I unhooked the Negative side, but not from the battery, but from where it's connected at the intake. Is this the problem, or is disconnecting the Neg. a bad idea?
I'm waiting to replace the bushings and the striker bolt is the reason for the disconnection, the passenger door remains open. Thanks

Chevelledude, if you disconnect either the + or the - the power will not flow it does not matter if you disconnect the wire from the battery or you diconnect the wire from the car, unless the end of the wire you disconnected is in contact with the metal anywhere on the car the it could still be connected so check to see it is not in contact with any metal

Thanks,
I didn't think of that, I do appreciate the advice. I will check tomorrow to make sure it's not touching metal.

I think you're best bet is to disconnect it from the battery itself. Sometimes there is a small wire from the batt neg to the fender, this will also allow it to drain......

chris

Thanks, i'll do that too. I should have noticed that, glad i've got guys like you to help out. :D

i dont mean to jack your thread here..but ive been having some of the same problems. can anyone tell me what that wire coming from the neg side of the battery to some where in the front fender is? one more question, i also have a wire leading to the pos side and and into the fender. the one from the neg side looks like it goes into the headlight and the one from the pos side looks like it goes into a small box in the fender. anyone know what that is?

The small wire from the -ve post to the fender is to provide a ground for the body and especially for the headlights, being right there.

The smaller wire from the +ve battery post will be feeding all power to everything in the car. The main wire only feeds the starter motor.

Peter

I don't have any wires coming from the negative to the fender? I guess I should get one, what size is it?

It doesn't have to be huge - just something to connect the fender, or any other part of the body for that matter, to the negative side of the battery. You should have a main ground going to your engine, and then one going to the body as well - this helps keep the electrons flowing by providing both an open path from the engine, and from the body. Both components have several items which discharge to them.

Which, is kind of reverse - because last time I checked, electricity flows from the negative to the positive... either way, you really should connect both to the negative side of the battery.

Originally posted by chevelledude71:
I don't have any wires coming from the negative to the fender? I guess I should get one, what size is it? Minimum size for a stock (not loaded with extra add-on goodies) is 12 to the fender. This is the ground lead for any item that is attached to the body of the car. That is, any item that is not screwed on to the engine block. Ground straps don't make anything work.
The negative side of the battery is just as important as the positive side. It is the return line for any electrical item on the car. Yet sometimes items get hooked up with shiny new copper wire on the positive side while screwed to rusty steel on the negative side.