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Auto vs Manual 3.0L Engine Subharness


djayedot

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Hi guys, long time no talk. I was very frequent here years back but unfortunately can no longer access that account so I had to make a new one.

I'm in a predicament- I have a 2001 Ranger 3.0L non-flex/5spd/2wd that I'm throwing a motor in. I do not have the engine side subharness among other miscellaneous things (very long story as to why) so I picked one up locally that waas VERY complete for a great price. Forgot exact year but it does fall into 01-03 range. I got a bit excited, and my brain stopped working for a second. Brought it home and realized the subharness on this new one is for an automatic and possibly 4wd truck. UH OH... I also forgot to check if this one is flex fuel or not...

So, aside from injectors, what else is different on the flex 3.0? Is there a fuel composition sensor somewhere?

And, more importantly, will this endeavor be as simple as shorting the starter interlock wires at the MLPS connector, and running a connector from that connector to the reverse light switch on the manual? Or is there more to it? Is the pinout at the ECU and big plug on top all the same? I'll still be using my original ECU and engine bay harness.

Lastly, I picked up an M5OD a little bit stupidly, too. I totally forgot that there are different style VSS/OSS connections. This one has the little black sensor on the extension housing with the right angle plug and 2 or 3 pins. Is that the style that my 01 should've originally had? It's been so long I can hardly remember...

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, I'm trying to throw this thing together in about a week I need is bad!

-Austin
 


RonD

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The 104-wire connector and pin assignments are the same from 1995 thru 2006, 2007 got the new 3 connector computer

So wiring on the connector didn't change, the computers firmware/software was changed for engine model and trans type
Not all 104 wire pins are used on any computer
i.e. there are 8 fuel injector pins, only 4 are used with 4cyl engine, only 6 are used with V6
The other 2 pins are there just not used by the software in Rangers, and no wires to those pins in the harness of a V6

The automatic harness will have the extra wires for the solenoids and sensors in the transmission, but a manual trans computer would not have the software to use them or even "see" them hooked up

2001 Flex fuel vehicle will not have the Fuel sensor and 2001 computer won't need it
2001 Computer will need OSS sensor signal from transmission
2001 computer also sends out the VSS speed signal to speedo/odo, based on OSS signal, so no speedometer without OSS

The START circuit is separate from computer, kind of, lol
There is a Neutral Switch that must be closed to pass the 12volts from ignition switch to Starter Relay in engine bay fuse box
This is just a mechanical switch so can be by-passed with a jumper wire, or the installation of a different switch
Automatic has the Neutral switch on the drivers side of transmission, as part of the DTR sensor
Manual used a Clutch switch inside the cab
2001 may still have the "Clutch switch Jumper" on a factory automatic harness, its a 6 slot long connector that would be under the dash, it was for the Clutch switch, but an extension connector was plugged into it to extend it to DTR sensor under the cab
So just need to unplug that extension and plug it in to the clutch switch

In 2002 Rangers got separate manual and automatic harness's, so no "Clutch switch jumper" anymore
Up thru 2001 base harness was for manual trans, automatics got an added-on harness to that base harness
2001 is too close to the change over to say what it is

PATS(passive anti-theft system) is INSIDE a 2001 computer, it prevents startup if key in ignition is wrong one
One of its anti-theft preventers is that it disables the Starter Relay in the engine fuse box, this is the "kind of" link to starter circuit
 
Last edited:

djayedot

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Wow!! Lots of good info here man thank you for breaking this all down to me.

I'll be running my original 2001 manual computer, interior harness, engine bay harness, even the battery harness. All of that is intact and unmolested. So I guess all the clutch switch wiring inside should be how it needs to be. Curious to find out if I'll have to jump the neutral switch at the DTM connector, or maybe because of my original setup it won't even pass current through there in the first place, since it's really looking for the clutch switch. Hmmm. Thank god the pin assignments in the big connector remain the same.

As far as all the VSS vs OSS stuff, correct me if I'm wrong here but didn't Ford use two different styles on these trucks? The older being the classic gear speedo drive with a magnetic pickup piggybacked to it, and then the newer being a more compact, typical magnetic pickup that just goes in to a hole on the side of the trans. My new trans has the newer style but I HONESTLY can't remember if my original trans was like that or not...

-Austin
 

djayedot

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Just looked at RockAuto, and I guess the OSS that's in this new transmission is the same as what should've come in the truck. Looks exactly like Motorcraft DY1206. Interesting that they seem to fit both auto and manual applications. Hopefully the pigtail for it on this auto harness reaches to where it needs to go...

-Austin
 

RonD

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Ford added VSS(vehicle speed sensor) to all vehicles in the 1980's, it was on the Speedometer cable gear drive on trans or transfer case(4WD), a dual unit, speedo cable and 2 wires for VSS
It was used for computer and cruise
In 1995 Rangers dropped speedometer cable and switched to electric speedo/odo, using that same 8,000ppm(pulse per mile) VSS, just no speedometer cable on it anymore

In 1998 Rangers, the gear drive speed system was dropped altogether for a few years
In 1998 thru 2000 Ford hijacked the rear axles ABS sensor(20,000ppm) and used the GEM module to down convert the signal to 8,000ppm which was sent out to speedo/odo, computer and cruise
It was still the ABS sensor, GEM just used the signal
ABS doesn't care about "speed" just fast changes in pulses indicating a wheel lockup up, but people still called this sensor a VSS which is fine, lol

In 2001 Rangers Ford added OSS(output shaft speed) sensor to manual and automatic transmission, these use 32,000ppm
The computer gets the 32,000ppm and down converts it to the 8,000ppm and sends it out to speedo/odo and cruise

From 1998 on, either the GEM or Computer would also have tire size and axle ratio info, as need, to calibrate speedometer to show correct speed
1997 and earlier were calibrated by changing tooth count on driven gear

2001 and up 4x4s have Low Range speedometer re-calibration, because OSS is on the transmission when you shift to low range in transfer case the speed would be way off, lol
So when 4low is activated the computer is "made aware" of that and recalculates speed signal to reflect that on the speedo/odo
 

djayedot

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Damn, more EXCELLENT information here thank you man!!

It does appear as if I have the right OSS.

Now, on to my next issue- I gave away my block/trans separator plate and can't find one ANYWHERE... Not even in Ford microfiche or eBay... Any suggestions?
 

djayedot

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2001
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Transmission
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Hey guys, sorry for the hiatus. I've made some progress since my last post:

-Buddy of mine who works at Ford finally figured out the p/n for the block plate, like $22 from Tasca and in stock, great deal.
-Engine turned out to be non-flex so that's cool.
-Bypassing the starter interlock and adding the reverse light switch was super easy (all wires were in DTM connector). Chopped off and sealed up other big "lever lock" style connector.
-Basically everything else electrical-wise seems to be about the same, although of course we won't know that for sure until it's actually running and driving...
-Engine and trans are mated up and sitting in the truck, everything else is basically installed, just waiting on cooling pack and some exhaust parts.

I did run in to one problem, though. On the transmission leg of my engine bay sub-harness, there were two female 2-position connectors (one green and one black, can't remember wire color codes at the moment). I assumed one of those was for a transfer case switch and the other was for the VSS, however neither plug will mate with my VSS. I've already ordered the pigtail, should have it tomorrow or Tuesday, but does anyone know the two wires I need to tie in the VSS? Would they be in the DTM connector, the big square one, or one of these two loose guys?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, this job is getting pretty close to completion and BOY am I excited to have this truck back!!!

-Austin
 

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