Where Does This Go?? - 308 GT4 Random Ground Wire | FerrariChat

Where Does This Go?? - 308 GT4 Random Ground Wire

Discussion in '308/328' started by dyerhaus, Dec 22, 2022.

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  1. dyerhaus

    dyerhaus Formula Junior
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    #1 dyerhaus, Dec 22, 2022
    When trying to identify my fuel filter a moment ago, I noticed this random ground wire just hanging loose. This is in the engine compartment, top left side, near the service light.

    Any idea what this goes to and where it should connect?

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  2. Jdubbya

    Jdubbya The $10 Trillion Man
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    #2 Jdubbya, Dec 23, 2022
    There's a light in the engine bay on GT4's. Never knew that.

    As for the ground, is anything not working correctly? Could be left over from an old alarm or something. I had a pile of wires I took out of my 308 that did nothing. Alarm, stereo, whatever it was for was gone. It was a mess.
     
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  3. dyerhaus

    dyerhaus Formula Junior
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    #3 dyerhaus, Dec 23, 2022
    Don't feel bad, I only recently learned there was a light in the engine bay myself!

    I am curious where the wires go. When I look at other pictures of GT4s, none of them have this clump of wires. So it's very possible this belonged to an old alarm or something. To my knowledge, nothing like that was ever installed though. The car still has the original dealer-installed stereo, and when car alarms became all the rage, this car sat untouched in storage for 25 years (June 1989 thru May 2014). Regardless, based on other cars, this wire clearly doesn't belong here.

    I'll have to spend some time and figure out where this goes and remove it. I don't like a useless junk occupying space in the car!
     
  4. Vonbarron

    Vonbarron Formula 3
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    #4 Vonbarron, Dec 23, 2022
    That looks factory, same crimp as factory, plastic sleeve, factory
     
  5. s219

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    #5 s219, Dec 23, 2022
    Is that a big blob of black caulk where the wire originates from? The only thing I noticed is that the ring is machine crimped on the end of that wire, so it was not a field crimp done by an installer. Would have been part of some pre-fab harness made in a factory.

    Have you confirmed that it's really a ground wire? Don't assume (by color) if it's an unknown wire or aftermarket.
     
  6. morcal

    morcal Formula Junior
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    #6 morcal, Dec 23, 2022


    Please take in mind it works ( like the bumper reverse lights ) only when your head lights are on
     
  7. Jdubbya

    Jdubbya The $10 Trillion Man
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    #7 Jdubbya, Dec 23, 2022
    Well that's not near as handy as it could be!?
     
  8. dyerhaus

    dyerhaus Formula Junior
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    #8 dyerhaus, Dec 23, 2022
    I only just discovered the light about two weeks ago, never saw it work before and just assumed it didn't as the interior cabin lights (doors, overhead) don't work 98% of the time. But, switched on the lights and — BOOM — we have a working engine compartment light!

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    It's always fun to discover new things about your car (I've had it a year and two months now, but it spent most of that time in body/paint restoration). Speaking of which…

    That blob of caulk is where the wire originates from, not sure where that leads though, or why there's even a big glob of caulk there. I went back and looked at some old photos before I had the body/paint restored and found a photo of where that wire was connected (in-between the distributor cap and exhaust sample tubes). So, I just put it back. I'm assuming the shop simply forgot to reconnect it after disassembling the car.

    But I still have no idea what it is or what it's for. I'll get into tracing the origin of that after xmas, it'll be an exploratory project.

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  9. ProvaMo

    ProvaMo Formula Junior

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    #9 ProvaMo, Dec 25, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2022
    @dyerhaus : On my 1979 308 GTS USA/NA spec, I have the similar black grounding wire with a loop which grounds via one of the P-Clips studs on the firewall (holding the main wiring harness loom). The other end of the wire goes to ground the fuel level senor unit (see ~2:00 o'clock position in your picture, it's the wire under one of the 6 screws holding the sensor level assembly) Consider a continuity check with a voltmeter/multi-meter to verify...
     
  10. Steve Magnusson

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    #10 Steve Magnusson, Dec 26, 2022
    Is your 1975 308GT4 a euro version with 2 distributors? If so, those have a throttle microswitch in the accelerator pedal assembly that would be connected to that terminal post on the 5-8 distributor to activate the R2 points (and retard the timing) when at idle. Of course, if you noticed no change at idle with the wire disconnected or connected, that would indicate that your R2 points have already been removed or somehow disabled. You can see that throttle microswitch in the accelerator pedal assembly here (item 37):

    https://www.ferrariparts.co.uk/diagram/ferrari/308-gt4-dino-1976/012-throttle-control-(2-distributors)

    (The US and AUS models use the same throttle microswitch for R2 activation at idle, but it is mounted to the carb linkage.)
     
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