Can anybody help with this?

[Luke]

Hi, I found what looks like a ground link from the chassis to the rear motor broken but I couldn’t find a name or a part number any ware. Asked a couple of stores but after a bit of looking around they couldn’t find it (I presume it’s a fairly cheap and doesn’t present mutch interest ). I have attached a photo , maybe somebody changed it and knows about it.
Thanks!

 

[MrPastry]

Hi Luke.

Looks like an earth strap.
I think it's located in the diagram below (circled in red).

Sorry, I don't know the part number.
There should be something equivalent that you could purchase from your local motor factor.

 

[Luke]

Thanks for the reply, i will try to replace it with something similar if i can find something at my local car part shop. If not i will try to replace it with a minus link cable (the short cable that connects the battery with the chassis) . I do not know how important that is , I discovered it broken by mistake, who knows how long has been like that! Will take care of it this weekend.

 

[ThudnBlundr]

Could you not ask a dealer?

 

[Luke]

I didn't had good experience with dealers in the past. In this case I called them explaning exactly what do I need but their reply was that I have to bring the car in so they can lok at it. Ofcorse that will be chargeable. If they wanted to be helpful they would of said how mutch that link cost, I woud of ordered it and case closed.

 

[NightPHEVer]

I happened to be underneath my PHEV today making sure that my handbrake caliper mechanism was still operataing correctly and I had a look at this earth lead, it's quite a weedy earth lead. So any quite weedy earth lead (or even a slightly more substantial one) from a motor factor would do the job. It's definitely held on by a bolt into the chassis and I expect held on with a bolt at the other end (I forgot to look).

Many years ago (in the days of the Chevette, Carlton and the Cavalier) I worked at Vauxhall motors in Luton. My job was to start the cars and get them off the end of the line, preferably before they crashed into each other. The number one reason for the engine not starting within 30 seconds was always the engine earth lead. A twiddle of the bolt on either end would invariably do the trick.

I expect the PHEV has quite a lot of earth leads - at least I hope it does. Dodgy automotive earth leads are frequently the cause of unexplained, weird electrical behavior and you wouldn't want any of that nonsense with a PHEV. Although it once took me a year to diagnose the cause of some very weird electrical behavior on my trailer (subsequently causing weird electrical behavior in my car) caused by the wrong sort of lightbulb fitted to the trailer. Was a single filiment and should have been a double. Surprisingly the trailer brake light still worked but was just causing the single element to shine a bit brighter than in did with just the lights on.

 

[Hypermiler]

I reckon it’s the rear motor earth strap - just had mine replaced on my June 2014 phev. Not expensive. Think it was about £60 fitted
H

 

[NightPHEVer]

I reckon it’s the rear motor earth strap - just had mine replaced on my June 2014 phev. Not expensive. Think it was about £60 fitted
H

That sounds about right for Mitsubishi parts/dealer prices - £50.00 for the strap and £10.00 to fit it - or at least I hope £10.00 to fit it, should take around 10 minutes. You can buy a strap like this on ebay for £3.99.

Unless the mounting bolts were also horribly corroded and they couldn't get the bolts undone, or one of the bolts (it's usually one, not the other) snapped-off in the process and then they had to re-thread it and...I'm glad I don't work in a garage. I'm going to smear some silicone grease on my earth lead - which currently looks like new - to try and keep it that way. Near that earth strap there are also two tiny earth wires coming from a loom. I bet they rot too. Considering the muck that gets sprayed upon it there's a lot of rather fragile stuff under the rear end of a PHEV.

 

[MrPastry]

About £5.00 & 5 minutes to fit.

 

[Luke]

Thank you all for your help, just changed it. It took 15 minutes, i had a bit of hassle with the screws. I found the part at my local Halford and payed 7 pound. While being under the car i have seen a lot of rust for a three year old car. Looks like i found my next small project, cleaning and repainting the rusty zones.

 

[NightPHEVer]

Yes, I'd agree with you when it comes to the rust factor. There certainly is a lot of expensive and complicated gubbins under there which is exposed to all the road filth from the back wheels. It's salt that does the real damage. I did a trip in December to Surrey and back last year and the slushy, black 'n' salty filth on urban motorways is worse than mud. I was horrified at what it looked like underneath after that trip so jet washed it all off and then squirted WD40 all over everything.

Also check out the recent 'Rust' thread on 'General' forum. I expect you'll have this problem as well.

 

[jaapv]

That problem is by no means universal. I had my dealer check it out on my car (December 2013) - no significant rust, nor had he seen it on any other PHEV.

 

[jakefouro]

Was quoted 130 euro to replace this by main dealer in Ireland. As previous noted a generic earth strap should suffice so will replace with something similar.