I wrote this thread to serve as a potential light of hope and a starting point for anyone with wiring problems. It is NOT specific enough for a neophite to successfully accomplish. I was (many years ago) an electrical engineer and did electronic assemby work while in college, so I am very comfortable with wiring work. You must use good soldering and insulation techniques.
Like many people I've had to deal with wiring insulation that was self destructing and making daily life with my car difficult....anything from performance "mood-swings" to CELs to no starts in wet weather. So I decided to bite the bullet and replace the entire engine harness assy.
To begin I spent many hours searching through the forums here for ideas and got a good understanding of the costs involved. I was not keen on spending $1500 to $2500 for a new wiring set through Ford since my entire cost to buy my car and build it to date had been less than $2,500. I just knew that some cars that had done the wiring recall must be in junk yards and I just needed to find one.....NOT as easy as I thought! My 95 V6 w/MTX is fairly rare, and even after expanding my search nationwide for several weeks I found none in good condition.
In the end I found a great and cheap solution that almost anyone who has a bit of patience and attention to detail can accomplish. I had found several 95 automatic cars in junkyards, most with good wiring. I knew that there would be differences but felt that this would probably be a surmountable problems since an Auto probably has more connections than the MTX.
I was right, it worked, and cost me $30 from a U-Pull-it. Here's what I did (and I'm kicking myself for not taking photos):
Pulled a nice clean engine harness assy from a 1995 V6 Automatic car.
This included the wiring from the PCM to the square block connector by the intake and the "fuel charging" harness that runs over the top of the motor.
I also removed the fan harness assy by cutting it just below and in front of the battery. My "Power Distribution" Harness is in good shape, so I skipped it.
At home I removed my old wiring and layed out both harnesses for comparison, carefully checking each routing, color code etc. (this did require opening up much of the cable covering). I found to my delight that every wire out of the PCM connector for my MTX car was duplicated on the Auto Wiring. The Auto wiring had many extra connections. To make a long story short, I cut off all the unneccesarry wires and removed them from the assy by pulling them through. At the PCM connector NOTHING HAD TO BE ADDED - JUST DELETED.
Here were the areas that took a few minutes of thinking and re-routing:
4 of the wires that connected to the Automatic Transmission connector are retained and used for the MTX back-up light switch. They are the same colors as the MTX wires to the switch so you can solder on you old MTX switch without difficulty.
A small red wire that runs from the square connector (by the intake) over to the alternator appears NOT to be on the Auto Wiring. However, a yellow wire comes from the same location and runs over to a dead end at the "Fuel Charging" Harness. You can re-route this and connect it to the red wire.
Also a couple of wires on the Square connector go from one place on that connector to another place. These are different locations in 2 cases and just need re-routing.
On the Fan Assy wire, I just cut my old off an replaced (soldered on) the new. ( and by the way, I found that although there are minor part differences, several other year harnesses work in this application)
Other notes:
Fuel Charging Assy is IDENTICAL between Auto and Manual.
It took me 4 hours without any guideance or help. It worked like a charm with no CELs...I did this 4 months ago and no problems.....you can see my post on the Dyno forum that my motors making good power.
Like many people I've had to deal with wiring insulation that was self destructing and making daily life with my car difficult....anything from performance "mood-swings" to CELs to no starts in wet weather. So I decided to bite the bullet and replace the entire engine harness assy.
To begin I spent many hours searching through the forums here for ideas and got a good understanding of the costs involved. I was not keen on spending $1500 to $2500 for a new wiring set through Ford since my entire cost to buy my car and build it to date had been less than $2,500. I just knew that some cars that had done the wiring recall must be in junk yards and I just needed to find one.....NOT as easy as I thought! My 95 V6 w/MTX is fairly rare, and even after expanding my search nationwide for several weeks I found none in good condition.
In the end I found a great and cheap solution that almost anyone who has a bit of patience and attention to detail can accomplish. I had found several 95 automatic cars in junkyards, most with good wiring. I knew that there would be differences but felt that this would probably be a surmountable problems since an Auto probably has more connections than the MTX.
I was right, it worked, and cost me $30 from a U-Pull-it. Here's what I did (and I'm kicking myself for not taking photos):
Pulled a nice clean engine harness assy from a 1995 V6 Automatic car.
This included the wiring from the PCM to the square block connector by the intake and the "fuel charging" harness that runs over the top of the motor.
I also removed the fan harness assy by cutting it just below and in front of the battery. My "Power Distribution" Harness is in good shape, so I skipped it.
At home I removed my old wiring and layed out both harnesses for comparison, carefully checking each routing, color code etc. (this did require opening up much of the cable covering). I found to my delight that every wire out of the PCM connector for my MTX car was duplicated on the Auto Wiring. The Auto wiring had many extra connections. To make a long story short, I cut off all the unneccesarry wires and removed them from the assy by pulling them through. At the PCM connector NOTHING HAD TO BE ADDED - JUST DELETED.
Here were the areas that took a few minutes of thinking and re-routing:
4 of the wires that connected to the Automatic Transmission connector are retained and used for the MTX back-up light switch. They are the same colors as the MTX wires to the switch so you can solder on you old MTX switch without difficulty.
A small red wire that runs from the square connector (by the intake) over to the alternator appears NOT to be on the Auto Wiring. However, a yellow wire comes from the same location and runs over to a dead end at the "Fuel Charging" Harness. You can re-route this and connect it to the red wire.
Also a couple of wires on the Square connector go from one place on that connector to another place. These are different locations in 2 cases and just need re-routing.
On the Fan Assy wire, I just cut my old off an replaced (soldered on) the new. ( and by the way, I found that although there are minor part differences, several other year harnesses work in this application)
Other notes:
Fuel Charging Assy is IDENTICAL between Auto and Manual.
It took me 4 hours without any guideance or help. It worked like a charm with no CELs...I did this 4 months ago and no problems.....you can see my post on the Dyno forum that my motors making good power.