Battery relocation issue

[nine_deuce]

I just relocated my battery to my trunk. Followed the diy on the forum, but I have no power.

I used 4 gauge for the power and grounds, even the under hood fuse wire. I ran a wire from the under hood fuse panel to the starter, then ran a wire from the starter to the trunk into a fuse block, from that fuse block to the battery. Then for the ground I ran a wire from the battery to the bolt/nut behind the passenger side tail light. I had the positive wire hooked to the battery, then hooked the ground to the battery, when I did that, there was a lot of spark and it felt like the ground wire was warm. But I got everything hooked up, all tight and have no juice.

What could be the issue? I have no blown fuses, all the connections seem to be nice and tight.

[Flatline]

did you run a ground from the tranny to the chassis? it was connedted to the battery negative originally. i ran one from the tranny bracket by the front mount to one of the bolt holes for the battery tray. and i had the same problem.

[Sarthos]

If the ground wire got warm that means it's a bad ground and it may eventually result in the wire melting. I would recommend adding a ground from the battery negative to the tranny using 1/0 gauge wire, a ground from the tranny to the block using 1/0 gauge wire. If you're too cheap to do that though, re-check your ground location, supply a picture, and consider upgrading your ground to 1/0.

[wherm]

You need to run your power wire from the battery to a fuse holder no more than 16 in. from the battery. From there, run the power wire under the carpet through the firewall to a distribution block that splits the power wire two ways. Run one power wire from the splitter to the fuse box, the other to the starter.

You probly shouldn't jump your wire from the fuse box to the starter, and from the starter to the battery. I understand what you did, but it's not the best way to do it IMO.

Also, anytime you split a power wire you should try to cut the gauge of the additional wires in half. For example, one 4ga wire should be split into two 8 ga wires. The best setup for relocating the battery is to use a short length of 1/0 ga ground wire to ground the battery in the trunk. Then use 2ga wire from the battery to the front. Split the 2ga into two 4 ga wires, one to the fusebox, one to the starter. Make sure you attach the end of the original negative battery cable under the hood to a good chassis ground.

[wherm]

I must have read over the part where you said you grounded your battery to a tail light bolt. Don't do that, it's a terrible place for a high current ground. Your best option is to clean the paint off of an area on the trunk floor so it's bare metal. Then, using a large crimp on ring terminal, fasten your ground wire to the floor so you have direct metal to metal contact. You can use a bolt or self tapping screws, etc. If you have a poor ground you can really burn up some wires.

[Sarthos]

If you can also run some additional wire from the battery to the alternator, it's not a bad idea. And it's not necessary to reduce the gauge of the wire when its split, it's just necessary to make sure you don't overload the wire at any point. But running from alt to the fusebox, the fusebox to the battery, and from the fusebox to the starter rather than alt to fusebox to starter to battery will make the wire shorter and have less resistance, which will help. Also if you have a DMM, try to see if your ground is good or not.

[nine_deuce]

I figured out what it was. The 2 connections on the starter were touching metal, when I hooked up the ground on the battery, it sparked a ton and as I stated, got warm. Well, come to find out, I completely discharged my battery. Oops. I got it all taken care of and everything works great. Thanks for the help guys, it was a dumb ass move on my part.

[lazeepnoy]

I figured out what it was. The 2 connections on the starter were touching metal, when I hooked up the ground on the battery, it sparked a ton and as I stated, got warm. Well, come to find out, I completely discharged my battery. Oops. I got it all taken care of and everything works great. Thanks for the help guys, it was a dumb ass move on my part.

you learn from your mistakes

[ironhead]

Was just cruzin thru and read this. Bringing this thread back from the dead for a quick point. Nine_duece said that he saw a lot of spark when he hooked his batt upto ground. I assume you hooked up the hot side first. If you have a spark of any kind when hooking up your battery there is a draw on it and if it's a lot of sparks there is a dead short such as a hot lead grounding out. Lucky you didn't fry the batt or blow it up. Also as many others said if you don't have a good grounds you're screwed.

Just my .02

Later.