Rust on underhood body ground

So, yesterday, I noticed that I had some big voltage drops while idling at lights. Voltage would go from 13.4V down to around 12V. This was with the music playing at a rather high volume. So today I did some investigating, and underhood, found rust forming on the brass fitting I have on the end of my body ground, as well as on the inner fender, where I sanded away the paint. I've done the Big 3, and this was where the rust was. My question, would spreading some dielectric grease be the answer to keeping the rust away? Would it hinder the ground connection if I do that? Thanks.

 

as long as the grease doesn't find itself between the body fender and your ground lug, then you should be fine. you should probably grind away all rust first to make sure it won't spread any further.

 

Did that, and noticed an immediate voltage increase. So what I should do, is smear grease around the outside of the connection, and keep the lug and fender clean of any grease? Sounds like a trip to the parts store is in order.

 

i've never used that grease before, but i did have the same issue on my dakota. We get a lot of salt on the roads here, and my ground was groudned straight to the frame. I ginded my down really good, then sprayed bedliner over it. had it like that for 3 years and never had an issue.

Im sure someone will say that is a horrible idea, but it worked for me.

 

I can see that working, but I don't want to spray black under the hood of my red truck. It would just stick out. I'll take a closer look, see if I can tape it off well, and maybe do something like that. Right now, I sanded the rust off, reconnected the ground, then put dielectric grease over it, to repel water. We get a lot of salt and sand on the roads up here too, and they use some de-icing chemical based with calcium. So all that would probably get to bare metal quite quickly, so the dielectric grease should keep that away.

 

You are using a brass ground plug or it just has fittings?

I use these all the time and never once seen rust show up. Really a great way to ground into the frame.

http://www.pacificstereo.com/jl-aud...gle-products&gclid=CNHUkqDenb4CFYeUfgodhh8Acw

If you can't get one in your area and want me to ship one out with the foam let me know.

 

Thanks, but I can grab one of those at the local shop. Should I use that instead of a body ground? I just cleaned the dielectric grease off, and sprayed some clearcoat over it, to seal it from the elements. I figured if the body has clearcoat, this connection could take some to prevent rust. And yes, it's a brass fitting on the end of 1/0 wire that's connected with a bolt to the body, and underneath sanded down to bare metal. In the truck, the amps are grounded to the body as well.

 

Yes I would ground this to the frame of the truck. Grind down the metal before, mount everything nice and tight.

 

Any recommended places to ground to the frame? And I assume I'm grounding from the battery to the frame, correct?

 

I would ground to the same location as your factory battery ground. I upgraded mine to a 4 AWG when I installed my stereo. The factory ground location is painted over so I had to remove some paint with the dremel wire brush attachment before attaching the new ground. My HU displays battery voltage and it remains solid at 13.4 V regardless of volume level. My amp probably pushes out a little over 1000 W at full volume.

Although it's a body on frame truck, I don't think any engine electronics ground to the frame...they all still go to the body.

 

I only replaced the grounds that were originally on the truck. I didnt see a chassis ground when I did it. Where's the chassis ground on these trucks?