Possible grounding problem?

[7M4EVR]

First off here is what happened: I put all fluids in and was getting ready for my first-start moment...I set the battery in the tray, connected the positive first, then when i went to connect the negative it sparked like mad :aigo: But as i pressed the cable onto the battery terminal it stopped. I wasn't sure if that was normal or not? So I continued to pull the coils off and was going to prime the engine with oil before first start up. However when i went in to turn the key I get no dash lights, no clicking no nothing, like the battery isnt even hooked up.

I'm not very good with electrical at all, in fact I'm horrible, but I have a multi meter and I will do my best to put in the work and rule out anything you guys can give me. I just don't know where to start ruling things out.The last thing i want to do is keep messing with grounds and buying new batteries, alternators and fuses over and over again. Between pictures of other peoples engines, the TSRM and the wiring diagrams I am pretty certain all my grounds are in the right spots, but I'm going to have to go over them one by one. In the meantime, what could cause the negative to spark like that? Obviously it is probably something that is not grounded right between either the starter, alternator, and battery. Do you think I blew the EFI fuse, or something worse?

I can't stress enough how much any help is extremely appreciated...I'll tell you I could barely change oil before I started this build. But I have learned so much and I have spent many lonely nights out at the shop researching something on the laptop, then tackling it on the car over and over again, and last night going from being so proud of myself for completing this build and getting ready to hear it to realizing that i might not get to drive it until spring is about enough to make me give up.:nono:

 

[BryanDyer]

We can't tell you if you blew a fuse. That's something you can tell us by checking all of your fuses and telling us if any are blown. So check fuses first and let us know if anything is blown. Check the fuses in the fuse panel under the hood and the kick panel on the drivers side.

 

[7M4EVR]

I will obviously be checking the fuses, but that will not tell me why the fuse blew in the first place. I will be back out there later this week and will verify it, but like i said i don't want to be just putting fuses in and watching them blow over and over, if it did blow there is a reason it is happening. Here are a more narrowed list of questions:

1.) If the EFI fuse did blow and everything esle is properly connected would i not even see dash lights or hear anythign when i turn the key?
2.) If the battery shorted could it have damaged the alternator?

 

[BryanDyer]

No, the dash lights are on the 7.5A Gauge fuse located in the kick panel. Your alternator should be fine, I've shorted things plenty of times by accidentally touching the positive terminal and the tool touched a ground also. lol
it doesn't sound like a short unless you have bare wire touching a ground somewhere(as in touching the body anywhere there is metal) causing it to short out and having continuity when it isn't supposed to. So I would check fuses, if one if popped then start checking everything on that circuit. It's a total pain. Been there, I had my 7.5 A Gauge fuse constantly blowing coming to find out my back up lights were shorted

 

[super51fan]

How about a picture of the battery and cables. A test light is much faster to test fuses. If you did not hook the battery up backward. You have a problem.

 

[7M4EVR]

I will get a pic, but there is clearly a positive (red) and negative (black) cable. What i need to do is get back out to the shop and see how i wired up the starter and alternator. It's been awhile and i cant exactly remember. Can anyone briefly explain what wires run to the starter, alternator, and battery and where they ground at. That would be a great start. I've been studying the diagrams all day, but hearing it in layman terms i see it much more clear.

 

[Supradupra.com]

Got your PM.

A bit of a spark when you connect the battery is normal but, if you are getting large sparks that really make a "cracking" sound almost like welding then, you have a short circuit.

The very first thing to do is double check your battery is the correct way round, negative (-) to earth (body). There is an obvious short black cable that connects to the inner wing.

It would not be the first time a battery had accidentally been plonked in the wrong way round. The markings are quite vague on most.


If you have had the block out & disconnected both the starter supply & block earth I would double check you have the actual large black cables the correct way round. They are all thick black affairs so, it's plausible they could be the wrong way round.

Obviously the block earth goes to the negative batt terminal while the fat starter cable ties to the positive battery terminal.


The alternator main charge cable that attaches to the large alternator output lug is a thick black wire running from the engine fuse box. See link HERE for the charge circuit.


Both starter & alternator earth out through their mounting brackets & ultimately the main block earth / chassis.


The main fuse box positive (+) supply cable is a fairly small affair, often a blue wire with a couple of layers of black sleeving over it. This is actually a very crude fuse marked as "FL 2.0 L" on the diagrams below. If this blows you'd know about it as there would be a lot of smoke too!!


If you have absolutely no power at all it's likely you have popped the "ALT" fusible link. See the link HERE - The main fusible links are detailed. The ALT link is the main link for the vehicle.


TIP:

Make yourself a 12 volt test lamp using a small bulb such as a dash illumination bulb / side light bulb - No more than 5 watts.

Use this test lamp to see if the fusible links have popped or not. Put one side of the lamp to the battery negative & use the other side to test with.

The reason for this is multi meters draw absolutely naff all current which means they can often give a false voltage reading where currents bleed through other devices on the vehicle, particularly if a fuse has popped.

A multimeter can indicate full 12v literally through a damp piece of string!!

A test lamp actually pulls a small bit of current to light so, only lights if there is a REAL supply there capable of supplying current.


If the "ALT" 100amp fusible link has blown then this is physically bolted into the fuse box from below, you need to lift the fuse box out, take off the back & you'll see the wires on the rear bolted to the link.

 

[7M4EVR]

EXTREMELY HELPFUL! I will check this out this weekend and report back. Thanks a million!

 

[Nick M]

when i went to connect the negative it sparked like mad

That is current. There was already a heavy draw on the system from something like the alternator cable being grounded. Resistance is low, so current goes very high.

 

[IndigoMKII]

That is current. There was already a heavy draw on the system from something like the alternator cable being grounded. Resistance is low, so current goes very high.

Isn't the way to prevent that is to add a breaker on the system to 'turn on' the battery?

 

[Nick M]

Yeah, make sure the power wires do not have a direct ground. And turn everything off. Entropy is a bitch. So is chaffing.

 

[7M4EVR]

Heres where I am now, please excuse my complete lack of knowledge in this department, I'm trying.......Thinking i might have blown that ALT fusible link or something else, because I had everything right...Neg. is grounded to block and wing of car, positive goes to fuse box and starter, and the alternator gets the other fuse box wire. However what i think may have happened is the little red wire that is on the back of the alternator that gets grounded on the alternator post was touching the fuse box wire connector....I'm wondering if that had something to do with it...But i separated them with the plastic piece and now the battery doesnt spark at all, but I don't think I'm getting power to the alternator. I used a test light to check for power, connected it to metal and touched the positive battery terminal (get power there), then touched the starter ground (get power there) but when i touch the alternator post i dont get anything...I'm going to look into how to test for this alt fusible link now and check out all my fuses in the kick panel and fuse box....

 

[7M4EVR]

Well the 100A alternator fuse was blown took it out and replaced it...primed the engine...adjusted my cps and the engine fired right up after a year and a half....so excited right now..thanks all!!

 

[supraguy@aol]

Glad to hear the good news.