Grounding straps

[BennyM]

Is it pointless to use braided, un-insulated grounding straps/cables on our cars? I've got a ground going from the engine to the chassis covered in crumbly eroded insulation. It reads 0 resistance, but I figure I should replace it and I've got this 2" wide flat braided industrial grounding strap sitting around. Maybe that could work? Tell me why I'm wrong.

[yaofeng]

The engine to chasis grounding cable should measure no resistance as you pointed out. I hope that's what you meant. You will not be able to start the car without that ground cable connected. I dare you to disconnect it and try starting the engine.

When I put together the drive train of my 95 after removal two years ago. I attempted to start the car without connecting that cable. I simply forgot. Smoke came out of the engine compartment. I think I made the same mistake years ago on a 86 325es. Same smoke resulted.

[pingu]

Whether the insulation is OK doesn't matter too much provided that your the braid inside your present grounding strap is OK.

Replacing the present strap with your 2" stuff should be fine provided that replacement stuff (I presume from your post that it's uninsulated?) won't short to anything. Also, assuming the replacement stuff is uninsulated, it might be more vulnerable to being corroded by e-icing salt. But seeing as your present strap is 15 years old, this shouldn't be a problem for another 15 years.