this came up on another forum, and I didnt know the answer but figured you guys would.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...=771563&page=2


his question is in post #24

ill pass along whatever you guys offer up

My experience in that area is the metal squares are the heads of the mounting plate'* bolts. I just pulled one of these off in a salvage yard along with the ICM. Those bolts are longer than they need to be, almost an inch.

I'm just getting ready to install three new coil packs and my plan is to get wire brush the area pretty good, especially those square bolt heads and then apply some heat-sink compound and mount the ICM. I seem to recall another post suggesting this course of action as the ICM can get a bit warm. You might prefer dielectric grease to fight corrosion, but I'm going with the compound.

Best of luck!

Make sure your compound doesn't disrupt electrical conductivity. That'* a critical ground location for the car.

That'* good advice. But, a lot of repairs in this area suggest the use of dielectric grease. Well I believe dielectric is another way of saying insulator. So the use of the grease should be avoided as well. I certainly do believe dielectric grease is great to use in a connector housing to eliminate moisture without shorting terminals.

No doubt a ground is an important thing. But heat dissipation is important as well. Right now my ICM is just stuck on top of the mounting plate. I'll look through my shop manual, it just seems a little un-GM-like to depend on that kind of grounding without a star washer and black wire running somewhere.

I'd rather not smoke my ICM, and I hate to run afoul of the wisdom here. So, I certainly will take your advice. I probably pulled the trigger a little too soon on answering the original query; it seems the other forum (AF) got a lot of replies.

Best of luck!

You're right! There'* a big friggin' ground right under the plate that is the main connection from the battery! Oh how did I overlook that! OK, back to reading old threads...........