grounding problems

[jeffroid]

When my stock '84 FJ60 suddenly wouldn't idle, I discovered that the fuel cut solenoid on the carb wasn't working. When I unhook the connector and put a battery charger to the solenoid, it clicks and the truck idles. On the other side of the connector,with the key on, the positive wire has 12 volts to it, but the ground wire is open, breaking the circuit.

Any idea where that solenoid is eventually supposed to get grounded? Both wires dissapear into the harness. I've got a bad ground somewhere, which could help explain some other erratic problems I have been experiencing.

Thanks ! ! !

 

[Romer]

Take a wire from the groun and find a bolt to tie it to. The chassis of the vehicle is ground. Make sure its making metal contact.

 

[jeffroid]

Thanks for the quick response, Romer, but I've already done that in order to get it running again. My concern is that there is a loose ground connection somewhere else, which has the potential to cause me problems at the worst possible opportunity, and could explain some erratic problems I've been having.

 

[Romer]

Do you have a Haynes or Factory manual. The wires are color coded. You should be able to find the groun wires near the carb and check them. You might have to tack it to a harness bundle and open it up. Let me know if you don't and I'll look up the codes for you and the wiring path. Getting a manual is a good investment.

I think there might be an electronic copy on the tech links page

 

[jeffroid]

Thanks again. I've got the factory manual and it doesn't really help. The wiring diagram shows where the positive wire goes (black/yellow), but it doesn't show where the ground goes - it just shows a line coming out of a little box that represents the solenoid going straight to the universal symbol for ground.

I've also checked the diagrams on the tech page. They have one titled 88FJ60, which doesn't make sense really, and when you look, it's really for a 62, because it shows fuel injectors.

Both wires out of the solenoid go to a small branch of the harness that is shared with the carb cooler fan wires. That branch goes into a larger branch that dissapears into the firewall.

I was hoping that someone would know where that ground wire eventually actually goes to ground. Standing on my head/laying on my back, underneath the dash hacking into my wire harness looking for a needle in a haystack sounds a bit counterproductive.