I have a 99 1500 5.9L that has been running great until a couple of days ago, when it stalled completely and lost all power to the dash going up a major freeway overpass going 75mph. After I coasted to exit and stopped for 2-3 minutes, I got a check engine light and a low gas light. Then about a minute later both warning lights disappeared and the gauges showed everything was fine, and it I was able to start it again.

So from what I read on this forum, first step is check the ground wires. I have never done this before, but I located the ground wire next to the battery and the ground strap from the engine, and they read the same as the battery on the multimeter. But I noticed two things that were mentioned in other similar threads:

First, the ground wire from the battery is a skinny, probably 12 or 14 gauge wire, and it was suggested that it should be upgraded to a 4 gauge wire? Also, I found a disconnected wire from the battery which may have been the original ground or something else that may or may not be a reason for the failure:

So any advice there would be appreciated.

Second, the ground strap was extremely dirty, to the point I had trouble locating it because it did not look or feel like metal anymore. While it read on the multimeter fine, I assume that level of grime can maybe cause a spontaneous grounding issue?



Also, are there other grounding points I should be checking?

Thanks!

 

And for clarification, I didn't get any engine codes, but that may have been my really cheap reader. And I checked all the relays and fuses and none had blown. I replaced the ones for the oxygen sensor and the two for the asd since they were lightly corroded.

 

There shouldnt be any JB Weld on the ground located on the firewall.

 

Thanks, good eye. I went back and checked because it looks like it did from the picture. But that isn't weld, it is paint badly scratched down to bare metal. A lot of scratched paint - I have no idea what the previous owner did to make it look like that.

 

I am now also wondering if it is better just to replace the grounding strap rather than try to clean it. I am always hesitant to replace things because they are almost never as qood quality as the original 20+yo part.

 

Clean all your grounds that you can find anyway. The meter does not put any kind of load on the connections, so they can pass that test, but, put a load on it, and it just doesn't fly. Wouldn't hurt to clean all the positive connections you can find as well.

 

FWIW I have a riding lawn motor cable running from my negative post to the fender and I havent had any ground issues in the 11 years I have had the van now. I put it on becuase of all the ground stories I was reading when I first joined the Dodge Van club Just food for thought.

 

what is fwtw?

 

For What Its Worth.