What is this and where does it go?

[gulwng3]

My inner trunk gasket is coming lose near the rear passenger area and after I peeled it back, I found this "ground???" wire. Looks like it might have been glued on to something and came lose. What is it and where does it attach?

Thanks,
Andy

[Michael]

PO hack. Remove it and forget it.

Maybe someone actually tried to electrify the panels? Probably some antenna mod or the last remnants of an alarm.

[DMC-81]

My inner trunk gasket is coming lose near the rear passenger area and after I peeled it back, I found this "ground???" wire. Looks like it might have been glued on to something and came lose. What is it and where does it attach?

Thanks,
Andy

Hi Andy,

It is a ground strap that attaches the RH front fender to the RH A-post finisher (100674). It attaches to a screw in the finisher under the weatherstripping. You can see the same loose flag terminal in your pic in the upper right of this picture of my car with the finisher removed:
52111

They are usually hidden by the seals, like so...
52113

Here is a similar strap that continues the grounding on the top header panel:
Seal removed:
52114
Seal in place:
52112

I believe they help ground the body against static electricity.

[DMCMW Dave]

PO hack. Remove it and forget it.

Maybe someone actually tried to electrify the panels? Probably some antenna mod or the last remnants of an alarm.

Actually a Factory hack. All the metal panels are tied together with these little braided wires. No big deal if they are not there.

[Michael]

Actually a Factory hack. All the metal panels are tied together with these little braided wires. No big deal if they are not there.

Learn something bout these cars every day. My car doesn't have them (that I know of)

[gulwng3]

Thanks Dana and David! I had some work done in that area a couple of years ago and it must have not gotten replaced. I'll try to snake it thru the fender and find the screw under the weatherstripping to reattach it.

Andy

[Josh]

I threw mine away when I changed out my fenders. I dont really understand how they would be useful at all

[iflights]

I threw mine away when I changed out my fenders. I dont really understand how they would be useful at all

Flux Dispersal


Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Citizen]

I threw mine away when I changed out my fenders. I dont really understand how they would be useful at all

Someone who knows more than I do can chime in, but are not the body panels grounded so to provide grounding for the side marker lights?

(sorry if this is a dumb question, I truly don't know, but that's what I had thought I heard).

Thomas

...

[Josh]

Someone who knows more than I do can chime in, but are not the body panels grounded so to provide grounding for the side marker lights?

(sorry if this is a dumb question, I truly don't know, but that's what I had thought I heard).

Thomas

...

The marker lights have their own ground, not grounded through the body panels.

[DMCMW Dave]

Generally stuff like this is for two reasons. One is to prevent static electricity buildup differing between panels causing minor annoying shocks, and causing interference with the AM radio.

So a question-anyone on here actually use the AM radio?

[Lwanmtr]

Do they still transmit am? hehe

[JAS037]

Generally stuff like this is for two reasons. One is to prevent static electricity buildup differing between panels causing minor annoying shocks, and causing interference with the AM radio.

So a question-anyone on here actually use the AM radio?
Nope! AM radio is so..... 80's... :)

[DMCVegas]

Generally stuff like this is for two reasons. One is to prevent static electricity buildup differing between panels causing minor annoying shocks, and causing interference with the AM radio.

So a question-anyone on here actually use the AM radio?

Static electricity build-up can actually be fatal in some rare instances. Either from the shock itself, or from being knocked to the ground where you can incur a head injury. Likewise if body panel generates enough static electricity, it could easily discharge to the fuel pump and ignite the nozzle.

Aside from radio interference, it can actually wreck havoc on the car's electrical system. All things we discovered during the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. Which as body panels all started to have dedicated ground straps since that time, it's why we don't see these problems much, and kind of take those straps for granted. Admittedly it's more of a problem in areas where dust storms are present, but static electricity is still a concern anywhere.

And yes, I still listen to AM radio myself. Sometimes you get some international news broadcasts. But more than once while wrenching in the garage, or driving some backroads in the dead of night, I have taken amusement from paranoid UFO stories and conspiracy theorists as only AM radio can provide...