I wired up my Blue Sea distribution block and the truck idle is very low, almost stalling out. It's wired directly to the battery positive and negative. Is the draw too much?
I barely had the battery disconected more than a minute so I don'r t think the ECU was reset. I did'nt even loose my radio stations. Should I use a body ground instead?

volt meter reads just abouve 12v at idle.

 

There is currently nothing hooked up to the distribution block and I used 8 Gauge wire, about 9 feet from the battery.

 

You're asking if the draw is too much... and then you say there is nothing connected to the distribution block. That means draw = 0.

Your idling voltage is low. With the truck off, your battery voltage should be approx. 12.5 V. With the truck idling, it should be around 13.5 to 14.5 V. Are you sure the wire from your alternator to the positive terminal on your battery didn't get disconnected by mistake? Did you possibly blow one of the charging system fuses? Not sure on your engine, but on the 3.4L, the first fuse I would check is a 7.5A fuse labeled "Alt-S". If that stuff all checks out, disconnect the new distribution block temporarily. Is the problem still there? Still low voltage? At that point, consider getting your alternator load tested.

 

I guess what I what I'm thinking is the 8ga wire is creating resistance. is resistance a load of sorts? should I ground to the body instead of the NEG terminal?

 

Resistance only becomes an issue when you have a complete circuit. If all you have hooked up is the positive terminal of the distribution block to the positive terminal of the battery, and the negative terminal of the distribution block to the negative terminal of the battery (assuming your distribution block has a negative bus on it...), with no fuses installed and no wires leaving the distribution block and connected to anything, then you don't yet have a circuit, meaning you don't yet have any current draw, meaning that resistance doesn't come into play yet.

Basically, if that's what your setup currently is, your battery wouldn't even know anything is connected to it at all yet.

Is this what you have (with the negative bus)?

To answer your question, yes it is OK to ground it directly to the negative post on your battery.

As mentioned before, you have to troubleshoot your low voltage.

 

Yes , That's the block, only it's the smaller model with 6.
funny thing though, as I'm driving in to work this morning, the idle is low and the volt meter is reading 12v at idle and 13.5v with higher RPM. after about 10 miles, I take a look at the tach and the RPMs have gone from 400 to 600. (it's been 600 since I purchased the truck in '03.) Voltage is 13.5 idling and driving.

Q: could this be an ECU issue? maybe resetting after I pulled the power.

also there are no OBDC codes.
Just a mystery I guess.

 

Yeah, if you were idling that low, that could have been the reason for your low voltage readings.

13.5V is still a bit on the low side with the engine idling though, but it's better than 12V.