I installed my own custom made grounding kit this weekend on my 05 AT Sedan.

Anyone who hasn't done this I highly recommend it.

Feels like it woke my car up, shifts are much quicker, less lag when shifting between gears, throttle is much snappier, and in general just seems to be running better.

The first thing I noticed is the starter sounded like it was getting plenty of power where as before this install it always sounded like it was running off an old battery that was on its way to being replaced.

Are the grounding points in these cars really that bad?

 

how much did it cost you? I was just thinking about buying some 4awg and trying to do it myself from all the pictures i could find...

 

Under $20 if you have the crimper and wire stripper. I wired mine up using all the pictures online as a reference and it worked out just fine. I used 8 awg wire.

 

Aparently so. Only car I've ever heard of that makes a difference on.


I'm just worried about creating ground loops when guys ground every piece of metal in the engine bay to something. I feel that a few select grounds are better than many grounds all over.

 

I was pretty convinced this mod was snake oil before I installed it, it just didn't make sense to me, but the proof is in the pudding.

I was worried about loops as well, I was careful with my placement and didn't go wiring crazy. Well worth the ~$20 and hour of labor.

 

man... I am tempted. I have a 5at 2006 and the manual shifts are like 900ms long.. but I have to wonder did you unhook your battery while installing? I am wondering of you cleared your fuel map, ecu while it was unhooked and if the results will be the same after the 9+ full temp power cycles it takes the ECU to re-learn.

what guide did you follow ? there is a tranny point you have to hook up and I have yet to see it clearly enough documented.

 

I'm no engineer. but I am a bit confuzeled.

most of the cables lead from one ground point to a ground cluster (where other grounds are "lead" too) then that ground cluster is linked to the body or the negative terminal.

seems odd, why not have all the single point grounds lead from their start straight to the body and avoid the cluster points ?

 

I didn't follow any guide, I used a combination of photos of other grounding kit installs and also checked the resistance between ground on the battery and grounding points on the manifold/block and filled in any connections to reduce the resistance.

I am not sure about clearing the fuel maps, I did not disconnect the battery and I have custom UpRev maps anyway, I am not sure if those update/learn the same way a stock map would.

 

I don't know what the Infiniti engineers were thinking. I know for a fact there was some grounding issues as my starter now sounds like its on a fresh battery whereas before I was starting to think my battery was going bad or the alternator wasn't charging correctly. The stereo is also louder and able to support more bass without taxing/distorting the amplifiers. Shoot even the lights seem brighter.

Maybe my car had something in particular causing these issues but from the other forum posts I have read on the grounding kits it does seem to be a legitimate mod.

 

Did you do the Tranny mount ? from the pics I scoured up I can see all the engine bay points... but I did not see the tranny ground. But I can see it clips onto the ground point on the passenger side behind the manifold ...

 

I connected the wire to the transmission to an empty bolt hole closer to the valve body above the pan on the passenger side. I happened to have a bolt that fit the treaded hole perfectly.

 

First intake and now grounding kit. Now I know people are trolling.

 

I forgot to mention the 29.575 Horsepower it added

 

OK so before I try the kit I had to try the idle air relearn so that I can keep the idle from being messed up with a different voltage output from the grounding kit update.

but with the instructions you find here and on the interwebs there are some discrepancies .. I *think* I have it nailed down but need some input.

the Accelerator Pedal Release Position Learning and the Throttle Valve Closed Position Learning are easy enough. but the idle air was a issue until I improvised a smidge. I need to know if the results are still correct ...

the internet version which did not work as outlined--------
1. Perform “Accelerator Pedal Released Position Learning”.
2. Perform “Throttle Valve Closed Position Learning”.
3. Start engine and warm it up to normal operating temperature.
4. Turn ignition switch “OFF” and wait at least 10 seconds.
5. Confirm that the accelerator pedal is fully released, then turn ignition switch “ON” and wait 3 seconds.
6. Repeat the following (steps 7a, 7b) procedures quickly five times within 5 seconds.
7a. Fully depress the accelerator pedal (HARD)
7b. Fully release the accelerator pedal.
8. Wait 7 seconds, fully depress the accelerator pedal and keep it for approx. 20 seconds until the Check Engine Light (CEL) stops blinking and turned ON.
9. Fully release the accelerator pedal within 3 seconds after the CEL is ON.
10. Start engine and let it idle.
11. Wait 20 seconds.
12. Rev up the engine two or three times and make sure the idle speed and ignition timing are within the specifications.



What I did that *seem to work*
----------------------------------------------------------
Idle Air Volume Learning (Throttle Position Learning)
3. Start engine and warm it up to normal operating temperature.
4. Turn ignition switch “OFF” and wait at least 12 seconds.
5. then turn ignition switch “ON” and wait 3 seconds.

6. Repeat the following (-) procedure five times, Each second for a total of five seconds (pressing this faster caused the attempt to fail.)
- Fully depress the accelerator pedal (HARD)
- Fully release the accelerator pedal.

7. Wait 7 seconds, fully depress the accelerator and keep it for *down until* the check engine light begins blinking. (this took a easy 30 seconds)
7a. *keep* holding the pedal down until the CES light goes *solid*. (this took almost a minute it.. seemed to cycles a error code before going solid)
8. Fully release the accelerator pedal within 3 seconds after the CEL is ON.
9. Start engine and let it idle.
10. Wait 20 seconds.
11. Rev up the engine two or three times and make check idle

Since the light did go solid eventually.. I think I'm good. but what's the great internet opinion ?

side notes if I did not hold the pedal in step 7 of my instructions it never went solid. and would not go solid if you pressed the pedal down. you had to power cycle then start over.

 

I think the number of grounds though is snake oil. I really think you only need 3.

Good engine block to chassis ground
Good trans to chassis ground
Good battery neg cable to chassis connection.

It's the wires snaking around the intake and engine bay that make me


As it is right now, the trans ground through the engine ground, which if IIRC is not a very big wire. The connection is probably poor, which is why a ground wire on the trans seems to make a difference. As it is, the ground path is through the trans case, through the bellhousing, across the engine block to the front corner of the engine where it is grounded. That's almost 4-5 feet of path through metal to ground to the chassis.

Only speculating. Other cars I've worked on had manual transmissions...so no need to ground that.