S14 Battery Relocate / Fuse Keeps Blowing. Assistance Please.

[Dorifto Machine]

Here's the deal:

I relocated the battery to the trunk and grounded to the spare tire screw.
Removed OEM power lines from starter, fuse box and alternator and also replaced ground wire on alternator.
Ran additional grounds on the engine ( Front of Intake manifold, Back of Intake manifold, Bolt near exhaust manifold side) .


Here is a mock up of basically my battery relocate setup ( only difference is I'm running 4g to distro block then 8g from distro) :


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g149/tearlessj/Battery.jpg


When I go to plug up the + and - on the battery I instantly blow the fuse. I spent all day taking my time and making sure nothing was missed but I might be overlooking something.

Theirs two things that I think might be causing this and if anyone has clarification please input.

A. Because I have 2 ground points on the same bolt. Their is a ground running from the front intake manifold to the nut near the fuse-box and the other is the ground from the alternator that is on the same nut near the fuse-box. Is that acceptable?
All the other ground points are on their own spots on the chassis.

or

B. The Red plug which has two power leads for the master fusebox- see image below) that was connected to the battery then to what seems like a 100 amp fuse on the fuse-box is now not connected to anything . Is it okay to cut the connectors wire this to the power distrubution block as well? Does anyone know what those power leads are for specifically?

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f345/KeithDigital/240/DSC03744s.jpg


The images above are just used as reference. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to chime in.:boink:

Thanks

[Dorifto Machine]

Anyone have the slightest clue?

[Andres_G]

You should of used a circuit breaker like this one: (100 Amps)

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/3287/20110728121605.jpg

Concerning B......you are trying to ground what on the fuse box??

Your alternator should not have a grounding wire going to ANYTHING. By simply the alternator being bolted on, it is already grounded.

Also, check for corrosion on your cables. Do a voltage drop test if possible.

Keep us posted.

[Dorifto Machine]

I ran brand new power lines. No Corrosion.

My alternator had a Ground cable connected to the chassis already from OEM.... Which ran from the alternator right next to a bolt near the fusebox. All I did was replace it with a new wire.

I stated that the red plug (in the picture ) is not connected to anything ( its just hanging in the air till I decide what needs to be done).

Should I cut the connectors from the plug, take the wires and bond them together and connect them distro block or I could possibly just remove both wires and run 1 wire since they go to the same terminal in the fuse box ?

[Dorifto Machine]

I think the red connector is why the fuse keeps popping. That connector I believe is part of Alternator/starting system which interconnects with cabin fuse panel. Definitely needs to be wired up, Ill plug it up and see what happens.

[Dorifto Machine]

Found the problem. Wow, the most tiny overlooked thing...

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/4156/photodzy.jpg

The damn screw that was mounting the distributor block was slightly touching the block and was acting as a ground as well.

Also, just cut the 2 connectors going into the OEM red junction and made it a cleaner connection with O-ring connector.

[Bunnywith240]

Found the problem. Wow, the most tiny overlooked thing...

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/4156/photodzy.jpg

The damn screw that was mounting the distributor block was slightly touching the block and was acting as a ground as well.

Also, just cut the 2 connectors going into the OEM red junction and made it a cleaner connection with O-ring connector.

Kinda hard to overlook that when you're screwing it in and it's scraping the dist block. Glad you got it fixed, though.

[Dorifto Machine]

Theirs a plastic cover with a decal that covers the power block and I was working with minimal lighting unfortunately . Also that screw is smaller then it appears in the picture lol, but thanks!

[Chaluska]

GJ, hunting down electrical grimlins is a serious PITA.

fortunately you knew it was from the battery relocation.

[Dorifto Machine]

So finally took the car out for first time since battery relocation and started having really weird issues (was un-driveable due to suspension ).

At first the car didn't feel like it was accelerating like it should be and when I pressed the pedal 80% down it would hesitate / then act like it wouldn't pass 4th rpm. Then it started randomly bogging down like the car started getting tired and wanted to shut off.
Got back home shut her off and checked all connections ,plugs, and made sure everything was secured and connected.
Went to start it up and it wouldn't start, Jumped the battery and it started up but still when I pressed on the throttle it sounds like its choking or not getting power and had issues revving (also the headlights and cluster are very dim). Shut it off and attempted to start again, Wouldn't crank AGAIN. So took the battery to advance and they said it needs to be charged. Their going to charge it and Ill pick up the battery tomorrow.

Do you think my alternator is going bad, this battery was bought 4 months or so and the car has been sitting for about half of that.

Also, I ran 8 Gauge wire from the distribution block to the starter/alternator and fusebox. Do you think that might be too small for the alternator? Do you think that bogging is also caused by the lack of power?

Any input is appreciated. Note: this never happened until the battery relocation.

[Broker Face]

Try checking for any fuses gone bad, that is the easiest thing to do then do the bigger parts.

[mikeroy420]

If you take a voltmeter and touch the positive to the altenator and the negative of the voltmeter to ground. What voltage are you getting? It should be 14v. If its lower then 12v or decreasing, your running off your battery and the altenator is not charging.

[Dorifto Machine]

@ Mike . Thanks . I will be checking the alternator tonight.

I got the battery back from auto store yesterday and put it in and the car is running semi normal, still somethings weird about it and got a couple squeals on the alternator when I revved it after turning it over .

But again, will check the readings on the alt and report back.

On another subject, the clock on my cluster doesnt show the time anymore but the backlight of it is still a little dim. Is this a possible bad fuse (7.5 ?) or maybe the clock in the cluster itself is bad? This started sometime last month.

[Dorifto Machine]

Fixed both Issues!!!!

The alternator was bad, it was getting 12.1 . Just replaced it and getting good power and no bogging issues. After replacing alternator, the Battery light was on in the cluster and would not go off. I unplugged/ reseated the plug on the alternator and it went away.

As Far as the time not showing up on the cluster, it was a blown fuse in the kick panel. Replaced fuse and times showing up now.

:-)