Cleaning Ground Wire on Engine.....

[er9]

Ground wire on engine is in bad need to cleaning and wire brushish. Do I need to disconnect the cables from the batteries to do this or is unplugging shore power enough?

sorry my electrical skills are pathetic. trying to learn but not sinking in very quickly.

[Bruce K]

Never hurts to turn off shore power for a while. Just turn master swith=ch to off, clean earth, then turn on when finished. Probably don't need to but it wont hurt.

[er9]

great thank you.

[paulajayne]

Unplug from shore power is far safer as turning switch to off does not break the connection on the earth circuit.

[CarlF]

I'd also kill the power to the engine. Working with metal tools near the starter positive connection can get exciting.

And since this ground is such a common trouble spot, after wire brushing use a bit of contact cleaner on both the engine and cable. Then put on some dielectric grease and tighten it down hard. Use a new locknut.

[deblen]

You may find some useful info @ :
Welcome To MarineHowTo.com Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

Len

[SSgtPitt]

[QUOTE=CarlF;2510869]I'd also kill the power to the engine. Working with metal tools near the starter positive connection can get exciting.

THAT’s good advice. I’ve left some blood from the involuntary reaction after hitting that positive cable.

[stormalong]

What does shore power have to do with the engine? There is no AC going to any engine that I have ever seen.

Yes isolate the DC from the engine by turning off the battery switch. If you do not have a battery switch for your engine now is the time to install that too.

[er9]

Thanks for all the helpful info.

I always unplug the shore power when working on electrical just out of habit and mostly out of ignorance knowing if I screw up I could be dead.

Do have isolator switch so will also be turning off DC from switch.

Thanks Deblin for that link....will be spending some time on that site. I have Nigel Calders mechanical and electrical book but there is something about his writing style that just doesn't click with me. maybe its my utter lack of experience with electrical but reading his book is not as helpful as I hoped.

[bob fleege]

If the ground wire is seriously corroded and only if you have excess black ground wire, I would start stripping the plastic wire cover off until I got to clean wire. I would then swedge on a new lug and use a new bolt or clean threads and then new nut and lock washer then coat all generously with dielectric grease. Or totally replace the ground wire with a new cable.

[er9]

Originally Posted by bob fleege

If the ground wire is seriously corroded and only if you have excess black ground wire, I would start stripping the plastic wire cover off until I got to clean wire. I would then swedge on a new lug and use a new bolt or clean threads and then new nut and lock washer then coat all generously with dielectric grease. Or totally replace the ground wire with a new cable.

Thanks...will definitely be cutting back a little wire. wire is not in bad shape. connector is not horrible either its mainly the engine steel has heavily corroded around the end of the connection. I can flake off 1" x 1.5" x .03 chunks of corroded steel from bottom of motor.