MoTeC Global Forum

Hi,

This is a general question related to ground circuits within my harness. Can I use the chassis ground circuit (contains things like: pdm, c127, rad fan, some engine sensors, ecu, etc) to ground the starter? My chassis ground circuit uses 18Ga.

Thank you.

Your starter will need the same capacity ground as the power lead. The same amount of current will flow through each lead between the battery and starter motor.

18ga is not sufficient for the starter ground path, you typically need a minimum of 6 or maybe 4 awg wire for a starter.

Starter usually gets grounded through engine block etc....and usually a large ground cable from battery to the engine/block local to the starter motor itself, and as David says of substantial size given 200A+ can flow.