thanks for reply bro,I have same,connection loose+car security,my car automatically stops on the way after 15km cause probably of heat,on Tuesday mechanic will replace ECU and I ask him about your video or he can do,once Dutch mechanic was welding inside ECU like I was asked,deleted fault and stick good ECU that no more space to come heat,was working great for 3 weeks,now is the same,so Tuesday will replaced ECU
After that if still a problem,will make welding again,cause probably welding inside ECU was helped but the heat fcked ECU again :) brrooo I have so many stories,the problem is around,I will catch that secret :D
I was only a fault of the ground I can't really help you here. ECU troubleshooting is really hard to do.
When I coudn't start to solve the issue all I had to do is to connect battery minus to engine block with a jumper cables and it started instantly, so I doubt it has anything to do with your ECU problems 😟 I hope you'll have your car running soon! 👍
@@pandaengineering oh so you have totally different,thanks anyway,take care bro