itsFDforme

I think this problem started when I went out to my car after it had been sitting for about a week I went to start it and it was turning over really slow but steadily getting stronger then it finally started, the next time I tried to start it all I heard was a loud clicking and I figured the starter was bad. so I got a new/used starter about 2 weeks later put it on the car, it was dead so I decided to push started it and went to drive it around the block to give it a charge I was driving for about 2 minutes before it started stalling, backfiring and shooting out smoke so I turned it off and pushed it back. it wouldn't turn over at all so I did some inspecting around the engine bay and finally saw that the firewall ground was pretty melted. so I took it off and reattached it and then it would turn over but only really slowly even when hooked up with jumper cables to another car the PFC says its getting 13.8 volts then when I turn the key it goes back to the startup screen and whenever I turn the key the same ground on the firewall gets very hot. I thought I might have a bad ground somewhere so I swapped out my charge harness but the exact same thing is still happening.
anybody have any ideas or anything?

ryan1

iTrader: (5)

The ground on the firewall isn't the main ground and can't handle the load. The main ground is on the block below the plugs. That is the one designed to take the high current load. You need to make sure it clean and the bolt is tight, if it is you'll have to trace the wire to find where it is broken.

wstrohm

See posts #42 and #53 in this thread for pics of main ground(s) on a stock FD.

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

i was helping him out with this and we swapped out the plastic connector ground for the one thats on my car. its the flat braided style as seen in the posts linked above. got the same result.

the odd thing is that this started happening out of no where. when we finished putting his new motor in (which ive done many many times) he drove it home just fine. it was running just fine for a couple months then this.

we will check that ground on the side of the block and see if maybe something crazy happened. if this doesnt fix the issue then what would be the next thing to look at?