After cooling the engine bay for a short while, Jason brought out the Grounding Kit set and I began to inspect it.
The wires themselves seemed to be of good quality. The terminals were cleanly finished so it wouldn’t come loose after some time. The mounting hardware of my kit is different from the set he had before. The kit included the following: A new terminal that fits on the negative pole of the battery, a set of interconnected wires, a splitter-type of terminal to connect the wire set with the main cable from the negative pole and tie-straps to organize the wires later on.
The installation process was simple and can be done by your self. So from the negative pole, a cable ran to the splitter and the other cables were bolted on from this terminal into the following:
1. Alternator
2. Cylinder head
3. Throttle Body
4. Transmission
5. Chassis
6. Distributor
Take note that the OEM connection of the negative pole of the battery is only with the chassis. Everything else electrical connects to the car’s body in various bolting points around the chassis.
I asked Jason to explain to me why these were the chosen connections since the wiring kit is of a generic design and wasn’t really made for a particular brand like Honda. The alternator was grounded to improve its function to charge the system and since it helps in providing electrical power to the rest of the car’s components, he deemed it best to improve the electrical connection to this particular component. Sound idea.
Cylinder head. He told me it would help in the sparkplug’s function to produce the optimum spark that ignites the combustion process. The sparkplug is screwed on to the cylinder head and the cylinder head is connected to the chassis by a thin OEM groundwire. The sparkplug cable is the positive connection.
Throttle body. Now this got me thinking. I asked him why there? He told me that there were sensors located on the throttle body assembly. These sensors are essential for the ECU to run the engine smoothly. And since these sensors require electricity to function, a more direct ground connection would help improve the electrical connection of these components. There’s a grain of truth here I suppose. Remember my directly grounded amplifier?
Transmission. As far as I recall, the transmission is grounded to the chassis with a wire, much like the alternator. Following the same logic as my amp, it would therefore make sense to ground the sensors on my CRV’s automatic tranny. Again to improve the flow of electricity in these components which sends the signal to the ECU as to when and when not to shift.
Chassis. Well this is self explanatory. Over time, the OEM ground wire that connects the negative pole of the battery to the chassis, corrodes and the ground connection deteriorates with it. With these new cables included in the Grounding Kit, the idea was to restore and maybe even improve the ground connection of the main electrical components. So another cable to the chassis was definitely necessary as well, just to complete the whole deal based on the logic of the product.
Distributor. Again, as in previous examples, the distributor houses various sensors that relay information to the ECU in order for it to run the engine efficiently.
Note also that while these cables were being connected, it was the aesthetic consideration that took up most of the time of the install. Jason and his installer made sure that the wires could be tucked away in a non-obtrusive manner. They basically wanted it to look clean. And that was a comfortable thought for me.
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