Ground or is it?

[carpet47]

When I removed my p/s and accessories there was a lil ground wire that ran from the Valve Cover to the p/s pump then to the motor mount. Well with the p/s deleted do I still need this ground and whats its purpose. Thanks

[evil_demon_01]

Yep it is a ground, its there to ground the valve cover.
Many people have removed it without any issue.

[deevergote]

Mine has never had a solid mounting place since I did the H22 swap. Never had an issue that I'm aware of.

[batever]

Personally, I would reroute the ground, perhaps grounding it to the engine block where the power steering pump bracket connects to the engine block. there's a lot of voltage (though not a lot of current overall) moving through the valve cover so I would think that it would be best to provide that ground as an alternate safe route back to the battery, in the event that that ground becomes necessary, although it may be true that many have removed it without incident.

I never really thought about it before, but most of the current in the valve cover from the spark plugs probably usually grounds through the four valve cover bolts down into the block and then to the battery. But you never know when an extra dedicated ground would come in handy, so I would guess (not knowing) it probably is designed as a backup, since the wire is of such small gauge. If you get some extra charge in the valve cover that can find an easier route back than through the valve cover bolts and that little extra ground isn't there to route it down to the block then the current could go someplace weird and cause an unpredictable problem.

[Father Time]

I have had my car for 3.5 years and never had that ground attached. (actually I got the car without that ground and didn't know about it till I joined here. )

I have had NO issues what so ever without it.

[93accordfreak]

My car wouldn't crank without it one time. I unhooked it because I needed a bolt, drove to the quickie mart to pick up a drink, went back outside, and the engine just turned over and never fired. Hooked it back up and ran fine. Weird as hell, so maybe the distributor is grounded through it?

[evil_demon_01]

I never really thought about it before, but most of the current in the valve cover from the spark plugs probably usually grounds through the four valve cover bolts down into the block and then to the battery.

The valve cover is insulated from the valve cover bolts due to the rubber under the washers.

[bluecb7]

I just got a good sized wire, like 14 gauge, and made a new ground wire.