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Grounding out the Throttle Body?

68K views 110 replies 40 participants last post by  brondondolon 
#1 · (Edited)
Have any of you guys heard of this? I have a buddy with an 08 ram hemi and he just ran a 10 gauge wire from a bolt on the trottle body over to a grounding location near the battery. And he says that he has noticed a big difference in throttle response.

My only theory on this is: By grounding out the throttle body it takes any ambient static built up on the wires and cleans up the signal going to and from the sensor/pcm? The flow of air going through the throttle body could build up enough static to cause extra noise on the signal and this would clean it up? Making for a more accurate variable the pcm can use to compute?

Any more imformative input on this idea would be awesome!
 
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#2 ·
There may be some merit to your theory it would be interesting to scope the signal for comparison with or without the extra wire direct to ground. I do have a hard time believing there would be that much static but you never know I guess.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Even if there was just a tiny bit of static on the signal this could change a whole lot of things the pcm will do to the whole system. The only way you could test it is to have the return wire hooked up to a spectrum analyzer or an occiloscope and see if over time there is any build up of extra noise on the signal but you would need to know what the threshold is from the factory. Then connect the grounding wire to the throttle body and see if the noise drops.
 
#3 ·
And he is saying the truck is shifting better too! He has had the truck a long time and has raced it alot im sure he would notice a difference if there was one.
 
#13 · (Edited)
At best I think that I would chalk this up to the placebo effect.
I have used grounding kits in the past that centered around providing a solid ground for the engine and transmission. The only benifit noticed was a slight reduction in the delay when the transmission would shift in manual mode and less engine whine. The vehicle I am refering to is known for slow shifts in manual mode (automatic trans with manual shift option). It is quite possible that what I was experiencing was a placebo effect as well, I may never know. This topic has been beaten to death (on other forums). Whether the "gains" are due to improving the grounding over the factory ground wires, or renewing the existing aging factory grounds it is something to determin. If drastic or "big gains" are noticed by adding a grounding kit (or more so a single wire to the already grounded throttle body) I would seriously look into finding an underlying issue, possibly a poor factory ground wire somewhere within the main electrical system.
 
#5 ·
And hey if it is true you sure cant beat the price of free. Im possitive that 90% of us have some wire just laying aroung the house that a multitude of you guys could try this and see if it really works or if it is just a pipe dream...
 
#11 ·
No clue which bolt i do remember he said it was one that would easily hide the wire apon install...
 
#14 ·
I did this last week with a 10ga wire and shrink wrapped everything, and yes it gets rid of the "lag" that a lot of our drive by wire hemi's have. It seems to work because our intakes are composite so the ground in the plug is very weak. Did not cost me anything, I will be looking into making all new grounding cables soon, like the DynamicGrounding kit that is available. Looking at the TB I used the bottom right bolt and grounded to the drivers fender where the neg batt cable is grounded.
 
#24 ·
I just read 13 pages on another forum about this, almsot everyone that tried it reported positive results, gonna do it tomorrow, will post results.
 
#31 ·
OK i did it, went for a short drive, did seem to notice better response and more consistant shifting. Not completely sold yet I'm really trying to fight the placebo affect, i will know a little better after i drive my normal routes a couple times. Good news is it was free and only took a few minutes so worth a try.
 
#34 ·
I used 10g just cause that's what i had, I think anything between 14 & 8 would work.
 
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