what exactly is the ground coming off of the valve cover for. someone told me that your sparkplugs ground through it but i didn’t know about that. where does the current come from that grounds through this wire?
40 views and no replies? i guess noone else knows either.
idk what its for exactly but i know when mine broke my lights got real dim and cut off everytime i hit the brake. my radio wouldnt work dash lights dont work etc. it breaks the ground cicuit i believe
It does help ground your plugs, I removed mine once and the motor ran like poop. It comes from the chassis or rad. Support, just make sure it’s grounded to the stud and not the valve cover.
i just don’t know how the plugs could ground through that wire. the valve cover is completely separated from the head by rubber gaskets and grommets:
1 that goes around the perimeter of the cover and 4 at the tubes that the spark plug go down into.
the valve cover is completely separated from the head by the gaskets.
on top of that, the bolts that bolt the valve cover to the head also have rubber grommets on them.
so, again, what is the current source that is grounding through this wire?
The stud that holds the valve cover is bolted to the head. The acorn nut that threads to the stud holds the ground wire, makes a path from wire, nut, to stud and to head. Spark plugs thread to the head which is now grounded from said wire.
well considering the stud that bolts the valve cover down is connected to the head and the nut on that stud contacts the wire would ground out the head…ya know
i see. but why from the factory does the wire connect at two spots, one on the stud and then a jumper to the valve cover itself? maybe i’m just driving myself crazy thinking bout this. yea, i am.
so, overall, the wire that comes off of the valve cover is STRICKLY for the grounding of the sparkplugs???
what does it matter what it grounds? the more ground, the better. however with just the valve cover ground, the motor is not completely grounded.
[QUOTE=kfrawg35;2008652]i see. but why from the factory does the wire connect at two spots, one on the stud and then a jumper to the valve cover itself? maybe i’m just driving myself crazy thinking bout this. yea, i am.
so, overall, the wire that comes off of the valve cover is STRICKLY for the grounding of the sparkplugs???[/QUOTE]
The reason the factory grounds the many engine parts together or to the chassis is something most people don’t consider ever happens… Electrolysis.
Aluminum is a soft metal that conducts electricity easily and when its sandwiched together with none metallic or dis-simular materials and carrying a dc current, the coolant will become an electrolite allowing electrons AND particles of metal to transfer across the ionic molecules carried in the coolant… eroding the part and leaving the disolved aluminum in the coolant. The more current, the faster the erosion… This is the reason they recommend you to use deionized water or distilled water (which no-one ever does.) This is effectively controlled with proper gounding…
Current flows the easiest path… and if that happens to be through the coolant then so be it. Use those ground straps… Honda isn’t dumb. (Domestic car makers… maybe. 
)
For those of you that do your own work, You may have seen the “unexplainable” pitting around coolant passages, dislike metal gasket surfaces (with chalky powder all over them), the gasket side of your cylinder head… (usually bridges to the combustion chamber), or perhaps an eroded hole from the coolant passage into somewhere else like a timing cover… (common in Toyota’s under the waterpump on the 22RE when the ground strap is missing)
EVERY import vehicle I’ve repaired with these problems has had bad, rotten, damaged, improper or missing ground straps. Fix the cause of the problem, not just the effects…
Integ21 It does help ground your plugs, I removed mine once and the motor ran like poop. It comes from the chassis or rad. Support, just make sure it’s grounded to the stud and not the valve cover.
06 Apr 2009 14:26:46
crazyboy idk what its for exactly but i know when mine broke my lights got real dim and cut off everytime i hit the brake. my radio wouldnt work dash lights dont work etc. it breaks the ground cicuit i believe
BTW, those of you that are seeing your lights dim and your engine runs shitty should have a look at your block/chasis ground cable from the negative post of the battery. It SHOULD have a clean, solid connection at BOTH the engine block and the CHASSIS!.. if not, then your directing all the current from the car through the engine mounts (yes they can conduct, but Very poorly) and those little ground straps on the engine to get back to the battery! Not good!
Same for Aftermarket stereos! If you have amps and subs you’ve added a fat 4 guage - 0 guage line from your positive terminal,… you need to add at least the same guage strap or cable to the Negative post from the Chassis to carry the extra current back to the battery… With out an upgrade ground, it can cause extra electrical current to flow through your engine block.
Eh…so was this a bad idea? Notice the ground wires
[QUOTE=Integ21;2009241] Eh…so was this a bad idea? Notice the ground wires
[/QUOTE]
hey man sorry for not answering your question but what kind of intake is that?>
that seems a little excessive, but it’ll work… also keep in mind, the shorter the wire the better… also take great notice in keeping the connection points clean… you can have the best quality, perfect sized wire but if the connection is corroded to shit, it’s useless… you might as well put 24awg with perfect connections over 1awg with completely corroded connections.
Pollo: Its a aftermarket/custom I peiced together.
Burfy: Good point 
dude, you have a nice clean motor!.. looks like you did a good job. Mines still looking like a wrecker motor 
Maybe this summer I’ll get around to it. (time,… I’m getting married this year and I don’t get much for myself)
I can see you know your wiring… Are you still having the issue you mentioned? It looks like you’ve changed things around quite a bit which can make things harder to isolate… but from my experience with honda engines, if that little ground wire was causing your engine to run bad then there’s something wrong and you’re putting a lot of current through your block and not into the chassis. Do you have an amp clamp? You could find out how much current is running through your ground wire there.
Where’s your battery relocated to? or is hidden?
I can maybe still help you out…
What size wiring did you use? Looks a little larger diameter than your high tension wires which are probably about 7-8mm? 4 guage? Is it braided cable or speaker power wire?
The ground distribution point on your clutch cable bracket, what does the Black wire and the cable going under your airbox connect too? And the one going under the intake pipe?
Whats happening with the valve cover gound to the radiator and then to the engine mount?
Your engine bay looks color matched to the body, Are your chassis ground points relying on just a bolt to make the connection or are the eyeletts of the cable directly touching bare metal? If you didn’t grind the paint off the ground pads and used just a new bolt, did you chase the threads with a tap to get the paint/dirt/rust out of the threads? Did you use antisieze/threadlock?
Did you replace all the factory ground straps with that cable? or did you beef up the cable and leave a couple out?
Just to clear things up…
It does help ground your plugs, I removed mine once and the motor ran like poop. It comes from the chassis or rad. Support, just make sure it’s grounded to the stud and not the valve cover.
This comment was made on a past experience I had prior to the custom Grounds…
Eh…so was this a bad idea? Notice the ground wires
This comment was me trying to be sarcastic…fail…
Sorry for the misunderstanding guys but there is no problem.
m0ebius: to answer some of your questions…
The battery had been relocated just under where the lower mount to the factory Battery bracket is located.
The contact points at each ground point had been filed down to remove the paint and expose the metal in order to get the best contact possible.
The Black wire is the Battery Negative.
I kept all the Factory Ground wires minus the valve cover to Rad support wire.
The new grounds either make a new Ground point or Connect to a existing Ground location. Although I do admit the grounds to be overly excessive after installing the new ground wires I noticed a smoother idle, and brighter lights, plus with the added accessories why not.
I do appreciate the effort, alot good information was said with just the start of a simple question. 
Cool,… looks great man. I was surprised you’d have a problem! obviously you fixed it with the upgraded cables… 
[QUOTE=Integ21;2009292]Pollo: Its a aftermarket/custom I peiced together.
Burfy: Good point
[/QUOTE]
MAN that looks awesome! im jealous
yea that’s a clean bay… i used 0 gauge welding wire for my battery ground (don’t ask how i managed to contain all the strands) but it works really well… 8 gauge from the cover to the rad support… haven’t had lights dim even with a 1200W amp at max current draw…