SlickXJ

Hey guys, just a quick question. That ground strap that many people upgrade that's behind and above the valve cover, my XJ just flatout didn't have it when I got it. It is my first XJ so I didn't know what to look for. I was wondering where from the firewall it goes so I can see what the previous owner did/didn't do with it. Here's a picture for reference, it's in the blue box (not my XJ obviously)



Reason I'm asking is because my radio is acting weird with random restarts and shut-offs when I go over bumps, and sometimes just on flat road. It is an aftermarket headunit I put in myself, but I frequently install audio systems (solder and heat shrink) into cars with no problem so it's not my first rodeo. It was fine for the first year or so, but the last few months it's been throwing a fit every so often. Thanks for any input!

Ralph77

From what I understand that is the ground strap for the radio. I think the term I have seen is radio suppression. I think it just hooks up to the valve cover or right on top of the intake manifold. I know it does not go far. Will look later and get back to you.

Turbo X_J

Strap runs from the firewall to the rearmost valve cover stud, flaky HU is caused by something else.

LiamLikeNeeson

One of Cruiser54's tips is t replace it with a 4 gauge wire if I'm not mistaken. He will have pictures of where both ends go in the tip. And I also have that same exact issue with the Aftermarket HU I put in. Does your cigarette lighter and turn signals not work when it goes off? That's what happens to me and I noticed that if I push the ignition key in the direction of START (but not far enough to engage the starter motor) everything will turn back on so I have a feeling it's the key cylinder in the steering column that has a bad connection or something that's going wrong in that area.

Ralph77

What Turbo X_J said.

SlickXJ

Yea, I remember seeing something about radio suppression in a post a while back, just never knew where it went to since mine is gone and any picture I see doesn't show where it leads from the firewall. Thanks

SlickXJ

Since it was fine for the first year, do you think it's just a broken solder joint in the HU or something? It's just a walmart JVC unit. I've checked quite a few grounds, redone them, but the problem still persists. In my Hanes wiring diagrams I think it was G201 that is the radio ground, and I don't know where it's located. Should I just cut the factory harness grounds behind the headunit and run my own ground to rule that out?

SlickXJ

As far as I know the turn signals work when it's off, but I'll make sure to try them when going down the roads and it turns off. About the cigarette lighter. I was checking the factory harness a couple weeks ago and I pulled my cigarette lighter out and noticed someone cut the little LED wires at the LED and I don't know how far back they cut into the dash. One time I plugged a little cigarette lighter to USB converter to plug my phone in and as soon as I plugged my phone into it my headunit shut off for like 5 minutes. Maybe they're connected?

And about the ignition, I just replaced the ignition lock cylinder and ignition starter switch with good quality parts, so I don't think that'd be a cause. It started before I replaced it.

SlickXJ

So I have a little update about my headunit. I was driving to one of my college classes and I turned the AC on (no charge in the system, but blower fan is better than nothing) and I noticed the radio turned off when i did that. I think I heard arcing somewhere inbetween my instrument cluster and the radio, maybe slightly below it. It was a noise that I've never heard before and it only happened for maybe 2 seconds when i turned the AC on. Soon as I turn the AC off the radio came back on. I did it throughout the whole 15 minute drive and it did it everytime. Sometimes I'd wait a minute or two and see if it'd do it on it's own, but it ALWAYS coincided with turning the AC on. Anyone heard of this or should I just take the dash apart and have a looksie? I'll do the latter regardless, just wondering if this is common.

LiamLikeNeeson

My HU and electrical power to the cigarette lighter (I know this because I charge my phone out of it with a USB adapter) and turn signals and electrical fan AND heater will turn off randomly but when I do the method I mentioned about the key ignition key it works.

Very odd but I am not about I take it all apart to find out why it does that. If the jeep starts I'm all good

Sounds like maybe a wire or two got mixed up? Or maybe 2 or more bare wires are touching so when one thing is turned on the other turns off.

SlickXJ

I tried jiggling the key and moving it forward and back while driving and nothing changed, still had my blower motor running and turn signals and stuff. One thing I will say is I had my previous blower motor seize up and cause some heat damage on the connector to the back of the HVAC controls and to the kick panel fuse box on the driver side for the blower fuse. I cleaned it all up as best I could but the damage is still done. That blower motor seizing up actually did coincide with my radio acting funky. I wonder if the increased resistance from the seized blower motor melted a wire in my dash that I don't know about. After I go vote today I'm gonna tear my old girl apart and find out hopefully!

LiamLikeNeeson

Have fun with that! And my economics class will be watching the primaries today so this will be interesting!

SlickXJ

So, I took a good portion of my dash apart, and I didn't find anything. I didn't think I would, just wanted to see if I had missed something. Although, there are some things I have found out. My cigarette lighter does have alternator voltage at the connection on the back and at the port for the cigarette lighter. As soon as I plugged my phone into it just to test my radio went out. Another thing I noticed was using my wipers with the washer fluid also made it shut off. I don't know if it was the jarring of the wipers or an electrical issue. Funny thing is, now moving the AC stuff doesn't affect the radio anymore. There seems to have been a couple electrical things done to this XJ. I see evidence of it in many places I look. There are a couple things I'm going to try. One will be to run my own ground for the radio to somewhere to rule that out. Another before I do that will be to check the cigarette lighter and wiper grounds to see if they're connected or if a PO moved some wired around. I'll do that tomorrow, kinda bummed right now. Just thought I'd give an update!

BlueRidgeMark

Bad ground.

And no, I do NOT mean the ground strap behind the valve cover. You should install one there, but that is not the source of your problem.

The strap behind the ground cover is to help prevent noise from the engine electrical from getting into your radio.

You have a problem with the radio getting power. Not related.

SlickXJ

Yea, I still have yet to really go in depth in my engine bay and track grounds. I also plan on running a separate ground for my radio to eliminate that possibility. Do you think that's a viable option?