[phrostbyte]

SOLVED - Thank you!

I just bought the Paranoid Fabrications grounding kit for my 2001 Subaru Forester L. After installing it, I went for a small test drive to make sure everything works.

When in park, the car idles around 2700-3000RPM. If I let my foot completely off of the gas, the car does not gradually slow down. It stays a constant speed. Also, when after being at a complete stop, it feels like the car wants to launch to accelerate.

I'll upload pictures of the install in a moment just to make sure it was installed correctly. Thanks in advance.

 

[phrostbyte]

Imageshack - img05179462526.jpg
Attached from the strut tower to the front intake bolt
Imageshack - img05199471349.jpg

From the front intake bolt to the coil pack bolt
Imageshack - img05209482811.jpg

from the coil pack bolt to the throttle body bolt
Imageshack - img05249492209.jpg

from the throttle body bolt to the intake manifold bolt
Imageshack - img05279500171.jpg

and from the intake manifold bolt to the battery
Imageshack - img05289508460e.jpg

 

[AwaySooner]

Is 01 DBW? If not you need to check your throttle cable to make sure it's not stuck.

 

[scubadoober]

Is 01 DBW?

Definitely not drive by wire. It's hard to tell from the angle but is one of the wires interfering with the throttle cable or throttle body in any way?

 

[phrostbyte]

I just went out to look after you guys mentioned that and I think I may have found the problem. I'm going to take it on a quick drive. I'll report back in a moment.

 

[James]

Well I can't say for sure that this is your problem, but from your photos it looks like you made a ground Loop. I know, direct job experience, that Grounding loops can cause problems with electronically controlled systems, but I have heard of a car being sensitive enough to have a major problem before. To prevent a ground loop, every point that you have grounded should be wired DIRECTLY to a single ground point (ie the battery). The Ground wire should not go from the battery to the Intake Manifold, to the Throttle, to the other side of the intake Manifold to the Passenger Strut tower. Wiring the ground wires the wrong way gives any electrical noise a complete circuit in which to conduct/amplify noise, instead of "Draining" it away. In my install, I even went so far as to remove the OEM ground wires to places I grounded with my kit.

That being said, it is also likely that you bumped something totally unrelated to the grounding kit during your install.

 

[peterk]

Are you happy that no fuel injection sensor wiring and tubes have been "disconnected" (and cracked for the tubes). I know nothing about the fuel injection system on Subarus!

 

[phrostbyte]

My stupidity amazes me sometimes. I had the wire completely blocking the throttle cable just as scubadoober noted. It works perfectly now. Thanks a bunch guys.

@ James - Hm that is interesting. I followed the directions that came with the kit, and this is how I was told to install it. Would it be more beneficial to rewire it completely?

 

[good dog]

I can't believe someone didn't post "bad ground?":biggrin:

 

[James]

@ James - Hm that is interesting. I followed the directions that came with the kit, and this is how I was told to install it. Would it be more beneficial to rewire it completely?

Well 99.9% or the people in the world don't know about grounding loops. Any electronics engineer that graduated in the last 10 years should know. I studied it in school. Most mechanics will have no clue. The people who made your kit probably didn't know.

Most cars aren't that sensitive to Grounding Loops, so rewiring most likely will not make a difference. So if you aren't having any problems you'd be fine the way it is. I myself, since I know it is not the correct way to ground, would change it just to be a perfectionist I guess. I have only worked on one car that had major ground loop problem, but it was one of those Bouncing Cars (similar to the one pictured below) and they were running 12 Truck batteries in the trunk to drive the Hydraulic motors for the Suspension. We were trying to make the Hydraulics Computer Automated.

Ground loops are mostly a problem for Highly sensitive electronic sensors and HiFi Audio/Video equipment (that background hum or static'y video). My background is in Robotics, and when a robot has to position things with a tolerance of +/-0.0005", over and over 10,000 times a day; any grounding problems can cause accumulative errors that quickly become unacceptable.

 

[trailangel]

Was there some kind of problem with the electronics in the Sub to add this grounding kit? Looks like smoke and mirrors.

 

[phrostbyte]

Well 99.9% or the people in the world don't know about grounding loops. Any electronics engineer that graduated in the last 10 years should know. I studied it in school. Most mechanics will have no clue. The people who made your kit probably didn't know.

Most cars aren't that sensitive to Grounding Loops, so rewiring most likely will not make a difference. So if you aren't having any problems you'd be fine the way it is. I myself, since I know it is not the correct way to ground, would change it just to be a perfectionist I guess. I have only worked on one car that had major ground loop problem, but it was one of those Bouncing Cars (similar to the one pictured below) and they were running 12 Truck batteries in the trunk to drive the Hydraulic motors for the Suspension. We were trying to make the Hydraulics Computer Automated.

Ground loops are mostly a problem for Highly sensitive electronic sensors and HiFi Audio/Video equipment (that background hum or static'y video). My background is in Robotics, and when a robot has to position things with a tolerance of +/-0.0005", over and over 10,000 times a day; any grounding problems can cause accumulative errors that quickly become unacceptable.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I'm still very new to all of this and I'm trying to absorb as much of this as I can.

Was there some kind of problem with the electronics in the Sub to add this grounding kit? Looks like smoke and mirrors.

I've noticed that my headlights would be significantly more dim when I had my sound turned up without the grounding kit. I talked to a few people and they suggested getting the grounding kit along with a new battery.

I have noticed the headlights do not go dim anymore, and possibly some smoother idling. This could all be more placebo than anything, but it was cheap and worth a try.

 

[xxxdicexxx]

Thank a bad ground could Cause a bog problem?

 

[oldscoobyturbo]

yes
most unibody cars do not have the best grounding as the body is mostly spot welded and glued together. so short direct grounds are located throughout the car