TEST YOUR ENGINE BLOCK GROUND USING THESE THREE METHODS

Thank you all for tuning in to Super Mario Diagnostics!
Today we are going to review some tests we can perform to check ground supply to your engine block!
I hope you all enjoy, like, share, comment and subscribe!
For a list of great quality training, visit: trainedbytechs.com/training-e...
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[@robweeke2940]

I am a novice mechanic. I worked in the business in the 90,s. I am humbled by your knowledge. I now work in the high voltage industrial field. Thanks, I learn everyday.

[@chrissilva5659]

I made the same career change lol

[@terryharvey4811]

My jumper cables have never let me down on the ground test. They're 20 ft long, solid copper, 2 ga. that I paid 70 bucks for over 25 years ago. Just checked, they've only increased in price by $100.00 or so. Funny story, found a bad engine ground by accident. Was testing no start on old big car LTD with a fender mounted solenoid.Customer had replaced solenoid 3 times, so I'm test lighting it with test light to bat gd and happened to lay test light on engine. IT LIT UP., Sometimes IT'S OK TO BE LUCKY RATHER THAN GOOD.

[@nordicpride9708]

Yeah the modern ones are made of chinesium (copper glad aluminum wire). Total garbage. You are smart to hold onto those 100% copper jumpers

[@jwoeltje6949]

I have used all these methods. And I’ve also incorporated the jump box method. I go out to a car it’s got a slow crank or no crank I hook the jump box up to the jump points still no crank or slow crank I move the negative to the engine block car cranks pretty much confirms it for me.

[@thebaldmechanichardatheari1124]

Explained very simple for everyone one to understand. Keep up the good work.

[@kickford]

I am currently looking at a potential ground cable issue from my battery to the motor, to the frame, the ground strap you did and checking the positive cable connection to my 2010 tahoe fuse panel. These are notorious for bad cable corrosion inside the jacket. My vehicle is doing crazy stuff on the dash with guages, nav drops out, locks up down, poor power, etc. Seats wouldn't move, you name it. And I must say, I've been a industrial electrician for over 30 years working with 480 down to 24 volt controls and I simply didn't think to apply the voltage drop method across the metal frame / motor like you did for that situation and with the test light, not just a meter. I find automotive wiring to be a field of its own, with all its own set of quirks. I'm going to get the test light I thought I would never need, because of the quick visual you displayed which my digital multimeter simply might not catch! Absolutely great troubleshooting information!!! 👍🏻

[@johnjones8359]

ive been working on cars for years and eletrical has always been a hardspot for me. espically in understanding it.. but they way you just presented that was awesome and very easy to understand thank u keep on the good works and teaching brother

[@ALCRAN2010]

I resemble that remark. Lol I just recalled in the Apollo 13 movie, how they systematically tested each electrical item and circuit to achieve a specific voltage. Kinda crazy.

[@AG-ld2qt]

Excellent how to test video, thanks.

[@bernardaflores1720]

Thanks for teaching me something new this morning. In the mid west, those grounding straps become chicken noodless in just few years. Specially GM trucks

[@amiralshoq]

Honestly - you are wonderful and your explanation of the problem was easy and uncomplicated. Thank you

[@gremling72]

Very educational video, this was a very nice test to do for confirming the ground issue on SAAB 9-3TDi, (that often suffers from bad grounds from engine to chassie). Thanks for another great video.

[@belowfray5251]

Good of you to share your knowledge and we appreciate the work u put into the videos

[@eacherenkeka]

Really good information Mario! Thank you for sharing brother!

[@benkeys2702]

It's a joy to watch your thorough, simplistic explanation of your diagnosis of problems. Keep them coming.

[@stevehowell4888]

Great explanation and ways to check. This is the best video ive seen explaining a easy but definite way to understand a huge problem.

[@blueskiesmobileauto4253]

Thanks for this video. Great info! Found many bad grounds with jumper cables!

[@user-sq8rs2lc9c]

A VERY LOGICAL SIMPLYFIED EXPAINATION DIRECT TO THE POINT. WELL, PRESENTED. THANK YOU, MARIO,

[@SierraOne]

Really good information here! THANKS!!

[@peters1821]

Great video as always, thanks for sharing!

[@loneyndlovu1353]

I enjoyed your stuff , its easy flowing and very easy to grasp.

[@kellyr9388]

As always, great thanks Mario

[@baxrok2.]

Excellent tutorial Mario. Thanks!

[@aabosala]

Thanks for the video. Very impressed.

[@ikar7623]

Thank you Mario your explanation is simple and right. You are super

[@jameswebb3932]

Thank you for your thorough explanation it will help me alot!!

[@ThunderbirdRocket]

Liked it 👍🏼👍🏼 . Thanks for sharing your knowledge !

[@AutoDiag_]

Very nice quick field reference.

[@detailedautodiagnostics]

This is great....we can NEVER get enough examples of testing methods....AWESOME STUFF!!!!

[@ElvenJustice]

Good work. Subed. You can never learn too much about diagnostics especially with continuously evolving technology. I like you meter leads and clips too.

[@alexluz7023]

on cheap jumper cables test you can always use both cables providing ground (red and black parallel ) lol good work

[@blueskiesmobileauto4253]

Wow that’s an obvious but needed bit of info for the next time I do this! Funny I never thought of this!

[@SuperMarioDiagnostics]

I actually did this too, to no avail

[@gussingh3948]

Good one.

[@Nicole-dj3jf]

​@@SuperMarioDiagnosticscan you please help me ive been playing up the butt and no one can fix my car 2011 Chevy Malibu 3.6 engine staryer replaced alternator replaced twice battery replaced twice and today i was stuck on the road for 5 hours, no family small town and the jerk who said he fixed my car would not answer my calls ended up walking with my special needs son i dont understand ive paid so many people to fix my car amd still its not starting ugh no ones honest anymore van you please look up where a bad ground would be im lost there no where else to bring my car small town life sucks! Ive been on KZbin looking and cant find anything the lights go high then low then i die out all 3 parts are good that i mentioned helppp

[@usnixon]

Very informal save me lots of money and time the whole time I had a bad ground on my 2013 BMW X5 550I change the starter twice still no crank after seeing your video try the jumper cable method start it right up thanks thumbs up👍😁

[@jimwhite5964]

Another great video…thanks!

[@cahrlesford]

Thanks for you informative video

[@TheKeenMechanic]

Thanks for the video. Great tip

[@jws3925]

Good information and explanation.

[@davegavin7914]

Excellent video well explained thanks ! 🙏🏻😉👍🏻

[@TheRicardo7500]

Muchas gracias, me va a servir mucho de aprendizaje.

[@georgesadler7830]

Thank you for the video.

[@bnewton239]

something everyone needs to know. thanks.

[@patrickwendling6759]

Thank you for your knowledge and video's USA 🇺🇸

[@James-fs4rn]

👍 thanks for sharing my friend!

[@jimyep9971]

This is funny. almost 50 yrs ago that was my first diag and i didnt find it. a ford tech stopped by station n 2mins ltr told me what it was. Sweet video.

[@8power0]

THANKS MARIO ,,, GREAT VIDEO !!!!!!!!!!!

[@shaunblakemore7150]

Great explanation 👍

[@GoTechTraining]

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing it!

[@SuperMarioDiagnostics]

Thanks for watching!

[@stacyupton7795]

thanks for the video grounds are so important these days on cars

[@pantelis241]

Well made video. Normally when we measure between negative battery post and engine block we should have at the most 100 mV as you said and I agree. Letter you measured 8V on the engine block, I am assuming since the negative chassis cable was corroded, this 8V was coming from the starters negative coal aka housing. Is this right ? What else could also from the engine block as ( + ) escape through your multimeter?

[@dporrasxtremeLS3]

AS Usual... Outstanding!!! Thank you! Super Mario! You have A Way of Teaching, that is SO Easy to understand! 2 Thumbs UP, Liked and Subscribed!

[@paulpaquette1961]

More solid advice, Mario, you da' man!

[@lindakeiken2892]

Thanks for the refresher/reminder. ck,wisc.

[@vegardbrekke2240]

Good vid, very educational.

[@meTimetraveler]

i replaced the head gasket on a Sentra i bought really cheap. the final moment, i hopped in the drivers seat and turned the ignition. the car cranked but did not start. After a few more cranks. i took out a spark plug and it was completely dry, no gas smell either coming from the cylinder. I checked for a spark, no spark. later that night......oh yeah the grounding strap that attaches to the back of the manifold....went out the next morning and connected......the car started right up 👍👍👍👍

[@careyautorepairs]

Love your videos brother.

[@larryburns4605]

Great info

[@tylerparsons9626]

Had an 11 volt drop on the positive battery cable to a starter on a 2020 ram 2500 the other day. I cleaned the connection at the starter and still had about a 500mv drop.. I chalked it up to probably being about normal since it was a 6.4L and the truck started every time after.

[@manelishi13]

The jumper cable would have burnt me because I woukd figure they would be better than have the ground straps I see that function. Gives me the motivation to make a shorter high quality set. Thanks my man , good video !

[@tedgtfan]

good info...thanks

[@HelgiThorisson]

What about as a first test to connect a test lamp from B+ to the engine and watch for if it lights up, how dim it is or not lit at all?

[@abramturley2572]

I wonder what that would have done probably dim to no light like you said. Bit if it was bright what would that mean

[@celicasaur]

Great video man

[@Rod-uw8ud]

Mario would your thermal infrared camera show the high resistance across that engine ground strap when cranking? Probably not as well as the test light or the VOM.

[@omchhetri5541]

thanks for the info. i have the same problem. at first i suspected the issue was with starter. took off starter and bench tested it worked fine, and installed it back in. i contacted negative jumper cable from ground stud to engine block and tried to crank and got at least slow crank. should i be getting voltage reading on multimeter from positive post to engine block? Thanks 🙏

[@chrisrye9128]

Thank you!

[@FishFind3000]

This video I needed a year ago when my sisters ground strap rotted away. This car had issues starting in the cold for years and then in the middle of summer It just quit. When my mechanic gave me the strap I pulled it apart in my hands, the whole thing was green inside and out worse then the strap you have in this video. I tried to get the car going as it wasn’t home. One thing I thought of doing but forgot to try while I was there was the jumper cable for an alternate engine ground. I’m glad you showed that it doesn’t work 100% because I thought if I remembered to try that it would have worked and have a tow and several hours.

[@guidobertoli3]

Love your test light! Is it something available for us to buy or is this custom?

[@mostafamohamed3022]

Good job 👍

[@fa9295]

I have bmw x6 e71, I have changed the starter 2 ground cable ! But sometimes when hot it no crank no start , it starts after a few tries I don't know what the exact problem is

[@windward2818]

In modern gasoline spark ignited vehicle applications, there are several circuits that use the engine block ground as a return path back to the source (conventional current), with the source being; the alternator (when the vehicle is running) or the battery (Key on ignition off, starting and sleep current). In reference to this video, the focus is on the engine block ground, however, in actuality we are interested in the complete circuit path, that is, supply from and return to the power source. In regards to maintaining older vehicles, we find that corrosion degrades electrical connection integrity, with the failures normally occurring in places where the copper cable strands are crimped to a lug or eyelet but the strands are not sealed and exposed to the elements (especially bad in the USA salt belt states). For example, you could have a Battery POS top post lug crimped from the factory with a folding cable crimp, where in the same space allowed, could have used a barrel style Battery POS lug and done a hex or circular hydraulic crimp. In both cases, dual wall heat shrink could be use to help seal the connection. But many times what you find from the factory is a folded crimp without any heat shrink. Basically, bare copper strands and lug ears crimped, open and exposed to the elements. In reality, we are interested in checking proper operation of the overall circuit integrity and not just one connection in the circuit like the block ground. However, the block ground gets the focus because it usually fails first due to corrosion, but not always. You could have a battery lug fail first, but this is usually easier to diagnose if the battery is located under hood where you can easily inspect the health of the lugs and posts. The tests for voltage drop at high current are really just an indirect way to measure connection resistance (assuming the cables are undamaged). Mario does have access to a Pico scope, so he could actually use a current clamp and voltage input to measure the complete circuit resistance for a specific test. Like starting or charging. If we look at the starting circuit, we have the battery (source) and the starter (load) in the circuit, as well as all the cable and connections. So, you could measure the current with the current clamp from the battery, while at the same time, measuring the battery voltage at the battery posts. From this you could use a Pico math channel to calculate resistance V/I in real-time. But, with this advanced test what is a good dynamic resistance value? What is good and what is bad and by how much. Well, you would have to measure some known good working vehicles and get some base values to compare it to. This dynamic resistance test is attractive though when you have easy access to the circuit source (battery), for testing the overall circuit, which will include the block ground. You just clamp on the current clamp, attach the voltage channel alligator clips to the battery, and start the vehicle, then review the waveforms and math channel calculation all time aligned.

[@joehead1294]

Good dynamic resistance value=0 ohms.

[@georgepranis5183]

I should have said those are stock Buick rods. Love your channel!

[@DaKine96791]

Thanks for posting this up. I just measured from ground post to positive wire and got 12.3V. From positive wire to oil filter housing also 12.3V. Does this rule out my ground strap? On my 2008 528, I just started to have intermittent longer cranking start issues. At one point I did notice that my break pedal did not depress all the way down prior to cranking. Very strange. Thanks again.

[@luismarty1685]

Thanks Mario.

[@jimkillen1065]

Nice job..

[@tonyfox1434]

Nice clear video, subscribed now

[@papergatorzfedducca7998]

New subscriber!!🔥🔥🔥

[@HondroGonzalez-zv5zv]

Awesome

[@NURsMec]

Nice explanation i just subscribed

[@labrat6910]

Thanx bro.Scanner Danner and Super Mario my favourite 2 youtube channels😉

[@GooGz]

My problem im having is voltage drop once the car starts to warms up, brand new battery and brand new alternator, previous battery tested good, replaced the alternator with a reman at first, because the orignal failed a test, some how finagled fhe parts store to get me a new Duralast gold, and still having voltage drop after it wams up. Its a Honda, alternator control and Eld have been disabled through a tunning aoftware. Next is grounds and wiring at the harness side of things. Cars starting to piss me off. Belt tension is tight at the alternator.

[@stephanelanglois6140]

wow very interesting 👍

[@keltecshooter]

I've been a tech for 30 years and have seen a lot of young school trained kids come and go , these basic testing skills are either not taught or emphasize well in school. Its not sexy like BMW or Mercedes training so I'm sure it has less impact than basic theory and testing that can be applied to every make and model.

[@spelunkerd]

I would venture to say that more than half of working techs use inadequate testing when it comes to starter motor diagnosis. Something repetitive like that should taught as a standard algorithm, a check list method that avoids skipping steps. Done correctly it takes less than 5 minutes with basic tools, provided the posts on the starter are accessible. Rather than focusing on too much theory, students need a rapid cookbook approach that avoids shortcut disaster.

[@joehyundaitech7961]

thank you for this video. new sub

[@user-gj8oq7fw1u]

great stuff man, learned a lot

[@shamessun]

Than you very much

[@johnmorrow1628]

Could you use a 100 amp carbon pile battery load tester instead of the starter

[@RepairRenovateRenew]

not all bad wiring looks as bad as that ground strap, on my hyundai elantra the ground strap was effectively broken, you couldnt tell visually, and voltage drop testing seemed to pass, until you had multiple accessories working and the car was warm. electrical problems are sneaky, so thats the benefit of the jumper cable, it will let you see bad wiring eve if they look just fine visually. cheers bro thanks for the upload

[@72automan1]

I always prefer the voltage drop method 👍!!

[@abdul-kabiralegbe5660]

Thanks for the video. Here's how I conceive the bad ground: the high resistance at the bad ground causes the voltage potential (under load) at the engine block to be higher than that at the battery ground causing the testlight to light when connected from battery ground to engine block. This is basically the same as you explained on the paper.

[@gussingh3948]

🤔

[@abdul-kabiralegbe5660]

@@gussingh3948 Are you undecided? I wrote that so someone can correct me if I happen to be wrong.

[@toughlife2000]

Biggest 👍many thanks

[@thequestionmark2903]

Valuable info yet again. Thank you. I am just curious as to what forced you to check for engine ground.

[@bernardaflores1720]

Probable he is seen before and the light test is easy to do. GM trucks hate the salt too!

[@dennisharvey4499]

Probably poor / no crank

[@SuperMarioDiagnostics]

Yes been there before. Always a good test to rule out early

[@thequestionmark2903]

@@SuperMarioDiagnostics Sure,.....I will keep that in mind.

[@rmojo1974]

I have an 86 prelude si , battery light is on . Will take a jump and turn over but dies shortly after. ?s: does my battery need to be fully charged to accurately test my alternator? ( I am jumping my battery just enough to get another jump) . I've cleaned all my grounds that I could find. Any help will be most appreciated

[@TrevMann420]

Great info! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT DUNDER MIFFLIN NOTEPAD! That's hilarious 😂

[@SuperMarioDiagnostics]

I was with the wife at the mall and she went into a store called box lunch. And there it was

[@gordongacek8645]

Question -- instead of making all these tests to the ground on the fender of this BMW, can you connect your tests directly to the negative battery post instead? I assume the only reason he has to use the ground by the fender is because this BMW has the battery in the trunk. Not like most cars that have the battery under the hood. Can someone please confirm. Thanks Mario for making this video. Great info!

[@grudd61]

Great channel! If I have multiple available module calibration file updates ( IPC, ABS, BCM etc) does the sequence I update them in make a difference? Thank you much.

[@SuperMarioDiagnostics]

Depends on vehicle, some yes, some no

[@7minnow]

Great Job once again Mr Mario. question where did you get the testlight from?

[@SuperMarioDiagnostics]

Cornwell

[@7minnow]

@@SuperMarioDiagnostics Thanks for the quick response! I’ve learned alot from you an I can’t thank you enough 👊🏻

[@Thomas998822]

Can you use a multi meter instead of a test light?

[@speedy_pit_stop]

I like that you get right to the point without too much unnecessary verbiage. How did that ground strap get so bad in FL??

[@terryharvey4811]

Salt in the air maybe ?? I know cars near the sea are the worst. Retired/transplanted Yankee maybe ??

[@brassmule]

2:12 the man even uses a good quality pen.

[@user-lv8qi9ze2q]

I got a 2002 f150 5.4 new alternator new battery. The battery runs down with trunk running are not running. I'm lost on what to do next.

[@estevendouglas6957]

Ok Im in Denver Colo how do obtain your services! I have a grouding issue in a old 87 Chevy

[@bobadams8252]

A friend had a Cadillac that was running terrible with all kinds of electric issues. He was about to sell it not running right. We got on the phone. His wife was working the key. I had him ground the engine with jumper cables. I could hear it smooth out over the phone! A new ground cable had it running fine.

[@romanjaspe4172]

Thanks so much Mario, I've a question: in the last ground testing, one testing lead going of course to the engine block, and the other to the battery negative post or car's body ?

[@SuperMarioDiagnostics]

Negative jump post on the car's body

[@jeffreyfelder7981]

I just bought a Cadillac DTS... for $800 because it had a bad engine ground... the owner and mechanics, it took me a while to figure it out, I had those issues on Jaguars all the time.... so as soon as I purchased one, I installed extra engine block grounds...