Ground upgrade - theory on "increased performance"

[Dough]

I recently read more or less every thread in the forums relating to upgrading the quality of the ground(ing)s. Alot of people noticed increased idle speeds, smoother accel, quicker accel with auto trannies when starting from a stop, more power.

The one thing i can think of that may explain all of these is something some mechanic once told me when working on either a chevy malibu or my 99 civic after the battery had been disconnected; something like this:

The car's computer (ecu) adjusts itself to run optimally when you disconnect the battery for a while, it may make noises differnt than you're used to, but its a self adjusting.

So, I was thinking by disconnecting the battery, the ecu goes into "training mode" or something where it starts with a certain air/fuel ratio and idle speed and adjusts it until it finds the rigth point. So this process can explain increased idle speeeds (more fuel, more air, higher rpm), smoother accel (richer a/f mixture), quicker accel with auto trannies (higher rpm when idling, so obviously a bit more "idle power"), and more power (richer a/f)

Now, i was wondering if this process of the ecu self adjusting is true. Or what do you gals/guys have to say/think about all this?

I probably will still perform the ground upgrades when the weather warms up and i get the materials together. i am just a bit skeptical.

PS: does Home Depot sell oxygen free copper cable?!

 

[Civic2007]

ive never heard of that but i guess it could be true......but idk how you went from talking about ground wires to disconnecting your battery...unless your grounds are completely chewed to s**t i wouldnt even mess with them......ground wires are used to complete a circuit......circuits are designed so that by the time electricity gets to the ground side of the circuit it reads 0 volts (none are perfect so they really read like 2 mv) but i couldnt see how putting bigger wires would really help anything.......maybe putting in more ontop of the ones you already have but all in all i think its just a waste of money

 

[blk00civicdemon]

what it does is create better reaction time to all the electronics. so therefore y an automatic would go faster because its electronically controlled. but i dont know for sure how much it would really help but it deffinately wouldnt hurt the car if you did it

 

[pookmish]

to answer ur question about home depot selling cable. they probably do sell oxygen free copper cable, but it most likely is not multi-strand cable. home depot sells stuff mainly for HOMES. you do not was single strand copper cable. with the vibrating environment of a vehicle it will break those cables and you will loose your connection. multi-strand cable will not break nearly as easy. try sticking to high performace audio cable.

 

[mylovehx]

bigger wires equals less resistance. imo the stock ground is fine

 

[Kaotic_Zeus]

some honda have terrible stock grounding. like lets say us 7th geners know that our ground wiring is crap.

im about to upgrade to 4-2 gauge wiring. it looks like it has 12-14 stock.

 

[Dough]

oh, about disconnecting the battery, sorry i forgot to explain that! when you replace the battery -> chassis ground, you remove the connection to the negative terminal of the battery, thus, you have disconnected the battery.

Thanks for the input thus far!

 

[itsmycookie]

if u can notice a difference in power from a ground u must have some sort of super sensitive feeling cause i highly doubt ground wires makes a noticeable difference. especially not if u have to disconnect the battery every time, thats just retarded.

example "oh before we race i need to disconnect my battery so it goes into super awesome mode"

 

[Billy.]

example "oh before we race i need to disconnect my battery so it goes into super awesome mode"

unless your ground wires are corroded or damaged, there shouldnt be a reason to replace them. however, if you still want to replace them anyway here's what i recommend: 4 gauge high grade stereo power cable with brass or gold plated terminals, solder the wire into the terminals instead of just crimping them and use some heat activated shrink sleeves to seal up the ends nice and tight and prevent corrosion. like 2' of high grade power cable should cost no more than $5-10 at an audio supplier, brass terminals should be around $15 and shrink tubes like $2. reuse the factory ground positions as this is how honda electrical engineers designed the flow path to go. all in all it should take like an hour to make the ground wires and install them and $25 out of pocket

 

[Jersey8]

unless your ground wires are corroded or damaged, there shouldnt be a reason to replace them. however, if you still want to replace them anyway here's what i recommend: 4 gauge high grade stereo power cable with brass or gold plated terminals, solder the wire into the terminals instead of just crimping them and use some heat activated shrink sleeves to seal up the ends nice and tight and prevent corrosion. like 2' of high grade power cable should cost no more than $5-10 at an audio supplier, brass terminals should be around $15 and shink tubes like $2. reuse the factory ground positions as this is how honda electrical engineers designed the flow path to go. all in all it should take like an hour to make the ground wires and install them and $25 out of pocket

i did this exactly like he said^^
my ground cables were all corroded. if you see the blue/green corrosion color on your ground wires, chances are that corrosion is through the entire ground cable.

 

[Genuine Rolla]

I think it has to do with a car being a rolling electrical system. The better the power can be grounded and go through a vehicle, the better it can run. Not saying that you'll gain HP but...it MIGHT run better...I too am skeptical as well about this.

 

[Jersey8]

to clear things up, replacing your ground cable does not "add hp" or "make your car faster" in any way.
all it does is allows your cars electronics to perfrom more efficiently. it will help your ecu, injectors, ignition system, etc. and may allow you your engine to obtain a more efficient combustion process, in some cases resulting better gas mileage, better throttle response, smoother idle, etc.

grounds are very important in a circuit. for all of you that have a sub and amp in your car, you'll know what im talking about.
for example, your sub can sound way better based on how good your ground connection for your amp is.
same thing with the other electronics in your car

 

[itsmycookie]

WTB facts, proof, gimme something other than your word. and nothing from a producer saying "it does this"

yes grounds are important but look at all that metal under ur hood, its grounded in lots of places, not only by ground wires.

 

[Genuine Rolla]

to clear things up, replacing your ground cable does not "add hp" or "make your car faster" in any way.
all it does is allows your cars electronics to perfrom more efficiently. it will help your ecu, injectors, ignition system, etc. and may allow you your engine to obtain a more efficient combustion process, in some cases resulting better gas mileage, better throttle response, smoother idle, etc.

grounds are very important in a circuit. for all of you that have a sub and amp in your car, you'll know what im talking about.
for example, your sub can sound way better based on how good your ground connection for your amp is.
same thing with the other electronics in your car

yeah, thats basically what I was trying to get at.

 

[JohnS.]

Hmm this is interesting...

Too bad I don't know anything about electrical stuff. Otherwise I'd like to look more into it.

 

[Jersey8]

WTB facts, proof, gimme something other than your word. and nothing from a producer saying "it does this"

yes grounds are important but look at all that metal under ur hood, its grounded in lots of places, not only by ground wires.

where else is it grounded? just cause theres metal all over dosent mean its grounded everywhere.

negative battery terminal is connected to chassis. ground cable 1 grounds engine to chassis. ground cable 2 grounds tranny to chassis. what else is there?

yeah, thats basically what I was trying to get at.

glad i could help provide an explaination

 

[mylovehx]

i would also clean off the the grounding points too