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How to Get the Power Distribution Box Loose


chicagodude

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Greetings to One and All,

Before I start working on anything electrical, I disconnect the battery so that all power is removed. I also double-check my work before reconnecting the battery.

I have an intermittent electrical problem with my 94 ranger. I believe it's in the power distribution box. The box is under the hood, just behind the battery attached to the body just above the wheel well. I'll attach a picture of it.

Can you tell me how to get the box loose from the body? Is it easy to get to the wiring under the relays?

I broke a plastic relay box on a car last winter so I'm a little paranoid about breaking this one when trying to get it disconnected from the body.
 

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rtg143

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Those 2 tabs on the battery side are holding it in place.
 

The_Epsicle

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Also there should be a bolt holding the wiring harness to the fender that you're going to want to undo so you have some slack to maneuver the box. When you undo the tabs on the battery side the box will come out with a little force, but don't strong arm it. There will also be four of the same style tabs on each side of the box so you can open the underside and access the relays from the bottom.
 

Mark_88

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Looks very different from the 96 wiring. I was going to say it's all attached and comes out with the inside hood wiring harness, but 94 doesn't look like that at all.

As said by Epsicle, there should be at least one or two bolts on the fender side...mine had a prop on the bottom to hold it up against downward force when installing relays et al,.
 

chicagodude

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Thanks guys for helping me out. I managed to get it off the two tabs without breaking anything. I had to pull the battery out before I could get it out. It looks like there 3 tabs on each side of the box that hold it together. It looks like you have to get inside the box to get to the wiring.

In the beginning, I found and replaced a bad relay, the A/C WOT had an open coil. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with my intermittent.

I'll test it for a while before trying to get the relay/fuse box apart.
 

The_Epsicle

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The box comes apart really easy when you depress all the tabs, the trouble is getting all the tabs depressed at the same time. Good luck and let us know what you find, you might help someone out with the same problem down the road.
 

chicagodude

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I found a lot of green corrosion on one of the two diode terminals. I haven't been able to clean it yet because I haven't been able to figure out how to get the terminal out of the plastic housing.
 

chicagodude

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Before I started this project, I disconnected the battery so that all power was removed. I always disconnect the battery when working on a vehicle.

I figured out how to get the terminals out of the Ranger relay/fuse box. I took the diode and two fuses, 30A and 40A out. I then removed the yellow plastic piece by pusing the two retainers (circled) towards either end and pulling the yellow plastic piece out. It was very easy to get out..

I took the yellow piece out in order to get at the black clip which holds the terminal in place.
 

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chicagodude

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With the yellow piece out, I then pulled back the black retainer (circled) with a small jeweler's screwdriver and gently tugged the wire from the back of the box and got the terminal and wire out of the box.

You can see the removed terminal to the left of the box in the picture below.
 

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chicagodude

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Before I started this project, I disconnected the battery so that all power was removed. I always disconnect the battery when working on a vehicle.

Here are pics of the terminal that was connected to the anode of the diode. The two terminals in the box that hold the diode are perpendicular to each other.

This female terminal accepts a male 0.25" quick-connect terminal.

These pics were shot after I cleaned the terminal as best as I could. It had green corrosion on it.

I don't know where to get an exact replacement terminal. If somebody can tell me whereto get one, I'd be very grateful. If I had a replacement, I would cut the old one off and crimp the new one onto the wire.
 

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