1992 2.3 engine wiring harness

[sdevine]

Ranger friends, I have been experiencing intermittent crank no start, that mostly happened when it was damp out. I live in Houston so that is a lot of the time! Spray starting fluid in the intake, starts right up- not a spark problem. Fuel pump running, and making 42 psi at the rail. Oh look, the pump does not go off after 2 seconds when you turn the ignition on like it should- it keeps running. Troubleshooting- looks like the ECU is bad, or the relays are not working. Test the relay, the EEC relay is bad. Great! Replaced it, no joy. Must be the ECU. Replaced that, no joy! Ugh, could it be the wiring?

So, that brings me to my question- have any of you seen the wiring harness taken apart, and have you seen the black wire coming out of the ECU to be spliced into a piece of bare wire, then wrapped up with the pink wire and the orange/red wire with aluminum tape? It looks to me like the black wire was replaced and spliced in with a piece of bare wire, then wrapped with the others. Now, it was done very well, but does not make sense. So, before I go taking it out, was this how it was originally and why would the wire be bare and then wrapped in aluminum tape? Black would be a ground, and my intermittent no run mixed with the pump not turning off would indicate a short or no ground somewhere. Ideas?

 

[sdevine]

FYI, that wire is supposed to be like that, and it must be wrapped up . Still working on this intermittent problem, but the harness appears to be ok.