Earth

This is the first of many questions I will be asking en route to getting my car sorted, so please bear with me. I'm not the most technical person, but do try

I have a few electrical issues with my car (windows, c/l, wipers) and thought to check is the earth, I don't think its the problem, but worth checking. So can someone please tell me where the earth straps are.
I think I saw a post mentioning putting an extra earth from the battery to the suspension turret - good idea or not?

Thx
Chris

A few years ago Paul Sage put a number of additional earth straps on my car. In the engine bay from the passenger side rear suspension turret and on the battery to the passenger side front suspension turret. Solved a bunch of problems, charging the battery properly from the alternator being the most significant one.

Definitely worth doing.

In terms of the electrical problems you are having, definitely worth checking the earths. I find a even a loose connector on one thing can disrupt other things that you wouldn't think were related. Check the wiring to the fuses and the fuses, too.

Paul Sage also replaced the earths and put a few more on for me a few years back. They also put a new earth strap in the engine bay to the suspension turret as well and replaced the quick release clip on in the battery terminal for a proper clamp.

Brad

Chris,....as well as adding earths, it would be worth checking all the existing earths for tightness and condition. I would remove each one, clean, and make sure the contact surfaces are in good condition. With your stated problems, the ones to pay particular attention to, are those just in front of each door at the side of the foot wells.
The primary earths are shown in the following pic.
Hope this helps

John

Cheers for the replies guys, and thanks for the pic John, it should be very helpful.

I'm planning on spending most of the day tomorrow in the garage, so should get chance to have a look at a couple of bits and will start with the earths. Before I start looking at the GTA I've got to try and get my Rangey running - new battery and dizzy should hopefully sort that.

Checking earths / maintenance on them is a good idea, but may not solve all your problems. Whats up with the windows, C/L and wipers ? Intermitt operation or not working at all ?

If the windows are working but becoming lazy & slow then probably due to the grease drying out in the hideous spiral contraption that works the glass up n down. I'm suffering the same - need to remove assembly, clean and regrease.

C/L - JohnC is best one to answer this but there are motors, solenoids etc. that are all linked and can give problems. Again, mine locks and unlocks from the fob but the internal electronic release on pass'ger side is not working 100% of the time (and no JohnC I still havent sorted it out yet )

Wipers, must admit, apart from the one wiper coming loose once, I havent experienced any problems. But search through the site and you may find some past posts that help you out depending on the symptoms.

To be honest I don't expect checking the earths will fix anything, but thought it best to rule that out.

The windows sort of work - passenger up and down slowly, drivers goes down but not up. I think the mechanisms/runners need greasing
The c/l locking doesn't work at all - could be anything.
The wipers did sort of work (slowly and occasionally stuck) but now not at all. Thank God for RainX. The washers don't work either. I think this is prob down to stuck mechanism or dodgy relay/connection.

Paul

Again, mine locks and unlocks from the fob but the internal electronic release on pass'ger side is not working 100% of the time (and no JohnC I still havent sorted it out yet )

............tut tut

Chris,

Your feeling about it unlikely to be the earths causing the problems, in my view, is correct, however it can only be good to check them out anyway.
With the wipers, I would get to its mechanism and lubricate in the first instance, as I would with the windows as well.
The washers....if you cannot hear the motor when activating it, I would check to see if there is any voltage on it, if there is, the motor could be stuck or u/s, but if the motor is running with water in its resevoir, but its not getting through....blocked nozzles, or detached/split pipework.
That should be enough to get you going

John

ive had window probs aswell,they do dry up and get full of dirt. strip out the lifting tube open up the motor, plenty of wd40, and a goodclean and they should work ok. wipers i would check all the multiplugs tighten the terminals and reconect,there is one multiplug just befor the screenwash pump that played up on mine.when i switched the wipers off they just kept going tightened the termials and it fixed the fault.
good look and have fun

Well, a less than productive day - Rangey is still dead after new coil/battery/dizzy and I'm at a loss as to what next.

The only thing I managed to get done on the GTA was check over the fuses (blown fuse on wipers) so the wipers are now back to badly working. I took the arms and top cover off and soaked the moving parts in oil. I did notice that the bearing at the bottom of the passenger side arm was rather stiff and rusty, so this is probably my problem and this got a severe dousing of oil. I'll try and have a proper look at this tom am.

is the fuel pump priming on the rangey? you should hear it for a few seconds after ignition is on. Failure is pretty common on the EFi.
Only know as mine just died... tomorrow's job.

[BIG_MVS]

I have suprised myself and am proud to say I can refurb the wiper mechanism Not rocket science I grant you but it's possible. Skattman give me a pm/buzz and I'll talk you through it. Or I can supply a refurbed unit if you can't be arsed

I'll see you on Sunday anyway

Rupert:
I can't hear the fuel pump tbh as the ABS pump is noisier than anything else. There is a smell of fuel in the engine though and the injectors are clicking on and off. I'll mention the fuel pump to my mechanic (bro-in-law) tomorrow and see if we can check its running.

Martin:
I'll have a better look at the wipers tomorrow, but how much for a refurbed unit