Grounding issue

[jp2005]

So I changed my grounding wire for my battery, it was bolted to the manifold going across the alternator. And I shorted it and bolted it the battery tray which I thought was a good ground. I went to start truck and the positive wire would jump and truck wouldn't start. I put wire back to normal place on manifold and the truck start right up. Ideas?


old picture, so you know what i'm talking about.

[TNIceWolf]

The grounding cable should go to the engine to work correctly. Manifolds.....block.....or heads are the normal places.

[BobbyFord]

Ground from the battery should go to the engine block, just behind the alternator. There should also be a small ground strap from the back of the intake to the firewall.
I have a different set up because my battery is not in the engine compartment (and I have a 460), but you can see the location of the ground cable on the side of the block behind the alternator:

[Thunderfoot]

The main ground wire from the battery HAS to be connected to the engine (preferably the block), the starter is the biggest current user (= Lots of Amps) so you have to have this large cable going there for it to work... Connecting it to the battery box made the ground rout for the starter go through the sheet metal to that little ground strap that is between the firewall and the block, this wire is not big enough for the current load... (you might want to check this now as you might have fried/damaged it).