"Reduced torque" error, alternator BSD issue, possibly a poor ground
Hello all,
Ticking issues off the list one by one. My mechanic and I have been trying to track down an issue that is reportedly causing "reduced torque" or "reduced power". The car is not in limp mode, but there seems to be some sort of electrical issue causing compromised engine performance.
Recently I had an error with the gear selection switch after a heavy rain--the dash would not indicate a gear (no P, R, N or D), and often it would put the transmission in safe mode. A few days after drying up, the problem has mostly disappeared.
At any rate, my mechanic looked at my car (gratis) earlier today, and showed me codes for both the alternator BSD interface, and also that something was causing the reduced engine output. He thought I might have a poor ground somewhere. He mentioned I check the two grounds in the trunk and 2 on the "passenger side rail", I think he said.
I had to leave before we could check those together and I thought I knew what he was referring to, silly me. However, once home I'm a bit stumped trying to figure out where the grounds are he was talking about. One was the negative terminal on the battery (cleaned it with a wire brush, positive terminal too). I'm not sure where the other one in the trunk is, or the two on the passenger side. He mentioned something about 2 10mm bolts for that one. Under the carpet? Under the car itself on the outside?
I tried researching all the ground locations for our cars online, but could not for the life of me find specific results. Usually was for the wrong series. The manual was no help. Is there some sort of service manual that might help me?
