Grounding the Head Unit

[Griffon]

97 contour gl

I am having trouble finding a good spot to ground my head unit to. When I look through the cubby whole and to the left I see this silver canister, it almost looks like a blow off valve, I can't ground to that really (looks to important) but just to the left and up I see this bolt right through a huge piece of metal that seems to be part of the whole dash frame. It's just too hard to get to that bolt though! Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I can ground my head unit?

 

[elraido]

97 contour gl

I am having trouble finding a good spot to ground my head unit to. When I look through the cubby whole and to the left I see this silver canister, it almost looks like a blow off valve, I can't ground to that really (looks to important) but just to the left and up I see this bolt right through a huge piece of metal that seems to be part of the whole dash frame. It's just too hard to get to that bolt though! Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I can ground my head unit?

I would think the ground wire on the wire harness would be a good place. :shrug:

 

[Griffon]

Right I did that, but the wire that comes from the head unit has a u-shaped end that is meant for it to be bolted somewhere. I didn't want to tape that off, so I just ended up tackling that bolt i was talking about. It wasn't that hard. it was an 8 mm open end wrench and a little patience.

To clarify, I took the black wire of the harness and wrapped that into the middle of the black wire off the head unit plug.

I should take pictures.

 

[Big Daddy Kane]

I would think the ground wire on the wire harness would be a good place. :shrug:

Yeah, Contours have a good ground on the harness, so if you used a harness kit, there's a ground there.

My Nissan, on the other hand, does not have a ground there. The HU grounds through it's chassis, then through the screws holding everything in place.

 

[elraido]

Right I did that, but the wire that comes from the head unit has a u-shaped end that is meant for it to be bolted somewhere. I didn't want to tape that off, so I just ended up tackling that bolt i was talking about. It wasn't that hard. it was an 8 mm open end wrench and a little patience.

To clarify, I took the black wire of the harness and wrapped that into the middle of the black wire off the head unit plug.

I should take pictures.

I would have cut that end off and wired it to the harness. Either way works though.

My Nissan, on the other hand, does not have a ground there. The HU grounds through it's chassis, then through the screws holding everything in place.

My talon was the same way.....talk about a pain LOL

 

[KerryKool]

Just cut that end off, strip the wire and solder it to the existing ground on the harness. Wrap it up and call it a day.

 

[Griffon]

thanks for all the responses. Next time I will do that. I guess I did a double ground? Who knows... Here's a pic of where I grounded it to. I would have taken a picture of the way I actually wired it, but I had it already bolted by the time I got my camera.

Basically it's just the way I described it. I took the ground wire from the contour's harness and wrapped it into the middle of the ground wire from the head unit. Obviously the head unit's ground wire has that u-shaped end I was talking about.

You can see the end of the head-unit ground wire attached to a bolt in my car (right behind the dimmer switch) in these pictures below.

 

[CSVT1214]

They include that end on the wire in case you don't have a ground from your harness, but since Contours do, you typically just snip it off, and splice it together with the harness.

Like Big Daddy Kane, I installed a HU in my girlfriend's Sentra, and I grounded it to the dash frame.