There are several electrical devices that use chassis ground (gauges, radio,
clock, etc), not battery ground. This way you don't have miles of ground wire
running around your truck, and also because your ground wire should always be as
short as possible to prevent your electrical circuits from producing electrical
fields that interfere with the electronics in your truck. The pigtail
connecting the battery to the chassis completes the circuit loop to allow those
devices using chassis ground to operate. With all of the electrical components
installed in a vehicle, it's important that each of them have a good ground
connection to work properly.
Dan
Chris Oertell wrote:
> Ok well I found out the problem. I was stupid (shutup Ed!) when I took off
> the old battery cable as well as the body ground. Well it turns out that I
> forgot to tighten down the body ground bolt that also has some other wires
> attached to it. I am still confused about the function of the pig tail wire
> as the truck runs fine without it. I did notice the voltgauge shows a
> little over 14. It was right at 14 before. I will hook it up tomorrow to
> see if it changes.
>
> Chris Oertell
> Arcadia, Ca
> coertell@earthlink.net
> http://home.earthlink.net/~coertell
> Coming Soon!! DodgeTruckOnline.com
> 1998 Dodge Dakota Sport V6 Regular Cab Emerald Green
> 1989 Kawasaki EX500
> AOL IM--coertell73
> ICQ #--19870422
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