# Ground Wire Fried?



## kelpike (Nov 28, 2004)

I have a Curtis plow. I started to plow my driveway today and the plow just stopped working. I could smell something burning. Under the hood, I noticed much of the insulation had burned off the ground wire thats attached to the body of the truck. I cant tell where the wire goes. Does anyone know what causes this and where the wire goes?


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## no lead (Dec 10, 2008)

were does your plow ground? to the batt? if not, that could do it.


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## kelpike (Nov 28, 2004)

Everything is wired according to the Curtis website diagram, but this wire doesn't even show on the diagram for some reason. If I remember right, the person I bought it from said this wire grounds to the body. The plow worked fine all winter last year. Should I replace the wire and ground it to the battery?


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## Spitz (Feb 28, 2008)

Bad ground/ ground connection somewhere. Too much current flowing through that wire for some reason.. Like said if the plow is hooked to the body and the body ground is insufficient then yea, it'll burn! It would be a good idea to run power and ground wires directly from the battery, that will eliminate any of these problems.


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## kelpike (Nov 28, 2004)

So do you think replacing the wire will be enough, or do you think I damaged something else?


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## no lead (Dec 10, 2008)

just change the wire. go big.


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## artic429 (Feb 20, 2008)

Put that ground wire directly to the battery. The body is mount isnt a good idea. When you are out in bad weather, you dont need any foul ups! If your ground is going right to the battery , you will never have a problem again I bet.


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## Lydia Moore (Dec 18, 2008)

check wire fist.. is stop thats why is might be problem in wire


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## basher (Nov 13, 2004)

kelpike;683193 said:


> I could smell something burning. Under the hood, I noticed much of the insulation had burned off the ground wire thats attached to the body of the truck. I cant tell where the wire goes. Does anyone know what causes this and where the wire goes?


I don't know where the wire goes but it did not burn because of a insufficient ground. A bad ground would not have allowed any current to flow. Your problem is caused by excessive currant flow, i.e. a "dead" short. you need to find the source of the excessive current. Perhaps another larger ground wire has failed somewhere and you have an inadequate wire (the burnt one) trying to carry the load.


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## kelpike (Nov 28, 2004)

I found that the larger grounding cable coming from the plow was also grounded to the body and probably wasn't the best connection. I ran a new cable to the battery. I also fixed the "fried" wire and ran that to the battery. Everything seems to be working fine now. Thanks to everyone who replied to this to help me out.


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## B&B (Nov 4, 2006)

Whoever installed that plow grounding it to the sheet metal should be fired. Be grateful it didn't cause other or bigger issues. 

Some people should be required to pass an aptitude test before they're allow to purchase tools.


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## dadam (Nov 29, 2008)

No sh** that could have fried lots of other things with that much juice.


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## no lead (Dec 10, 2008)

i make my technicians to be take an aptitude test.


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## naturalgreen (Dec 6, 2008)

lots of guys who put on plows think they are installing a car alarm.
not realizing power going through it.
I have seen a few too many plows grounded that way.


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## Spitz (Feb 28, 2008)

basher;683686 said:


> I don't know where the wire goes but it did not burn because of a insufficient ground. A bad ground would not have allowed any current to flow. Your problem is caused by excessive currant flow, i.e. a "dead" short. you need to find the source of the excessive current. Perhaps another larger ground wire has failed somewhere and you have an inadequate wire (the burnt one) trying to carry the load.


No no, you cant dead short a ground wire, think about it, a shorted ground wire is just a ground wire no matter where it grounds to, whether it be correct or not. When I said bad ground, im say a bad ground connection for the body or wherever this wire leads to, apparently not to the battery..


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## basher (Nov 13, 2004)

Spitz;686253 said:


> No no, you cant dead short a ground wire, think about it, a shorted ground wire is just a ground wire no matter where it grounds to, whether it be correct or not. When I said bad ground, im say a bad ground connection for the body or wherever this wire leads to, apparently not to the battery..


If you read the solution you will see I was right.

As for your response please God don't ever touch anything 12 volt electrical except your own stuff, then it won't matter that you have no understanding of 12 volt electrical current flow because you'll be paying the repair bills. If you don't have a ground you can not flow power, therefore a bad ground will not fry because there is no power to fry it.


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## snowandgo (Oct 26, 2008)

basher;683686 said:


> I don't know where the wire goes but it did not burn because of a insufficient ground. A bad ground would not have allowed any current to flow. Your problem is caused by excessive currant flow, i.e. a "dead" short. you need to find the source of the excessive current. Perhaps another larger ground wire has failed somewhere and you have an inadequate wire (the burnt one) trying to carry the load.


Actually, you were wrong before you were right, as your first statement directly contradicts the last statement. You may know your stuff, but you haven't learned English very well. And the excessive current was not caused by a dead short. :salute:


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## Spitz (Feb 28, 2008)

basher;686343 said:


> If you read the solution you will see I was right.
> 
> As for your response please God don't ever touch anything 12 volt electrical except your own stuff, then it won't matter that you have no understanding of 12 volt electrical current flow because you'll be paying the repair bills. If you don't have a ground you can not flow power, therefore a bad ground will not fry because there is no power to fry it.


You just reworded exactly what i had said, in the end it was a BAD GROUND CONNECTION.. Read my post again.... Yes a bad ground on THAT wire would not cause a problem, execpt yes, it can still heat up the bad connection (resistance= heat). The current will seek its easiest path, and it found it, more than likely through a smaller wire from the body to the battery, which is what burned in this case, which was due to A BAD GROUND CONNECTION.. Jeez, thats a hard one, maybe you're the one not seeing how this electrical thing works. Re-read my post, its right.


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## kelpike (Nov 28, 2004)

Everything was working fine for about a week. When I went to hook up and lift again, the same wire fried. Both wires are now directly to the battery. Any suggestions on where to start looking for the problem would be greatly appreciated.


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## no lead (Dec 10, 2008)

seems like a bad ground strap from the battery to the frame or engine of the truck. the plow is grounding through the wire that burns. replace the burnt wire with one of 4GA. take a set of jumper cables and go from batt neg to the engine. then neg to the frame. does the plow start working now?


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## kelpike (Nov 28, 2004)

The wire that keeps frying is only an 18 gauge I believe. I was able to locate it on the wiring diagram online, and it appears to connect to the pump in three locations. I am going to try and locate those connections during the daylight tomorrow. Wouldn't changing to a thicker wire just create an issue in a different location or perhaps burn something out?


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## no lead (Dec 10, 2008)

is the burnt wire on the plow or a factory wire on the truck.


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## kelpike (Nov 28, 2004)

It is one of the plow lights.


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## no lead (Dec 10, 2008)

you have a pinched wire some where in your harness. more than likely ground side.


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## kelpike (Nov 28, 2004)

So I should retrace every wire in my harness? If I'm not mistaken, there are only 2 ground wires, one 4g and one 18g.


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