biil9

where does the ground strap attach on an 89 stang. i put mine on the large bolt on the motor mount and the other end to one side of the mount that bolts to the block. the starter has juice all the way to the starter but it wont turn over. starter freshly rebuilt and solenoid tested and both are fine. im pretty sure i have a ground issue and i'm hoping someone here has had a similar issue. thank you for any suggestions

dawson1112

If you had a ground issue you would still hear the solenoid click , and the starter may appear weak. Is this what is happening?

Or when you turn the key are you not getting any thing at all?

Make sure the ignition signal is getting to the solenoid , the small wire on the solenoid should see 12v when key is in start position.

That small ground strap is not to feed the starter ground it is to feed ground to the body. The engine ground is the big wire from the battery that is bolted directly to the block. The small ground strap that is connected to the motor mount bolt should feed ground to the fender .

biil9

yes.when i turn the key i am getting clicking at the solenoid. just for the hell of it i put the charger on it and it appears the battery to my surprise is not fully charged. after a full charge we'll see what happens. thank you for your reply

reldla1996

That motor mount bolt is probably not the best place to ground it. Take it someplace you can bolt it solidly to metal. To make sure I get a good connection, I sand off the paint on the metal metal where I'm bolting it to, and then paint it all black after it's all bolted together.

biil9

ok so one end will bolt to say the fender but where is a good place to bolt the other end? directly to the block,bellhousing etc:

reldla1996

Block would be best, or an accessory bolt on the front of the block, say 5/16" or bigger. Something that bolts to iron is preferable to something that bolts to aluminum.

petrock

If the bolt in question is the one that is used to attach the motor mount to the block then it should be just fine. The block ground on my wifey’s ’98 3.8L came from the factory attached to one of the motor mounts mounting bolts. The factory service manual even has it displayed in one of its pictures and described in the motor mount install description.

If your still unsure you can test the ground connection with a voltage drop test. After you install the ground wire, with the key on engine off, take a multi/volt meter set to as close to 15 volts without going under and touch the positive meter lead on the bolt that attaches the ground wire on the block and the negative meter lead to the bolt that attaches the ground wire to the frame/fender. If you get a reading of more then 0.5 volts, then you have a bad ground.

Good luck...