Earth strap?

Nick_in_Suffolk

Member
 Suffolk
Doing a bit of a deep clean on my wife's car and noticed what appears to be an earth strap hanging down at the back on the LH side of the exhaust. It seems to be a rusted through bracket that should connect to the rear bumper subframe. Am I likely to have a problem if I just leave it hanging for a while? I could try disconnecting the whole thing.

iNVitoE.jpg
 
it'll be there for a good reason, you need to re-connect it. Maybe you can obtain one as a spare from BMW? Check real oem for details and fitting hints..
 
Can't tell from the photo if that block of metal on the strap is a packing piece or was attached to the subframe with a stud fixed in it that the strap fastens to. You might just be lucky and its s sheared bolt and the lump is just a thick washer.

You need to get back underneath and take the bolt/stud and lump off the strap and see what you've got. Then swing the strap around and look for a fixing point (the other half of a sheared bolt or less corroded bit where the lump was welded on) within the arc of the strap - remember chances are the strap was not tight.

The little lugs are welded onto the subframe for speed of assembly so it might be more fiddly but if you can get a bolt through another hole (in the same component and without fouling anything that moves) clean the surfaces to get a good electrical contact and bolt it back.

Or just send us soem more photos so we can suggest fixing points.
 
Back
Top Bottom