Questions? Where are the negative frame grounds located for each side? I have an early 99 with some serious rust. Started right up a few days ago. Two days ago slow crank, no start. Put on charger with 50A boost, started up and ran errands for over a hour, left running the whole time. Alternator putting out 14V. Original starter replaced last year for slow crank. Normally cranks fast. Lead acid test appears to be good. Cleaned and inspected terminals. Put on 2A trickle charger overnight. No start, slow crank. Boosted to 50A jump start. Slow crank. Thinking maybe frame grounds may be corroded? Sitting in the grass, can’t see anything …. Thoughts?

 

Frame grounds are not the conduit through which a starter motor is grounded to the battery.

The engine block is.

If you are concerned about the negative current path of the starter, the grounds to check are between the engine block and the battery.

When frame and body grounds become a concern in relation to hard start or no start circumstances pertain to electrical noise interference with control signaling.

For example, the PCM needs a clean signal from the crankshaft position sensor, so to any extent that a poor body or frame ground exacerbates electrical noise that interferes with that Hall Effect magnetic signal, then that interference could contribute to no starting, as the PCM won't have accurate information about how the crankshaft is clocked.

But high current starter motor ground paths should traverse directly from starter to engine block to battery. If your rig isn't set up that way, it would be a good idea to do just that.

The benefit being that the high current demand of the starter won't course through alternative ground paths through the frame and body, potentially over exposing electrical modules like the PCM and GEM to excess currents.

 

Great, okay, where are they actually located? One on each side? Together? I need the actual location(s), not the service manual description. I need to ensure the grounding points are not corroded before I fork out $500 for new batteries …. It’s 104 degrees here in Texas and it would be nice to know where to look before I go crawling around in the grass under the truck with the fire ants 🐜
pretty sure the starter is okay, and the alternator is putting out 14V, tachometer moves with cranking, so CPS should be fine …. It’s gotta be either bad batteries or a bad ground

 

No one can tell you where the actual locations of any ground cables are on a 26 year old used truck of unknown number of previous owners, subjected to the hands of an unknown number of prior mechanics, stereo installers, corroded battery cable replacements, starter and alternator replacements, popular YouTube spread modifications, collision repair work, etc.

We can only tell you what the service manual describes, or what we know from our own trucks and the trucks we have worked on. We have all likely seen some very unusual stuff in other people's trucks when it came to power and ground wiring that deviated from the parts and service manual descriptions of OEM configurations.

So while it makes sense to want to know the actual locations of wiring on your truck, to reduce the potential meal time of the fire ants waiting for you in your grassy field, there is no way any of us can tell you with any degree of certainty what is actual, only what is probable, based on the service manual description that you discount.

If the truck can be jumpstarted, can you drive it off the grassy field onto a paved surface? Can you obtain some large sheets of cardboard to lay on?

The block to passenger side battery ground should be attached to the engine block on the lower passenger side of the front of the engine, to the curbside of the harmonic balancer, below the automatic belt tensioner, near where the automatic transmission cooler lines transition from hard metal to flexible rubber.

But it would take physically looking at your truck to know where the actual location of your ground cable is attached to the block.

There is a second ground cable attached to the block on the lower front driver's side of the engine, to the roadside of the harmonic balancer, between the balancer on the lower water pump hose, if your water pump has not been changed to an IH design of cast iron pump (another example of how it is impossible for anyone online to know what you have). That driver's side battery ground goes to the driver's side battery.

 

Once you find the rust spots, spray them with FLUID FILM, it stops corrosion dead. Clean of the connections first if you can.


Here are my batteries, I touch them up once a year or so, with another shot of Fluid Film to keep them nice and clean.




Passenger Side, .




Driver Side, the broken lug has been fixed.

I spray everything that should not rust,
IF you spray it inside door panels, and coat the underside of the body and frame, they will never rust...

Door Hinges, etc...

 

If the batteries are 5 years old or more, replace them. Climb up a step ladder and follow the negative cable from the battery to the other end.

 

^^^^. x2 Thats what I was gonna say 🤣.

1/0 or 2/0…… easy to see and they’re not that long, follow them out to where they bolt onto the block🙂

 

On my 03 there is only 1 frame ground. it is on the passenger side below the battery location.

you should also have grounds from ea battery to ea front corner of the block; there are studs in the block where all grounds connect, They are probably covered in oil/ grease.

There should be a ground strap at the back passenger on the head to the body on the firewall. I believe there is also one more body ground but I can't think of it, it's on the passenger side as well iirc.

Your truck has a starter solenoid on the passenger fender which can cause issues too. If your starter is slow, it could be the starter/ solenoid and/ or batteries
Just reread your OP, it sounds like bad cell in battery or possibly bad connection...but if it had been okay before and no changes, I'd lean to batteries

 

Thanks guys. I’ve owned this truck since new. Spent 20 years in Kentucky (hence the rust),, last 6 in Texas. Truck is bone stock with 219k miles on it. The only things replaced other than maintenance items, hub bearings, etc, are the starter, alternator, and water pump. The only mod is the air cleaner…. I’m an older guy, disabled vet , I’ve got 9 spinal fusions and crawling around on this rig makes me a grouchy SOB…. I love this old truck and would love to find a donor body/ rolling chassis and have my drivetrain swapped into it…IYKYK

 

plenty of great donor trucks like that here in/ around Colorado....bad thing would be labor involved and possibly new paint job in the end. Many times, you can find pretty good trucks needing a new motor/ drivetrain that you can get for a decent price. I'd imagine you should also have a good selection down there in Texas as well

 

Which branch of service / MOS?

 

Started off Army as an 11 Bravo, infantry, M60 gunner, in the 80’s.. after that enlistment I went Navy as an Electronics Technician, communications, crypto, and computer systems…. Work smarter not harder… until a fall onboard ship,I fractured a couple vertebrae and herniated a few disks…. You serve?

 

Thank you for your service in both the Army and the Navy, the honor for which is now reflected in your FTE masthead.