Daughters 1st Truck

[Josh B]

You need a Haynes Manual or a Chilton's. They're not color coded but after you pour over them awhile you might begin to sort those plugs and wires out.
After you get one sorted you'll begin to get on a roll, and the others can also begin to fall into place.
Sorting out wiring can be very difficult, but it is still something you can do if you put your mind to it.
I do wish you well with it

 

[holyford86]

The two black ones and the plug are on the passenger fender under the hood and the larger bundle of cut wires are in the driver's side under the hood. The larger bundle looks like it runs along the drivers side of the intake manifold and may go to some sensors.

In the chopped-up bundle on the intake; Orange/yellow goes to the 3/4 shift solenoid, Purple/yellow controls torque converter lockup, and Red feeds power to the other side of both of those solenoids, all 3 of these will not be needed for a manual trans and can be capped off. Red/Light blue and Pink should be connected together, they would be to a neutral safety switch that a manual trans does not have, in addition to connecting these together, under the dash there will be a plug around the area of the clutch pedal with a cap installed, remove this cap and plug it into the switch on the clutch master cylinder to have a safety or if you want to be able to start it in gear just leave the plug in the cap and move on. Black/Pink and Purple/Orange would run the reverse lights, there will be a switch on the upper left side of the trans, this is what it controls. that should about cover that one, when I get another minute I'll go after the other plugs. Hopefully that helps

 

[oBIODOSEo]

In the chopped-up bundle on the intake; Orange/yellow goes to the 3/4 shift solenoid, Purple/yellow controls torque converter lockup, and Red feeds power to the other side of both of those solenoids, all 3 of these will not be needed for a manual trans and can be capped off. Red/Light blue and Pink should be connected together, they would be to a neutral safety switch that a manual trans does not have, in addition to connecting these together, under the dash there will be a plug around the area of the clutch pedal with a cap installed, remove this cap and plug it into the switch on the clutch master cylinder to have a safety or if you want to be able to start it in gear just leave the plug in the cap and move on. Black/Pink and Purple/Orange would run the reverse lights, there will be a switch on the upper left side of the trans, this is what it controls. that should about cover that one, when I get another minute I'll go after the other plugs. Hopefully that helps

That helps a ton! Thank you!

 

[Josh B]

Man, you got lucky! That kind of help is hard to find. I hope you'll still keep an eye for loose wires or things that may short. Even dig a little, around the head and tail lights too, places where could have just gotten snagged. It only takes one to overheat and start a chain reaction
Best wishes with it

 

[holyford86]

The two large black wires on a plug go directly to battery negative.

 

[holyford86]

That 3 wire plug is proving to be elusive, from what I can tell it appears to be a test port as one of the wires could be a tach signal (Tan/Yellow), the other two I cannot find in any diagram that I have access to, at least that make sense as to why they're in the engine compartment. You could test for continuity between that Tan/Yellow wire and the wire of the same color at the ignition coil, if you do, that's what it is. Either way the truck should run fine without that plug connected.

 

[oBIODOSEo]

Ok. I'll test them. Thank you for all the help it's greatly appreciated! The bigger bundle already has the ones you suggested twisted together. I'll be using Solder seals to make a more permanent weather proof connection. Hoping to have it fired up and driving this weekend!

 

[Josh B]

The only T/Y I've found goes to a left rear speaker, and it was on the final electrical diagram

 

[holyford86]

The only T/Y I've found goes to a left rear speaker, and it was on the final electrical diagram

That would have run inside the cab under the carpet, the front speaker wires on second gen trucks run out the main cab bulkhead to the radiator support then split there and run along the outside of the inner fenders to the doors, it's weird.

 

[SenorNoob]

...it's weird.

Yep. Just because the place you found the wire isn't logical doesn't necessarily men you're wrong. They were designed to be easier/cheaper to assemble in bulk. Makes for some .. odd.. layouts.

 

[James Morse]

1991 Ford Explorer, Ranger Body/Electrical OEM Truck Shop Manual Very Good | eBay

At $16 and free shipping I'd grab it right now - but - if you can find the set of 2 (the other one being engine/drivetrain) get them both because they really are a set, this is half of it.

I pd $40 for mine (both) and I'd say never was it better spent.

Google search turns up Ford wiring diagrams too, but pricey $99 I don't think you need it if you have the shop manuals
1991 Ford Ranger Large Format Wiring Diagrams Manual (diyrepairmanuals.com)

I think a set of Ford shop manuals will cover most things you'd want. Granted there are other tech publications referred to in places, but with just those primary bibles you would be way ahead of the game.

Luckily there seems to be answers to every question at this site.