During my previous trouble shooting nightmare I came across this strap.
The hood was changed because it flew up in a deer strike. I assume the strap attached to the hood but what did it ground on a fiberglass body part. The replacement hood doesn't have the strap or a place where it attached. Any insight would be appreciated. Sorry about the potato shot.
I believe it's more for static discharge than a grounding strap. I think it attaches to the hood under the hood insulator near the hinge using a push pin.
It's been about 15 years since I've been under the hood of a New Edge so my memory could be a little fuzzy.
This is about the best picture I could find that shows the factory location. Some aftermarket hoods don't have the hole for the ground strap though.
It looked like the strap was molded into the fiberglass. A pin holding it on the hood makes sense.
Those ground the hood.
Duh, right?
Well... the reason they ground the hood, is because it prevents the hood from getting electrically noisy from the ignition system and charging system. The hood's shape is not a good transmitter dish, but that close to the antenna it doesn't need to be. Without the ground strap you will hear a buzz/whine in the radio that changes with engine speed.
The strap has been off for 5 years. I have not had any problems with radio reception. I wonder if they wove metal or maybe carbon into the fiberglass to make it conductive?
Just so people know, unlike fiberglass, carbon fiber is conductive, which can be a problem in that wires can short to it, just as if it was aluminum.
pjbgravely said:The strap has been off for 5 years. I have not had any problems with radio reception. I wonder if they wove metal or maybe carbon into the fiberglass to make it conductive?
If it was a fiberglass hood, my bet is on "we don't know why the factory put that there, so we'll put it there too".
Or more likely, "to prevent a lot of headaches when people call asking about where to attach a ground strap, we'll just add one even though it serves no purpose"
To hypothesis 1, Ford automatic transmissions were manufactured for a long time with a plug in the dipstick tube hole. On the assembly line, after the engine and trans were mated, the dipstick tube was just popped in, pushing the plug into the trans pan. Hurt nothing to be floating around in there. You can actually find the plug in exploded-view parts diagrams, so the guy who made the diagram probably shrugged and said "I dunno where it goes but it is in every transmission". And you'd find transmissions that'd had the pan off, where people changing the filter would find the plug, shrug, and put it back in the pan for someone else to worry about.
The under hood light is attached to the hood on FOX and SN95 cars. A decent ground is necessary for the light to function. Nothing mysterious about it.
tester (Forum Supporter) said:The under hood light is attached to the hood on FOX and SN95 cars. A decent ground is necessary for the light to function. Nothing mysterious about it.
This is 100% correct It's a composite hood with a mercury switch to activate the underhood light. Without the ground strap the underhood light will never work, although many of them don't work for various reasons like really old mercury switches.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:If it was a fiberglass hood, my bet is on "we don't know why the factory put that there, so we'll put it there too".
Or more likely, "to prevent a lot of headaches when people call asking about where to attach a ground strap, we'll just add one even though it serves no purpose"
To hypothesis 1, Ford automatic transmissions were manufactured for a long time with a plug in the dipstick tube hole. On the assembly line, after the engine and trans were mated, the dipstick tube was just popped in, pushing the plug into the trans pan. Hurt nothing to be floating around in there. You can actually find the plug in exploded-view parts diagrams, so the guy who made the diagram probably shrugged and said "I dunno where it goes but it is in every transmission". And you'd find transmissions that'd had the pan off, where people changing the filter would find the plug, shrug, and put it back in the pan for someone else to worry about.
As far as I know the strap was on the original factory hood. The replacement hood which may not be factory didn't have the strap. Mine was imbedded in the fiberglass not attached with a pin.
When I found my first plug in the transmission pan I figured out what it was and threw it away.
tester (Forum Supporter) said:The under hood light is attached to the hood on FOX and SN95 cars. A decent ground is necessary for the light to function. Nothing mysterious about it.
My Fox body hoods were all steel so the strap makes sense, it still doesn't for a fiberglass hood.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Ford decided on the fiberglass hood and didn't give the electrical engineers a heads up. I've seen bigger bonehead moves.
I've never seen an underhood light on an SN95. Neat.
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