OK. New to the forum and I've searched and read all the posts regarding starting issues and the ground bus. I've cleaned and soldered the one on the drivers side. There was no corrosion- just 18 years worth of dirt. I don't have a leak issue and I have not looked at the passenger side yet. The ground by the e-brake was clean and I cleaned the gound on hte passenger fender behind the battery- again no corrosion jut dirt. Battery cable ends were not corroded either.

The initial problem I had was last Tuesday, I was driving for about 20 minutes- cold and rainy outside- had the heat going and rear defrost on and the car died at 40-45 mph. I coasted into the parking lot (fortunately it was where I was going) and the car cranked strong but would not start. I came out later and it started after a few times cranking. Got back on hte highway headed to work and it died going 65-70 mph. I coasted to side of the highway and again it would crank strong but not fire. After lunch my dad picked me up and took me to my car and it started after several times cranking it. I drove to Advance Auto and had them check the battery and alternator- both were good. I was talking with my dad and remembered that heat, fan, radio, and rear defroster were on when it died. I turned everything on and as soon as I hit the rear defroster button the engine sputtered and died. I cranked it several times but it would not start. Later that night, I went back to the car and after cranking several times it finally started and I drove it home- without the radio, heat, fan, or rear defroster.

After googling the problem I came across the ground bus issue on the drivers side. The only 'issue' I found with the ground bus is the wire in position A was very easy to pull off. The other wires were tight. I poured Coke into th connector to get any possible corrosion I couldn't see and rinsed it thoroughly. Later I started the car and as soon as I turned on the rear defroster the big wire in position A got hot. As soon as I turned off the rear defroster it cooled down. I soldered that wire and it still heats up instantly. I wound up breaking the black plastic that the metal piece is in and the plastic has melted in the area where the wire comes in at position A.

I've now put a couple hundred trouble-free miles on the car and so far it has not stalled or died but I don't dare use the rear defroster. Any ideas of why turning it on causes the wire to heat up and the car to die. Is the rear defroster itself bad or the button bad? I've also seen where some people mention the headlight switch- I haven't looked at that yet. Also, does anyone have a detailed wiring diagram that shows what wires come into the ground bus so I can try to trace the wire in position A to see what causes it to heat up?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Eric

Did you solder the wire to the terminal or solder the terminal to the buss? Go any pics?

It's heating up because the connection is loose, dirty, or corroded. To fix it, you will have to replace the terminal, might as well grab a whole new buss from a junkyard, and use solder to splice it in not crimp joints

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