Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 12:10:44 -0600
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Cleaning bad grounds
In-Reply-To: <e83101c50ddb$fdae88c0$6601a8c0@yoursz6x6sefxo>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Back in my bad ol' aviation days, we were taught that grounds were pure,
clean metal to metal contact .....PERIOD. No oxidized metal, compounds
in between, nothing. We had to sand, file, clean the contacting
surfaces to bright metal color, then connect .... tight! Metal to Metal.
Example. Battery posts for power and ground strap. Had to be cleaned
down to bright siney metal. The inside of the connector on the straps -
same way. Brigh metal. That was all that was acceptable, period. Same
applies elsewhere.
Regards,
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Chelsea, AL
ROBERT DONALDS wrote:
> I said that anti seize can be a problem because I've seen it cause
> increased
> resistance at the ground wires to the head. Its nice that it has good
> conductivity according to a google search. But I'm not talking about
> theory
> and I dont make statements as I did about thing like this unless I
> have had
> real world experiance with it.
>
> Boston Bob
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Antaki" <wrack@COMCAST.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 8:35 PM
> Subject: Re: Cleaning bad grounds
>
>
> Do an Internet search on the following: anti-seize electrical
> conductivity
> Google returned:
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=anti-seize+electrical+conductivity&spel
>
> l=1
>
> The results indicate that many anti-sieze compounds have good electrical
> conductivity. Often these compounds have a lot of metal in them, so this
> makes sense to me.
>
> To make the best ground connection using a bolt, I count on the mating of
> flat conductive surfaces to each other. Clean the surface of the
> grounding
> metal (body, head, etc.), really well. Same for the piece being bolted to
> the grounding metal. I like to use anti-sieze on the threads
> sometimes, but
> grease or oil is ok, too, as long as it is on the threads and not the
> flat
> conducting surfaces. You can also use an internal lock washer (star
> washer)
> to bite into both surfaces of the connection, as long as it is not a
> high-current connection such as a starter. The high current will heat the
> washer, it will lose some springiness, and the connection is now
> loose! Or
> use the star washer between the bolt head and the connector, as long
> as it
> is not the only path for high current.
>
> The lubricant on the threads will make it easier to get a tight
> connection
> with less torque needed, especially if the threads are corroded.
> Remember,
> most lubricants will not prevent some metal-to metal contact between the
> male and the female threads.
>
> When I'm all done making the connection, I spray it with oil, rust
> preventative, or best yet, a zinc-rich spray if the application
> permits. Go
> to http://www.crcindustries.com/crcweb/ and search on the word zinc.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> Ron A
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> Tim Marciniak
> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 5:23 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Cleaning bad grounds
>
>
> Having had some starting and idle problems with my van I am going through
> and cleaning all the ground connections in the van. Does anyone have
> a sure
> fire method for cleaning the threaded bolt holes were the ground
> screws go
> in. I tried rolling up some emery cloth and just turing that in the hole
> but i cant see that that works very well. maybe running a threading tap
> might help but then there is the risk of crossing threads. Any got any
> other methods.
>
> Tim
> 1990 Multivan
>
>
|