Electrickery - Earth

Ey up.

I got stranded at work this week. I got in mi land rover to drive home and when I turned the ignition for the glow plugs the relay just rattled at me. It had come loose and fallen into the engine bay. It was supposed to be attached to the bracket where the earth from the top of the engine to the bulkhead is, this was also very loose.

I tightened it all up and tried to start again but got the same relay ratteling. I eventually took a negative lead from the battery and clamped it to an engine bolt and the land rover started like normal.

Is running with a tempory earth like this wise? it seems to be working fine? Am I going to burst into flames and die in agony, screaming my hatered to the universe?

A bad Earth is just as serious as a defective Positive wire. The glow plugs use a lot of Amps, so with a poor contact in either +12V or 0V will result in arcing which burns and reduces the conductivity.

Clean it all back to shiny metal, whack Vaseline all over it, tighten, and you'll be good to go.

In the meantime, no, your bodge is as safe as houses and a sign of sensible application of smoke leak reduction.

Dodgy earths can cause all sorts of strange problems.
As already stated - clean it all back to metal and you're good to go.
I have an extra earth lead, with a conductor apprx 10mm thick, that runs direct from my batt to the motor and also to the chassis just to make sure I dont have any probs.

Thank fook fer that

Thanks fellas.