i was wondering where all the grounds should be located on my car. i have an 88 with a 350 tpi. i replaced my starter thinking it was goin bad because it would just click sometimes and turn over slow, i put new starter in and it does the same thing. i cleand all my grounds im starting to wonder if they are in the right places. Yay previous owners who think they can work on cars

 

There are many grounds. The major ones if I recall correctly are the ground strap from the rear of the motor to the firewall, from the battery to the engine block (the heavier of the 2 battery wires), and also from the battery to the fender.

 

Are your battery terminal wires getting hot? Are they clean? Usually a bad ground heats up the positive wire and it gets pretty dang hot.

The only grounds that should affect the starter is the one from battery cable to starter and the 3 mentioned above.

 

i'll try to remember I can pull a ground list at work tomorrow....

You sure your battery is okay?

 

Not correct - there is NO ground from battery to starter - there is NO ground wire to a starter at all - it grounds on the block, which is grounded to the car and the battery.

These are major grounds:

1) neg battery cable to block (usually at front of pass head)
2) strap (looks like woven wire) from pass rear head to firewall
3) smaller ground wire from neg batt terminal to fender

Starter Wires:

1) Positive battery cable to starter larger bolt
2) fusible links to starter larger bolt
3) Purple wire to smaller bolt on starter - this should be THE ONLY wire going to the smaller bolt on the starter.

Might trace that purple wire back to firewall connector on driver side and make sure it has continuity (ne breaks/shorts). Then trace it from firewall outside to under dash inside (to make sure the c100 connector is making good contact). Then trace it from under dash to the neutral safety switch which is mounted alongside the auto shifter (under console). Then trace the dark green wire from NSS to the ignition switch under the guages on top of the steering column.

Here's the scene: You turn key, ignition switch gets power from fuse block, and transfers 12v to the dark green wire going to NSS. If NSS is in park or neutral, 12v gets transferred from dark green wire to purple wire running out to starter.

Good test for starter (before replacing) is running 12v+ from battery on a nice guage wire to that smaller connector where purple wire attaches - starter will turn regardless of the key or anything else (car won't start unless it has fuel), but starter will turn if it's good. Then you know starter is good and your wiring (purple wire) is bad.

This is with a non-VATS car (which yours should be since it's a 1988).

 

i have a five speed so does that mean the cluch switch then when u say nutral safty switch. Also all my grounds are where u guys say i have the one to the front of the head and fender and the strap wire from the back of the head to the fire wall. i was thinkin of replacing the strap wire with 2 gauge wire and gold terminals i got at work. could it be the positve wires on the big stud of the starter because it has like 4 to 6 terminals on it i was thinkin of makin it a 2 gauge wire after the fuseble links and puting one gold terminal on the starter. also the battery is pretty new but its not a name brand it says like econemy or somethin idk i want an enterstate like i had in my other car.