Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting I know this is long, but I could really use the HELP!

Have you checked the engine wiring recall for you car. Take a good close look at all your wires make sure the coating is not falling apart.

Hi Bill,

Yea, my wiring is going to hell! Problem is I'm past the recall milage @ 128K. Funny thing is I don't recall ever getting the wiring recall. Found out about it here on CEG. Had all the others done; switches, gas fill, fan fuse, etc. I wonder if I could make an appeal to Ford Corporate?

I've reinsulated every crack or bare spot I can find. (Underhood fuse box, fans, firewall, weatherpack connectors, etc.) On the wires I use alternating layers of heat shrink tubing and/or electrical tape and liquid electrical tape (brush on PVC insulation/ weatherproofing). I used to be in the electrical distribution industry, so I have a bunch of the stuff! On the connectors, I use layers of the brush on insulation. Also use electrical cleaner on everything B4 reinsulating. About the best I can do. Next I'm going to try Rogerm60's suggestion about tracing out and/or ohming out the ECT wires.

Any suggestions? I am thinking worst case scenario of adding an aftermarket stand alone fan switch system!Would rather not though.

BTW Thanks for all your help getting the new PCM. Old one is packed up and going out in tomorrows mail to your attention

Best Regards,
Steve B.

Thanks Roger!
I'll definitely check for that voltage signal. Of course I'll have to fix my multimeter or buy a new one first! I dropped the F%$*!*& thing this evening onto the pavement next to the car and now its flooey!

"I love to work on cars when I WANT to, not when I HAVE to!"

Quote:

---

Which coolant temperature sensor did you change? The two wire one goes to the PCM. ... If this is the one you replaced, the wiring to it may be going bad, or a bad ground if shared with the fuel system. Put a meter on it.

---

Roger,
I'm narrowing this down more and more to the sensor circuit. Haynes manual schematics shows ECT going to pins 7 and 46 on the ECU (PCM) connector, so I'll check them both for DC voltage signal AND continuity while I'm at it. (After I buy a new digital meter! The one I dropped last night is beyond repair!) Hopefully Haynes schematic is right; I dunna' know though, they don't show any connectors between the ECT sensor and ECU connector and I know they're in there! ECT circuit doesn't seem to share any common ground with the fuel circuit either.

Do you happen to know the polarity of the ECT wires?

I've been through some diagrams for your car on Autozone.com and on my Service Manual even though is for 1998 Contours.

I'm not sure about what polarity are you asking here, because the ECT is a variable resistor input to the PCM, so there isn't polarity as I understand it.

Anyway, the ECT wires run between the PCM on pin 7 with the White/Green wire. The Brown/Green wire splices over with other components like the Intake Air Temp Sensor, EGR Sensor and others. That splice ends on pin 46 of the PCM with a Brown wire.

You can look for continuity between pin 46 and your Brown/Green wire on the ECT and between pin 7 and your White/Green wire. Between pin 7 and 46 you should get some resistance that varies with the engine temp.

Yes there are some connectors in the middle but can't be sure about it because my service manual is for the 1998 Contour.

The service manual states that White wires are Sensor circuits and Brown wires are sensor signal returns (reference/ground).

Hope this helps you troubleshooting your problem.

Quote:

---

The service manual states that White wires are Sensor circuits and Brown wires are sensor signal returns (reference/ground).

---

Thanks,
That's pretty much what I meant by "polarity" Should have said "output" and "return". Bought a new digital multimeter today, so I'll tackle this in daylight tomorrow.

Thanks for your help/info!

As some of you know from the previous thread "I know this is long, but I could really use the HELP!", my 95 SE's cooling fans would not turn on along with a host of other problems! After getting advice from a number of kind CEG'ers, I had allready installed the new PCM & cleaned the IAC and that solved the drivability/ stalling/ no hot starting problems. But the fans still would not come on! Today I tested the wiring between the ECT sensor and pins 7 and 46 on the PCM connector and also traced out through the snap connectors on the side of the valve cover on passenger side. I had continuity on both wires all the way through!! This really suprised me as I figured this was the probable cause why my fans would not come on! Retracing my steps, I removed every ground to the body I could find (again!) wire brushed the terminals, bolts & washers w/ a Dremel tool, and used a rifle bore cleaning brush in my cordless drill to clean the mounting holes! I also replaced and/or soldered up a couple of the ring terminals that looked iffy. Sprayed them down w/ Caig DeoxIt D5 (great stuff, checkout Partsexpress.com!)and re- assembled. Cleaned the MAF while I had everything apart too!

I started the engine w/ the ECT connector removed and had 4.7 volts, so that was good! With the ECT sensor connector removed, the cooling fans came on as soon as I started the engine. That's normal as far as I can tell. I guess if the PCM sees no ECT signal at all, it defaults the fans on. Turned the engine off, reconnected the ECT, and started up again. I'd been down this road B4 after replacing the ECT sensor & cleaning connections, and fully expected to bang my head against the wall a couple of times and start from square one again! Lo and Behold, the friggin' fans came on when the temp gauge got to "L"!! This too had happened once B4; the fans came on once, never to turn on again! But they stayed on! Temp came down, fans off, temp up, fans on!!
Holy $#!^!!

Took a long test drive and everything seems to be working. The fans don't come on untill a much higher temp than they used to, but that seems to be changing. After my test drive, each on off cycle seems to be triggering at a slightly lower temp. First "L", then a little B4 "L", then "A", finaly started coming on around "M". (Maybe the PCM is "learning" and adjusting?) That's still higher than it used to be, but I'm happy for now!

So, all I can think of that "fixed" this fan problem is:

1. There was a bad ground somewhere that I corrected the second time around.

2. There was some minor corrosion/ oxidation I couldn't see in one of the connectors some where, and my repeated connects / disconnects cleaned it off.

3. The Good Lord decided he'd screwed with my head enough and taught "Mr. I can fixit" a lesson in humility!!

I'm happy I'm up and running again, (the wife too, since now she can have her car back!) But it irks the S!&^ out of me that I never nailed down the cause for certain!

Anyone have any thoughts?
(besides shut up and be happy!)

PS Many thanks to all of you that took the time to help me out.