I just hardwired my Nuvi navigator using Add-A-Circuit.
I followed a direction found at https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-audio-bluetooth-electronics-navigation-94/diy-escort-radar-detector-direct-wire-install-56k-take-caution-641840/ to remove under dash cover and grounding. Everything is working as expected but later I found one thing that I am concerned. That DIY instruction says to use bolt on the side of steering under cover.
It is like, bolt-washer-plastic-metal frame. The DIY instruction says to connect ground between plastic and metal frame. But I did not read it carefully and inserted ground between bolt and washer.
The navigator and everything is working fine but I am worried that I may not have good grounding since my ground is connected to the metal frame through washer and bolt.
Is this a good enough ground? What would happen if my ground is bad? Will my navigator stop working? Will it mess up my car's electric system? Or is it fine as long as the navigator is working?

I want to know for sure if I need to fix this before I pull out under dash covers again which I don't want to do it on my new car. (Don't want to break anything. Today I found out that the dealer technician already broke one of the clip holder. :-( )

Should I be worried about this? Again, looks like everything is working fine.

 

if there is no ground it will not power on at all, since the circuit is still open. u will be fine

 

go back and make it metal to metal connection
While the bolt may be serving the purpose to make it work, right is right and everything else is ....

 

my suggestion would be put it metal to metal, if its touching plastic it could melt if it does short...

 

I'll go you one better cs-
use sandpaper on the metal surfaces to clean them shiny bare metal before ground wire install. Going thru paint or anything else degrades the ground
Result can be bad stereo to poor running car

 

Ok, I moved it to between plastic and metal frame. Is this good enough?

 

Linux...

Find a metal only location, plenty of them if you look carefully (trust me,I've spent much time in the lower dash) .. never put a ground connection b/w metal and plastic -- the previous post mentions risk of melting, i.e. possibly fire...

Do the right thing the first time and you'll never have to worry about it. You want to make sure you have a good metal on metal connection to a thick piece of metal that is ultimately connected to the vehicle's chassis.

 

Ok. How about this one? The bolt with red paint ?



I found this point near where I grounded. This new position contacts to the same metal frame as the old point. (Something is already grounded using this point - the one with yellow metal piece) As you see below picture, the star shaped ground point contacts to the same metal frame. So I thought this is good place to add my ground since I know that the star shaped ground is all general purpose. But now thinking again, wondering why that bolt is painted in red and what it is grounding (the one with yellow metal piece). I wonder why this already existing ground is not using the star shaped one and maybe this is something special and I shouldn't mess with it? Does anyone know about this? Should I move to somewhere else or can I keep using it?
I originally wanted to use the star shaped ground point but I couldn't get my hand to it.

 

the ground point looks fine. just make sure that its nice and secure. As far as why that one isn't part of the other one, only so much can be put on one point, physically, you look at it and it's full. No need to worry.

 

Thanks. Big relief now. What is that red paint on the bolt head? I didn't thought about it much at first but later I thought 'red=danger' meaning something that I shouldn't touch or something like 'have to be grounded all the time' thing. Any idea?

 

its so the assembler can see it, grab the other leads and attach it all in microseconds
They may also be marking them after its check for tight at the factory, you see a lot of yellow paint marks on suspension and undercar bolts- meaning they were checked for proper torque

have to be grounded all the time--yep- they all do! there is not sometimes ground.
Check your battery cables too, corrosion weakens ground and power

 

Ah.. that is why. Thanks for the clarifying.