TOPIC: Do you have a plastic intake manifold and electronic throttle body?

We talk about solidifying electrical system grounds on our vehicles - now we're getting into the electronic side of things...taking our thinking to the next level

This video came up in my youtube feed and I've thunk on it and it makes good sense to me:



Here's someone who actually measured ground resistance between throttle body and chassis:



it makes sense because even though there is a ground wire in the harness, if that should happen to degrade or fail, the circuit won't function optimally...the electrons won't flow!
the TB has a gasket between it and the manifold - resistance.
the manifold itself, being plastic, is an insulator - more resistance.
then there's the manifold gasket, between manifold and cylinder head - also electrical insulation and resistance.

You think that's bad? Just WAIT - there's MORE:

the cylinder head is also insulated from the engine block - where the biggest ground in the system goes to - by (you guessed it!) ANOTHER gasket that is an insulator or resistant.

so the 2 megaohms of resistance the 2nd video demonstrates is entirely possible, and on a 12V low current circuit like the throttle control actuator, that could be killing the TB motor and possibly your mileage. the electrons can't flow as nature intends.

I'm going to run out and check the electrical continuity between the aluminum of my TB and the back of my alternator, my -ve battery post, my body ground.
If like in video 2 I find that there is none, or it's difficult to get a reading, that's when I'll measure resistances. if I find anything more than a few (single digit) ohms, I'll be applying this mod

I'll report back, as I always do. I hope you check and report as well, friends.
I will not be surprised in the least if people who have been having difficulty getting gains from the groove suddenly see them coming as they expected, or better.

For those of you following along at home:

I checked the continuity between my TB and the back of the alternator, the body ground and the -ve battery terminal, and I got ZERO ohms resistance at each of those points.
(come to think of it, since I added a wire from the back of my alternator to the body ground, I don't experience static electricity shocks anymore; I used to get zapped all the time...hmmmm)

This could be why I get such good results from the Groove and everything we do here. I'm lucky enough to have an aluminum intake manifold, though - if yours is plastic/composite and you've an electronic TB, I would definitely consider this mod because its simple, fast, inexpensive and may have surprisingly positive results. Next time I'm at my folks' place, I'll be sure to check their vehicles. I'm pretty sure dad's Forester has a plastic intake manifold...not sure about mom's Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix, but won't be surprised if that's plastic too. they've been complaining about the rising price of gas - this could be a help to them.