While on the subject of Neg Battery post sparking 67 RT

[1carlover]

I am closer to the day I get my rebuilt 440 motor started and this happened.....the fusible link blew. So replaced the fusible link with a temp and got a strong spark as I touched the neg cable to battery post. The other day I had the car cranking over without ignition or fuel or any type of electrical problem, so I was very surprised when this happened. All wiring harnesses are new, 75 amp voltage regulator, starter solenoid, starter, alternator, distributor and coil have been replaced. The sparking was not the kind you get when you attach the neg cable with the doors open and the interior lights come on either It was a sizzle of a direct short. Any ideas as to where to start looking would be appreciated.

 

[WP29440SE]

you are cooking something. you have something shorted out or crossed. you need to get out your meter and start checking circuits. if you don't have the proper fusible link, you are going to fry other stuff. you need a wiring diagram if you don't have one. check all your grounds over. I don't know why people are unhooking the negative instead of the positive. the car should be grounded at all times.

 

[1carlover]

Oddly enough, everything was working fine 2 days ago. Both pos and neg battery terminals were disconnected. Yesterday I installed an msd high vibration coil and the short happened as I reconnected the battery in an attempt to measure voltage at coil. Never got to do it as fusible link burned up.

 

[WP29440SE]

it sounds like you've already got it narrowed down. try a different ignition set up. go back to what you know was working.

 

[440+6]

I don't know why people are unhooking the negative instead of the positive. the car should be grounded at all times.

When removing a battery, negative gets disconnected first always,
when installing, negative gets connected last always.

 

[WP29440SE]

When removing a battery, negative gets disconnected first always,
when installing, negative gets connected last always.

in my 30 years of building cars , I have never heard of such a thing until today. I have ALWAYS kept the car grounded at all times. I know im not going to have positive energy juicing up the car without a ground. ive had batteries last 8 or 10 years doing it that way

 

[Hemi Rebel]

in my 30 years of building cars , I have never heard of such a thing until today. I have ALWAYS kept the car grounded at all times. I don't want positive energy juicing the car up without a ground

Well then you have never opened a service manual in 30 years cause any one of them will tell you to disconnect the negative battery cable before you do anything to a car. It really doesnt matter one way or the other when changing a battery as long as you are carefull. And you aren't "juicing up" the car with the positive energy having the B+ hooked up with the ground disconnected. When working on a car and having the ground hooked up with the positive off makes for a more dangerous situation if anything metal comes in contact with the positive terminal and any metal part of the car since its all connected to ground. Basically, with the ground off there is zero chance for current flow. The only way would be to touch the positive and negative posts on the battery together. With the negative attached and the positive off, its the same deal, the positive post and the negative post need to be shorted together, but the DIFFERENCE is the negative post is essentially the entire car.

 

[WP29440SE]

Well then you have never opened a service manual in 30 years cause any one of them will tell you to disconnect the negative battery cable before you do anything to a car. It really doesnt matter one way or the other when changing a battery as long as you are carefull. And you aren't "juicing up" the car with the positive energy having the B+ hooked up with the ground disconnected. When working on a car and having the ground hooked up with the positive off makes for a more dangerous situation if anything metal comes in contact with the positive terminal and any metal part of the car since its all connected to ground. Basically, with the ground off there is zero chance for current flow. The only way would be to touch the positive and negative posts on the battery together. With the negative attached and the positive off, its the same deal, the positive post and the negative post need to be shorted together, but the DIFFERENCE is the negative post is essentially the entire car.

actually I have a stack of manuals, but I never noticed any specific mention of which side to disconnect, they mostly state to simply disconnect the battery. that's probably because I spend more time looking at other procedures and such. but thank you for the explanation , it does make sense.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

in my 30 years of building cars , I have never heard of such a thing until today. I have ALWAYS kept the car grounded at all times. I know im not going to have positive energy juicing up the car without a ground. ive had batteries last 8 or 10 years doing it that way

If you are truly interested in electrical theory -

Electrical current consists of the flow of ELECTRONS (which are negatively charged particles) from a highly charged (Neg) area to a less negatively charged area.

The NEGATIVE post of your car battery IS the HIGHLY charged post and the Positive post is the less charged post. Therefore, electrical current really flows from NEGATIVE to POSITIVE, not the other way around. This is called "Electron current flow" which is the correct method according to physics.

The way you were taught in school is actually incorrect. You learned "Conventional current flow" in school which teaches current flow from POSITIVE to NEGATIVE. This is not correct.

You don't have to believe me, go ahead and "Google" it.

Here is one site that talks about current flow:

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_1/7.html

 

[WP29440SE]

If you are truly interested in electrical theory -

Electrical current consists of the flow of ELECTRONS (which are negatively charged particles) from a highly charged (Neg) area to a less negatively charged area.

The NEGATIVE post of your car battery IS the HIGHLY charged post and the Positive post is the less charged post. Therefore, electrical current really flows from NEGATIVE to POSITIVE, not the other way around. This is called "Electron current flow" which is the correct method according to physics.

The way you were taught in school is actually incorrect. You learned "Conventional current flow" in school which teaches current flow from POSITIVE to NEGATIVE. This is not correct.

You don't have to believe me, go ahead and "Google" it.

Here is one site that talks about current flow:

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_1/7.html

awesome, i learned something valuable today

but in all reality, does it really make a difference if we aren't throwing tools around?

 

[Hemi Rebel]

awesome, i learned something valuable today

but in all reality, does it really make a difference if aren't throwing tools around?

If you have a half a brain and mindful of what you are doing it makes no difference.

 

[WP29440SE]

If you have a half a brain and mindful of what you are doing it makes no difference.

then im in good shape

sorry for the highjack LOL

 

[nm9stheham]

Electron current theory has traditionally been taught to technicians; it is is easier to relate to the reality of electrons. Positive current theory is used in engineering; the math does not care. Neither is right or wrong; I learned electron theory when I trained as a tech and then swapped to positive current theory in engineering school.

When you get into transistors/semiconductors, you have to deal with both electron flow and 'hole' flow; a 'hole' is the absence of an electron in the semiconductor lattice....so in that case, you truly do not have free electron flow as in a wire or vacuum tube, just electrons shifting their positions around a bit. So a rigid adherence to electron theory won't enable you to understand everything.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

....So a rigid adherence to electron theory won't enable you to understand everything.

Never said it would. I posted the info only as a possible reference as to why the NEGATIVE battery cable is usually recommended to be disconnected instead of the positive cable. I personally don't care which cable you disconnect or if you disconnect one at all.

 

[gtxno1]

you have a short circuit in the vehicle now you must figure out whether it is a component or a pinched wire start simple disconnect 1 component at a time on the vehicle and then reconnect the battery until it stops if it does not stop you must carefully trace all your wiring and make sure it is not pinched hope this helps

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by the way hemi rebel is correct it just takes one slip of the wrench and your car will light up all that hard work down the drain