Dang Negative Ground!

I recently replaced the clutch in my wife's car (thanks for the encouraging words in another thread, I did it!) but encountered the weirdest electrical problem afterwards. Turns out that I accidentally reversed the position of a bracket and the negative electrical ground, both held on by the same bolt. Instead of the ground resting against the clean engine block, it was resting against the rusty old bracket. DOH! Swapping them fixed everything...except the windshield wipers which are all screwy. I am blaming that on an unrelated issue and walking away.

A friend of mine once put a clutch in a VW Golf. He calls me up, says that he's got it back together, but when he tries to start it, the fan turns on with the key in the start position, instead of the starter. I suggest some wires that he may have crossed, he checks them and assures me they are correct. He then goes on to say he's nearly done, all he's got left to do is put a bracket on and hook up a ground wire. I tell him to do that and try again. What do you know, it started right up after that! Moral of the story, bad (or lack of) grounds will do weird E36 M3.

especially in new cars that seem especially prone to problems when ground wires are missing. An old MG doesn't even need a negative ground..

am I sure? I am positive!

mad_machine wrote: especially in new cars that seem especially prone to problems when ground wires are missing. An old MG doesn't even need a negative ground.. am I sure? I am positive!

So it's a positive ground system?

I know my old Saab was. Fried all the wires when I grounded the negative.

Well, you only do that once.

Hopefully.

I thought old MG's had both the positive and negative used as the ground... At least most of the time...