Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Got the replacement wire harness kit for the '95 V6

This is a kit for doing the wiring harness replacement that contains all 4
harnesses (power/fan/main engine/fuel injection), the wire ties/mounting
clips, and it even includes replacement intake manifold gaskets.

I got it for $650+shipping from Bill Jenkins. If you need to replace the
fuel injection harness because it's cracking, chances are that the others
are too and it'd be cheaper in the long run to buy this kit (given that
the fuel injection harness is about $350 by itself, and it's nowhere near
as much of a beast as the power or the main engine harnesses).

I'm happy to say that Ford did indeed use the correct wire insulation this
time around, as verified by expensive and highly technical test equipment
that Ford's QC department did not have access to during 95-97.

Specifically, a cigarette lighter.

The flame doesn't even leave a mark on the insulation, wheras on the
harness I got out of a wrecked 95 Zetec Contour, the flame started
charring the insulation and making a burning plastic smell.
No smell when applied to the wire on the new harness.

Of course, I chose an inconspicuous area to test (the ground wires from
the EEC-IV connector).

They also left the connectors in for every possible option that was
available on the car, including ABS. So if you don't have ABS or traction
control or cruise control and want to add it, replacing the harness will
do most of the required work for you. I think the foglight connectors are
even on this harness.

Brian

Geez........what took you so long?? LOL I've had my new wires in since the end of April! You slacker!

Seriously, glad to hear that you got it finally. A few quick comments....it's hard replacing the wires to the damn Alternator. Took me a half hour to get my bloodied hand in there!! Hey...your CEL will turn off. Mine did...finally! 150K and no CEL! :p I also replaced the coil pack and all the plugs as well...did a quick inspection of the intakes too..but they're still clean from last November's cleansing. PM me if you need any advice on how to do it. It took me 10 hours to replace the Main Engine Harness and the Fuel Charge Harness.

Good Luck!

I haven't installed it yet, I only got it today.

Did you replace all 4 harnesses? According to the instructions I have to remove the radiator and AC condenser to replace the power harness.

Not sure about the alternator...I was thinking I should be able to reach it from under the car.

I was thinking that these harness kits would also be good for doing a Duratec engine swap (into what, I don't know).

Brian

Won't Ford do the work on this, if they deem it necessary, as long as your car is under 100,000 miles? Where do I check to see if I need to get new harnesses?

Yes, but my car has 125,000 miles.

You can check under the intake manifold or where the wires connect to the 12-prong connectors on the side of the engine, near the power steering pump side if it's a Duratec.

If it's a Zetec the damage seems to start at the coolant temperature sender/sensor...

Brian

Just do an inspection of any and all wires under the hood. If any are cracked, Ford MUST replace them as long as you are under 100K. I have nearly 150k on mine so I was S.O.L. Look at my web page , on the bottom it says 99M03 recall. Download that info....it says all you need to know.

Brian, I didn't replace the power harness. I inspected all my wires and none I could locate were cracking. Unless some electrical Gremlins surface, I will just wait to replace it. I see no reason why you would need to remove the radiator or the AC condensor to do this. This harness also connects to the fusebox inside the car. I looked under the dash...and it would be very, very, very tight getting all that through the firewall.

You can reach the alternator from under the car, but it is an absolute ***** to get your hands in there. If you have two people or a mirror it will be easier. Of course, I was doing this at 1 am in the parking lot with only a flashlight....so maybe that had something to do with it...

Oh...if you mess with the spark plugs at all...make sure you put them back in the correct order....LOL. It drove me nuts for two days....I'm an idiot . What was even funnier is that I took it to Ford and the tech looked at it all day and couldn't figure it out until I came after work and we talked for a half hour.

I suppose I should look at mine one of these days, with 115k on the clock I missed out on this one

If the harness goes it starts a nice little fire, right?

-Pete

A fire is definently a possible result of the insulation failing. You might just get random drivability/electrical problems though.

It really depends on which wires short together...basically random chance...

Brian

I did some research on NHTSA and fires are possible, but not likely from cracking. Cracking will cause arcing, which will cause your CEL to turn on and lessened performance.

Good Luck, Brian. It was a pain in the booty just to get Ford to perform the recall, and my car was at 78K. It took them a week to do the work and cost me $100 for a rental (they picked up a good bit-just not all of it).