Looks like a ground wire but not sure

[TomoHawk]

Covering the braided wire is definitely weatherproof. It's also a beauty thing. I usually notice braided grounds coated with grease (dielectric is best), but any schmear will help prevent corrosion. A good clean ground connection is a must.

Gold-coated ground wires?

[frank13]

77 Z, Dude no need to get fancy with ground straps. No need for taping them up. You'll hate it later when you need to work with them again and the stupid black electrical tape slips and slides everywhere. Leaving a nasty stickie residue all over your hands and everything you touch! The thing you should be doing is like Beandip said, checking and cleaning the actual connections. Most EFI gremlins come out when the grounds go bad (poor connection=high resistance=poor performance=shitty ride!). So if you really want to know what these little branches do or go to your gonna need the shop manual. A good test light, LogicProbe would be be real, real good, and a volt/ohm meter. A good solid connection has less than 0.2 V drop across it. Good luck. :devious:

[TomoHawk]

Finding all the ground connections is the hard part! Even though you know the black wire is ground any place on the car.

BTW, hobby shops the carry stuff for r/c electric cars should have shrink wrap that will cover a ground strap up to about 2 inches wide. Buy it by the foot. Colors, too.

[frank13]

That's what the LogicProbe is for. Finding the grounds that he has been following the wire leads for. Along with a Shop manual Volt/Ohm meter & the Logic Probe or TestLight. 77 Z does NOT have to FIND EVERY Ground, just verify the ones that he has alredy found and check the electrical condition of the connection. O yeah, the black wire is NOT ALWAYS the Ground! :devious:

[TomoHawk]

Originally posted by frank13

T O yeah, the black wire is NOT ALWAYS the Ground!

I suspect You sare talking about DC circuits, or even AC wiring, where the ground wire can be green, grey, or something else.

On all the wiring diagrams I've looked at (240s, 260s & 280s- from different sources) the black wire is ALWAYS a ground wire. No other color(s) were used for ground. I noticed no pattern for power wires, except some had a stripe.

[77 Z]

Appreciate all the info...got the situation under control now..thanks again guys...

77Z