Help! Unconnected ground wire?

[Boobylinks]

While trying to diagnose an inoperative windshield washer pump, I noticed this18 inch long ground wire attached to the windshield wiper motor bracket.

Where does this unattached wire's other end connect to?

My truck is an '88 Ford F250 7.3L Diesel 4x4 with airconditioning and C7 tranny.

 

[sle2115]

I have an 87, no air and manual transimission, but I will go see if I have a wire like that. I would guess it to go to one of the intake manifold bolts, most likely the same one your glow plug controller hooks to, but I look at mine.


On edit - Mine does have it, it goes down and hooks to one of the upper bell housing bolts. Has anyone had the transmission out of your truck? I would guess they forgot to hook it up. I would also not hesitate to hook it to the stud on the intake that also has the solid state gp controller hooked to it. I would also run another ground from the frame over to the motor as well. I ran one on each side front to the frame, then on the d-side, I ran a 10 ga wire up to the stud on the intake that I have mentioned. These trucks have terrible grounds and anything you can do will help. You may find that some of your wiper problems are ground related but you stated inoperative pump, which generally is a failed pump. I would check for volatage at the pump with someone holding the button in, if you have power, you need a new pump, if not, you may have a bad switch or possibly ground problems.

Good luck!

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

The little El-Cheapo generic washer-pumps that I have installed on numerous vehicles have long outlived the original pumps.

One big benefit to them is that you can squirt the washers without turning on the wipers; this way, you can soak down the crud before smearing it all over with the wipers.

I can't remember why, but my washer-fluid jug is the jug that I bought the stuff in at the store, with the hose stuck through a hole in the lid.

 

[sle2115]

One big benefit to them is that you can squirt the washers without turning on the wipers; this way, you can soak down the crud before smearing it all over with the wipers.

You must have a separate button for the washer fluid? You can't press the button on my factory switch without turning the wipers on, even if you try, it will rotate the switch (rotary 3 position switch) to low wiper. So, in my case at least, it is the switch that keeps a pre-wash of the windshield from happening!

 

[icanfixall]

That wire is the body to motor ground. On my 89 it is bolted to the intake manifold bolts where the Banks sidewinder air filter bracket attaches on the manifold. Just bolt it up somewhere on the intake thats easy to get to. Do not bolt it up to the exhaust manifold!!! I know of a Dodge owner that kept ruining batteries till someone took a look at it. Seems he had replaced the battery ground but bought one just a little too short so he used it on an exhaust manifold bolt. It grounded fine but... Copper sure transfers heat and his batteries kept burning up because of all the heat they got from the cable. Tis ok... It WAS a Dodge and an old 360 at that.....

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

You must have a separate button for the washer fluid? You can't press the button on my factory switch without turning the wipers on, even if you try, it will rotate the switch (rotary 3 position switch) to low wiper. So, in my case at least, it is the switch that keeps a pre-wash of the windshield from happening!

Plain old 85 Ford factory switch, mounted in the dash, right beside the headlight switch.

I can pump the jug dry, and the wipers won't even flinch until I turn them on.

 

[sle2115]

Plain old 85 Ford factory switch, mounted in the dash, right beside the headlight switch.

I can pump the jug dry, and the wipers won't even flinch until I turn them on.

Cool! My 85 had the same switch as my 87, push in for fluid, turn for wipers and apparently Ford thought we weren't smart enough to run the wipers after juicing the windshield!

 

[highest_vision]

I can squirt my windows without the wipers moving too Think wash'n'wipe must be on fancy smancy newer trucks
James

 

[sle2115]

I can squirt my windows without the wipers moving too Think wash'n'wipe must be on fancy smancy newer trucks
James

Yep, that is mine, 2-55 air (won't run much faster), 4 spd, lucky to have a seat, standard cab, etc. - yep, must only be on fancy smancy newer trucks!

 

[Boobylinks]

re: regarding wire and pump

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll go ahead and secure the ring connector to an engine lifting eye bolt then. .

I fixed the inoperative windshield fluid pump. Problem was due to one of the two wires going to the pump connector being broken and obscured within the harness bundle.

 

[The Warden]

I can squirt my windows without the wipers moving too Think wash'n'wipe must be on fancy smancy newer trucks
James

I'll third that!

Seems like most cars that have the "wash n' wipe" make it so that the wipers cycle 2 or 3 times when you squirt the stuff. Both my M-B's are/were like that; so's my mom's Honda Civic as well as all the Town Cars at work. Seems useless to me; in my experience, you need a LOT more than 3 "wipes" to clean a windshield...

BTW, 2-55 a/c SUCKS!!! I like my cab icy Actually, my climate system's happy for the most part...I just have to figure out why I can't get air to come out of the defroster or the floor ducts

 

[smokin_stroker00]

I can't figure out what they was thinking on the newer Gmc that we have at the shop the window *** is mounted on the wiper blade arm so the wiper has to go over the dry dirty window first and the fluid is put on after that.

 

[Agnem]

Seems rediculous that you can get a radar system to warn you that your about to back into something, but you still have to scratch your windsheild before you can *** on it. I'll nominate the "multifunction turnsignal switch" as the most useless invention of the century. Let's get back to putting the ignition switch in the dash too.

 

[adrianspeeder]

Let's get back to putting the ignition switch in the dash too.

You'll laugh, but I still reach for the column on the 66 and 71.

Cool! My 85 had the same switch as my 87, push in for fluid, turn for wipers and apparently Ford thought we weren't smart enough to run the wipers after juicing the windshield!

That's how my 88's is.

Adrianspeeder

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

My dimmer switch is proudly on the floor, where it belongs; my wiper switch and headlight switch reside in the lower left side of the dash, where they belong; and my turn-signal/hazard switch is mounted outside and independent of the column, and is non-self-cancelling---it stays on until I turn it off.

As soon as I take time, the key switch and push-button starter and cable kill-switch will all be mounted conveniently in the dash.

The reason for everything being column mounted from the factory is a measure of convenience for the auto-makers; they can have some non-union satellite company pre-wire the steering column, and just mount the whole assembly and plug in a harness.