Is it possible for the tranny ground strap to look good, but be bad? I was certain it was bad, but even aftre R&R with a good cleaning of the contact areas with steel wool and I still have the turn signal indicator light coming on when I start it in the morning. It generally only happens when I run it for the first time in the morning. Would this maybe be a bad turn signal relay?

Yes to the first question. The strap is made of woven metal and can corrode along the whole length lessening the ability of the strap to carry the neg current to the body. A couple of $$ for a generic one from the FLAPS (clean the body connection point) and coat with lith grease after should tell you if the woven one was no good.

Did you have a battery type cable or a braided ground strap? Battery cables build up corrosion in the strands. (I think) Braided is better for grounding because surface area is more effective than diameter. Braided creates a larger surface area.

At work, we have to protect against 27KV ESD shocks on our cabinets. (We make slot machines) Stranded doesn't work as good as braided. However, I'm not sure how that applies to a car.

you have 27,000 Volts ESD in a slot machine cabinet?


WOAH


WOWZERS

QUOTE (bd1308 @ Oct 10 2005, 07:30 PM)

you have 27,000 Volts ESD in a slot machine cabinet? WOAH WOWZERS

We have to be prepared for it. People try all kinds of things to cheat 'em you know. Its a gaming lab requirement.

QUOTE (jasons @ Oct 11 2005, 06:00 AM)

QUOTE (bd1308 @ Oct 10 2005, 07:30 PM) you have 27,000 Volts ESD in a slot machine cabinet? WOAH WOWZERS We have to be prepared for it. People try all kinds of things to cheat 'em you know. Its a gaming lab requirement.

I see, so if someone tries to cheat you electrocute them.

QUOTE (jasons @ Oct 10 2005, 07:06 PM)

Did you have a battery type cable or a braided ground strap? Battery cables build up corrosion in the strands. (I think) Braided is better for grounding because surface area is more effective than diameter. Braided creates a larger surface area. At work, we have to protect against 27KV ESD shocks on our cabinets. (We make slot machines) Stranded doesn't work as good as braided. However, I'm not sure how that applies to a car.

Yes braided works best, but when it's been under a car for 30+ years and subject to rain, snow, salt, acid, tar and whatever else you can think of, a protected cable will last longer.

When I stripped the paint off my teener, I found perforated pin holes through the sheet metal surrounding the grounding stud that is welded to the bottom of the trunk and absolutely NO rust! It must have been due to some type of galvanic action. I built up the area with my MIG welder. The pin holes peppered the area for over one inch away from the stud. It looked like a piece of swiss cheese! By the way, all of these pin holes were buried under a nice looking original paint job so they were not visible until I had removed the painted on both sides of the sheet metal. Even a new grounding strap won't work well if it is bolted to a mess like this.
Lyle