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Electrical Meltdown....Help!


RhainyC

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Ok, so a few weeks ago, we had a bit of a near fire...scared the bejesus outta me...and I don't scare easy! :fie:

Hubby is working on trying to fix this, and at the moment has the dash in a bazillion pieces.

The difficult part is where he needs some help. How do you replace the clips in the fuse box itself? The insulation on the wire is burned clean off down to the clip. He could possibly make an external connection but the wire that burned is a jumper from one fuse to another.

Another issue is that the connection is made through the big connector in the firewall. Anyone had any experience removing the pins and replacing those? He works with electrical connectors all the time, and knows it is possible. He would just need to get the crimp pins and pull the old ones out. Any idea if these are available from a parts store?

What we thought was simply a shorted fuse ended up being a real mess of a short and fully toasted wires. The wires that caused the mess have been found! Here is a pic of the wire (well sort of a pic) that toasted:



The pink and red show part of the parts that are the problem.(the back up light wiring is not shown, but it toasted too) The wiring pigtail that connects on the tranny for both the neutral safety switch and the backup lights, then goes to the fuse box is what toasted.

Apparently Ford in their infinite wisdom didn't make sure this bundle of wires wouldn't drop onto the mufflers...so I have to figure out what the heck the part(s) are called, so we can order them...lol

Hopefully someone carries the wires w/connectors at not too spendy a price...because Ford doesn't make them anymore and we don't have a wrecking yard within 50+ miles. *Sighs*

Any help or suggestions would be truly appreciated folk.
 


Jspafford

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If the plugs on both ends are fine, I would just cut out the bad section of wiring and splice in a new piece of the proper guage.

There wires are grounds, I don't see how they could have shorted out?

When I did my Manual T-case swap I just used scotch locks and crimped the wires onto the little left coming off the t-case. They've been hanging down there for 2 years with little protection and have not shorted out.
 

MAKG

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By far the easiest solution is to get the section of wiring harness you need from the junkyard. It's not like 1991s are rare. And it's VERY much worth a 50+ mile trip to avoid many hours of fixing all the subsequent problems. ESPECIALLY for the fuse block.

I don't see AT ALL how the neutral switch circuit can cause a meltdown. That goes to the computer and back. It might blow out the computer (but I seriously doubt it), but it doesn't interact with anything else.

This is VERY far from the muffler. You mean the cats? There is a clip on the transmission to hold this in. Last time someone serviced that transmission, they missed that clip.

Frankly, a failure that would cook the fuse block without blowing any fuses points to a fault in the fuse block itself. I don't believe there are any passthroughs there, so any short in feed power will not affect the fuse block.
 
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RobbieD

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I wish that I knew of a source for new specialty terminals for fuseblock repair use, but sorry, I don't. The best way I know of to fix your dilemma would be to get a good harness from an identical donor truck, and either swap the harness whole or use components from the donor to fix the original burnt harness.

If the fuse terminals got too hot in the shorted box, it may have damaged the fuse block itself, so that even new terminals may not correctly and safely lock in place. I'm afraid that my best suggestion is a good harness from a boneyard, or maybe somebody here on TRS has one.
 

RhainyC

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Thanks Folks, as always you guys are great!

Hubby will be registered and on here in a while to clarify what I mistakenly said about what actually fried...it was the back up switch wiring... *looking sheepish at making a mistake* He's doing a good job trouble shooting, now we just need to figure out where the nearest wrecking yard with any Rangers is...
 

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hmmm


you have a hitch on it? you may have smashed the trailer wires and that i have seen burn up the headlight switch and ect.
 

RhainyC

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Hmmm, well I thought hubby was going to get on and clear up my mistake, but I guess he didn't make it yet...

Apparently (hopefully I am correct this time), the Back up light switch, on the tranny, and the neutral safety switch wires, share a common (tube?) that as MAKG pointed out, should have been clipped to keep them away from, probably as suggested, the Cats. When the tranny was rebuilt, just after I bought the truck (another long story), MAKG, again probably has the key, they were not clipped properly OR the clip failed, allowing them to fall down onto something (the Cats?) that was hot enough to melt the insulation, as well as the tubing they were in...thus causing the toasting of the wires to the fuse block...and...since there was a 10 amp fuse in the fuse block for the turn signals, instead of the 15 amp there should have been...that was the weakest link and it toasted up to that point and into the fuse block.

Hmmm, I have either clarified the issue...or muddied it even further. ;) I am hoping it is the former, since hubby hasn't been on to say what's what yet.

Anyways, either way, we need to find the wiring harness's and a fuse block in order to put the truck back together. I am just trying to decide if we would be wiser to go up to BC (Canada) since the truck is originally from there, or if the stuff from a US version would work as well...and once that's decided/known, we can plan the trip. Either 50+ miles south or 5+ miles north (with a 1-3 hour border wait, depending upon the day/time) LOL

Thanks All of you for the responses, do please fill hubby in when he posts...and I probably screwed up the description again, so...take his word over mine! ;)
 

MAKG

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I hate to say it -- that isn't making any sense.

Too LOW a fuse will just blow the fuse under normal operation. It won't cause anything to fry. The neutral switch has no connection to the fuse block, and certainly isn't fused (directly).

I can't explain a fried fuse block with anything but a failure within the fuse block itself.

And I really think you're looking at two independent failures.

Going to Canada for this is just going to make it cost more. It's not worth it. Emissions may be slightly different, but that's not going to affect underdash wiring or body wiring. The one possible exception might be due to the Canada-required daytime running lights, but that only means you'll have an extra wire in the same connector (most likely) that just won't connect to anything.
 

LC_WA

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Howdy,

So first off, turn signals went out, replaced the fuse with a 15A and they worked for a short bit. The fuse blew after one use. Next day tried to replace the fuse, just to get her home with turn signals. Didn't have a 15A so I replaced it with a 10A. The turn signals didn't work with the new fuse, but I didn't think anything of it and left the fuse in. She backs out of the parking lot and goes to take off and smoke comes rolling out from under the dash. The fuse didn't blow, honest, should have but it didn't.

Got it home and found that the wire from the bulkhead connector on the firewall to the fusebox is what smoked. I thought it was more than one but that was it. It jumps from one fuse to another on the back of the fuseblock and the wire was looped up in the harness so it looked like more than one. Checked the wire (purple/orange) from the engine compartment side and found it was grounded. This thankfully has another connector before it dives down beside the engine. Broke the connection there and it still read grounded. Wiggled the wire and ground went away. Orange/purple is hot to the backup light switch and to the turn signals.

Once I got under the truck, I found that the harness that holds the wire going to the neutral switch and backup light switch had been laying on the exhaust pipe (way before the catalytic converter BTW). The wires were melted together and were bare in spots. From what I could see, the "conduit" had been taped to the brackets and the tape had pretty much disintegrated. In fact, one of the brackets was at the point where the burn had occurred. Part of it had melted but it looked like it may have broken, allowing the wires to lay on the exhaust pipe.

Replacing the burnt wire under the truck isn't a problem. I found the backup light connector online but not the neutral switch one. The old ones will probably still work but I figured I might as well replace them while I was under there. The biggest problem will be replacing the wire inside the cab. The insulation is toast all the way from connector to connector. If there was some insulation left close to either one, I would just butt spice a piece of wire in. If at all possible, I would like to replace the whole piece, connectors and all. I work with electronics so I am familiar with wire harnesses and connectors. It is just a matter of finding the replacements and the tools. Worse come to worse, I will just bypass the fusebox and bulkhead connector, fuses fit just fine in female quick-connect tab crimps.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Hope this clarifies things a bit more.

Larry
 

RhainyC

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Well folks thanks for the input...hubby and I are probably going to make the trip across the Canadian border, since it is about 5 minutes away, and the Canadian $ is at about 95% at the moment...meaning our dollar is worth more up there.

If we can't find the parts at any of the wrecking yards up there, then we have to drive south about 50+ miles to the nearest one in Washington to us....*sighs*
 

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