Why Does the Breakfast Need To Be Grounded?

[Bostonian1976]

After finding that my "breakfast" (I know, I know) wasn't properly grounded and was sparking when I closed the hood....I connected a ground wire and all is well and my headlights work again. My question is why do they need a ground? Shouldn't the wires be able to feed into the headlights without needing the whole piece to be grounded?

[LaneRover]

I believe it is because the headlights are grounded to the breakfast itself thus the reason why the breakfast needs to be grounded.

LaneRover

[Bostonian1976]

makes sense. still an odd setup! I ended up just taking the loose ground wire that I found and screwing it onto the battery cover (the metal tray that keeps down the battery with two nuts). definitely a temporary fix but works for now

[jp-]

I believe it is because the headlights are grounded to the breakfast itself thus the reason why the breakfast needs to be grounded.

LaneRover

No, no, no. The breakfast was used by Lucas as a grounding point because it provides a more direct path for shorts to occur. If the ground had been placed on the frame, the lights might operate properly, thereby negating the Lucas flicker effect.

[Bostonian1976]

I unfortunately was banging on the side fender everytime the lights went out, thinking there was a loose wire. This was at night and I didn't have a good place to pull over and fix it. Well.......I banged it so much that some bondo fell out of a late-IIA sidemarker hole that shouldn't have been there (mine's a '67). Ha. So now I have a fender with a hole that I didn't even know was there

[fruitpunch]

Yes the first order of owning any Series truck is taking a rubber hammer and finding all that bondo, I mean what's the point a 3 year old can bang out a bent panel on a series and spray it with a little paint.

[TeriAnn]

I believe it is because the headlights are grounded to the breakfast itself thus the reason why the breakfast needs to be grounded.

I had completely forgotten about that. Decades ago I rerouted all the front light grounds to the frame. Maybe that's why I never had any electrical problems with the front mounted lights other than the occasional bulb burning out.

The reason I hit reply is that if your engine is not properly grounded the coolant conducts electricity from the engine to the radiator, through your grounded radiator bulkhead back to battery ground. This causes metal erosion and deposition at dissimilar metal junctions along the path and at metal to coolant surfaces.

So now that you have a grounded radiator bulkhead, may I suggest that you verify that you have at least one clean, tight good high current ground connection between the battery and engine.

On my engine the same connector that secures my battery ground connector to the frame also secures my engine ground strap to the frame.

Just a thought to head off a possible future followed by

[Tim Smith]

So now that you have a grounded radiator bulkhead, may I suggest that you verify that you have at least one clean, tight good high current ground connection between the battery and engine.

I thought 12 volts wouldn't conduct across water so you couldn't ground out that way. Or if you do get a grounding effect at least you won't do more than simple electrolysis to the water.
Is that not the case?

[LaneRover]

No, no, no. The breakfast was used by Lucas as a grounding point because it provides a more direct path for shorts to occur. If the ground had been placed on the frame, the lights might operate properly, thereby negating the Lucas flicker effect.

Just because the lights from the car behind me and shining underneath my truck are usually brighter than mine doesn't mean that my lights aren't bright enough. It is a safety feature to keep us from blinding oncoming traffic...

[jp-]

Decades ago I rerouted all the front light grounds to the frame.

Cheater.

[jp-]

Yes the first order of owning any Series truck is taking a rubber hammer and finding all that bondo, I mean what's the point a 3 year old can bang out a bent panel on a series and spray it with a little paint.

Let me assure you that a 3 year old most certainly cannot bang a bent panel straight, otherwise, I would have strait panels.

[TeriAnn]

Cheater.

You don't know the half of it. Not only are the headlamps properly grounded to the frame, but I have added relays for both the high and low beam circuits. Why? I am using IPF headlamps. They have a lens with a razor sharp low beam cutoff. The bulbs installed in the IPFs are 140 watt high beam and 90 watt low beam. I aimed the headlamps by parking the LR about 10 feet behind a Japanese sub compact and adjusting the low beam cutoff to be just a little below the rear window.

I've been using this set up for over 5 years now and have not been flashed by oncoming cars thinking I have my brights on. The IPF low beam cut off is that good.

I feel ever so much more enlightened

Of course if I seek even greater enlightenment, I have four Halla 3000's hanging off the bottom front of my roof rack

[TeriAnn]

I thought 12 volts wouldn't conduct across water so you couldn't ground out that way. Or if you do get a grounding effect at least you won't do more than simple electrolysis to the water.
Is that not the case?

There is a difference between pure H2O and tap water conductivity. There is an even greater difference between tap water conductivity and that of an engine coolant cocktail as many owners of aluminum engines have discovered.

A good engine ground is very important as is a good ground for your headlamps.

[Tim Smith]

A good engine ground is very important as is a good ground for your headlamps.

Agreed!