ckuske

I've started to splice the good wire onto the connectors, it's 18 gauge and my soldering seems to be going well. Checking the continuity with my DVM as I go. I ran into this connector - its clear the retaining clip has been snapped off more than once, and the wires are damaged going into the connector. I'd like to replace it. From the connectors catalog on this site, it looks like WPT-597 but its hard to be sure, especially since Googling that part number indicates it wasn't used until 1992 for interior??? This connector is next to the carb - I think for the bowl vent solenoid? I haven' been able to find the connector number in the EVTM or Parts Catalog, I have probably missed it. In the EVTM I'm pretty sure it is C788.

Yep, will do! Just wanted to check with you all, I'm trying to order stuff before I cut into anything.

Thanks, gathering equipment, wiring, and fortitude. Not necessarily in that order. The existing wire looks to be either 16 or 18 gauge. It looks more like 18. Would either work well, or does anyone have experience here?

That seems to be the right way to do it. It's been a hot minute since I've soldered, I'll have to practice before being hunched over in the engine compartment. Soldering iron, or gun?

Thanks for the feedback, Bill. I have the trouble area stripped of the petrified (I like that) wrap. All the wires are chafed in the same area. I assume vibration has done this over the last 40-ish years... I really don't want to try and take the whole harness out of the truck at this point - I have it almost put together. If I have to, I have to, but fingers crossed. There is enough room for me to splice in new wire and re-wrap that area. I like the friction tape idea, this stuff seems to come well-recommended: https://a.co/d/gRW7aJE FWIW, the rest of the harness looks ok. It makes sense that this would be the area that would fail as there wasn't strain relief and is right next to the passenger side of the engine block. Here are some better picture areas after removing the cover. Shorts galore! And not in a good summer way.

My truck has factory cruise and it has the black plastic clip. I actually bought a new one as I was afraid I might actually break it as mine has a roll pin to lock the bead chain in place and not a clip which is what I will be using on the new one to make adjustment easy. I dont have the part number at hand as that is tossed in my tote bin with the rest of my engine parts still waiting to be used. Thanks to you both for the replies. Gary, I just wanted to follow up and let you know the clip you sent me fit like a glove! Thanks much for the part and your generosity! Chris

Hi All, I ran the KOEO test on my truck the other day and even though I got the TPS replaced a few years ago I got code 53 (TPS Voltage too high). I backprobed the TPS connector and noticed that the VREF and Signal Return wires were both reading 5 volts. Given the trouble code and the reading VREF and SigRet with my DVM, this makes sense. With the throttle closed, it seems SigRet is supposed to be around 1V. So, I started poking around the wiring harness. If I spread the wires to the TPS apart where they branch off the harness, the voltage on the SigRet wire would go away. So, seems like the VREF and SigRet wires are touching somewhere. This is a long way of saying what I've done to test things, and I'm looking for how I should proceed from here after you all look at the pictures of the harness. It is a mess (not my doing), and even though its obvious that it NEEDS to be fixed, how would you all go about it? The covering of the bundle is very brittle and I need to use a X-acto knife to shave it away. I am nervous about taking this apart too much as I'm nervous that I'll graze or nick something and make things work. I have known about this area being questionable but I figured if it worked before and I didn't touch it (aside from moving the harness around gently during other repairs), it would be ok(?). Well, it's clear that the current situation at this point in the harness is untenable. How should I attack this repair? Thanks! Pics below. And yes, I think it's just not the TPS wires that are in trouble here. It also looks like the sensor that gets coolant temp is just as bad or worse (see green/red wire)

Since my last post I bought a traditional open-ended crowfoot that I could use with my ratchet, and that turned the fitting a bit but I could tell it was going to round the fitting off if I pulled on it more. It did reduce the leak though, so I knew I was on the right track. So, I went on eBay and bought a 3/8" drive 1/2" flare crowfoot wrench. Got it in the mail today and hooked it up to my ratchet. I gave it a good pull (but not crazy), and the fitting turned about 1/8 of a turn almost all at once. It almost felt like it "slipped into place" and then seated where it belonged. I fired the truck up and no more leak! That fitting needs more oomph than any other I've dealt with so far (I know suspension is like that as well, etc)! Now back to getting started on my brakes soon hopefully.

Thanks guys. I'm going to try to cinch it down more. As much as I'd like to improve the steering overall, it's not bad as-is and I really don't have the time or money into getting a new one right now (and the process looks a little daunting - I don't have the puller or torque wrenches that go that high (saw something about 200 ft/lbs). I will try to cinch it down - My 1/2" flare wrench can't get a good grip becase of the surrounding area. I used my open-ended 1/2" to this point, but since I'm gonna really tighten it now, a friend from work is going to loan me a crow's foot wrench (this is new to me) and we will see how that goes. I suppose the worst I can do is ruin this box, which will then force my hand. Oh well.

Well, that didn't help. I got the new line, put it in, and still leaking, and in the same manner. Here is a picture of the gearbox, ignore the teflon crud. That was all cleaned out by the time I put the new line in. I'm not sure why two new lines are both leaking except the "cone" inside the gearbox has become scored or otherwise damaged so the flare in the line isn't seating correctly? Maybe I take this opportunity to get a new steering box? (even though I'm not necessarily excited about that, but it is the original with 300+ K miles on it...) And in other news, I almost finshed putting the fender, grill pieces, bumper etc back together. My hood for some reason now has about 3/8" gap when latched - everything lined up elsewhere properly and I made sure when I put the rad support back on I had the correct number of shims on each side. Obviously the first thing to look at is adjusting the fenders, but what else? I'll post another thread after I get over this steering business I suppose. Two steps forward, one step back... Sigh.

Thanks guys. I just took the hose out and I'm letting the system drain so I can get a nice peek at the threads etc. The new hose comes on Tuesday, hopefully I'll have an update soon after.

This is on my medium-term list. Pricey no doubt, but IMO its the best option if you want to keep the original radio chassis with updated functionality. You get a decent amp in the chassis, Bluetooth 5.0, etc... https://www.tech-retro.com/aurora-design/home.html

Hi Everyone, I've posted about this once in my project thread, but thought I'd give an update here. Where the pressure line goes into the gearbox is leaking from area between the steel hose the inside wall of the fitting that screws into the gearbox. Picture attached (this is after cleaning it up again after running it for a minute). It's not a gusher, its a slow-ish leak but has definite flow while running. It's not a drop here and a drop there... I've tried tightening it, and also tried putting PTFE tape on the fitting, tightening it pretty snugly, and still no joy. The line is new (installed about six months ago but never driven except idling in the garage), and has been leaking like this since I installed it. I think the answer is buy another line, but am I missing something? The other side of the hose that screws into the pump is happy and dry.

Thanks to you both! I know the cable isn't original as it snapped on me about 22 years ago now(!) about 1/4 mile from home, but I'm hoping the E1 clip will still work with this different cable. Either way, I think it's my only shot and is an easier fix than trying to find the green version in Gary's picture.

Hi All, It has been on my list to investigate why Speed (Cruise) Control hasn't been working on my truck since purchasing it back. Well, I think the problem is pretty simple. I don't seem to have the fitting that lets the ball chain get attached to the throttle via a cotter pin. I tried to look in the MPC and when I search for the throttle cable, I can't see the item circled below that the speed control chain would thread through. Any pointers on what I should be looking for? When I search for replacement cables, I don't see that item present on them either...

That is a bummer about the radio. That is how I tested my radio on the bench ...... well it was on the radiator support as I did not have a battery or power supply to use on the bench. A few jumper wires from battery to radio and speakers. On the valve cover and oil leak. too many years ago I had a 318 Dodge 4x4 PU that leaked and I was using new cork gaskets. It was only 1 side I must have pulled that cover off 6 times before I found the issue. The factory bolts used washers and 1 washer cut the valve cover on the inside. When the bolt was pulling the cover down it opened up the cut and oil leaked out. I would pull the cover, cut then closed up, and all would look good. Wounder if you could have that happening? Dave ---- I was wondering if it was something like that as well. I tried to make sure the cover was nice and flat, clean, all the things. I may try a cork gasket next to see if things improve. I torqued the bolts again this morning, we will see if that helps like I thought it did last time???

Thanks Gary, things happen! It wouldn't be much fun if everything worked as expected

Yeah, I am getting ready to take my truck into a shop in the next month or two. I may just have them look at it instead of me trying for the third time... I am getting to the point where I want to drive it even if it costs more to have some work done. I'm almost to my fifth year... In other news, I got the radio and speakers wired in. My suspicion seems to be correct. The radio does in fact not work. No audio at all from the radio, not even static on AM or FM. And, the cassette player does not engage. I'm pretty upset about that, as I paid $215 for the radio a couple years back on eBay. I guess I shouldn't have trusted that the radio worked (even though it was "fully tested and functional" in the listing), but I didn't have the means to test it when it arrived. Another lesson learned... That being said, there two things - based on the EVTM I wrapped the negative wires for each speaker to the ground wire on the factory speaker connector, and also wrapped the front/rear wires on the connector the positive wire per side (driver/passenger). This seemed correct, but did I goof anything up there?

I just replaced the gaskets on the valve covers because I took them off to paint them... The new ones are silicone and I reseated the troublesome once already. I'll torque the PS hose connections again - I replaced both hoses. Return line is fine, but the high pressure one seems to leak fluid. I'll keep you guys updated, thanks for the reply.

I also started the truck for the first time in a few months. I had noticed last time that there was some power steering fluid on the ground after running it, but I was hoping it was leftover from when I replaced the hoses. There seems to be fluid coming out from the nut that fastens the high pressure line going into the gearbox - I believe that end is flared. Before I take it off and inspect it, should there be an O-ring or anything else on that side to help with the seal? I only recall an O-ring on the side that went into the pump. The oil burning from the rear area of the passenger valve cover is back as well. Now that the fan/vents are fully functional, the cab stinks pretty quickly. I thought it was fixed - maybe it comes and goes depending on how much the truck is run? (Seals when run more often)

Got the dash bolted in but not everything cinched tight yet as I am leaving the trim install until after I get carpet installed, which is a ways down the road. I have speakers on order from Crutchfield (https://www.crutchfield.com/product/item/default.aspx?i=20647KSC65), along with speaker wire to can check out the radio and tape player for that vintage mid-80's sound . I think I'm going to run just plastic conduit between the door and the cab for the wires to run through. Electrical tape was used previously. Thoughts? Also, looking through the EVTM (see https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1501633-speaker-wire-color.html) it looks like the negative wire from each speaker runs back to the Black/White Hash wire on the speaker connector. Is that correct? Just twist the two negative wires together and crimp that onto the "287" wire on the harness???

Yep, it is on the radio side. Ok, I won’t worry about that then! I’ll try to scan the dial and see if I can get that light to come on with a good station. I need to order some speakers, that would have made it more evident haha. I’ve been getting a nice collection of 80s cassettes going for when I’m feeling extra nostalgic. :) Thanks for the reply!

OK, I actually have a question I think someone can help with. I have a radio I bought from eBay a few years back - the kind that would have come with the truck originally. Cassette player, the buttons to set your favorite stations (blew the kids mind on that one)... I have I *think* all the dash wiring working. Climate control works, courtesy lights, A/C illumination, ash tray illumination, headlight switch light, etc. The radio wiring has been hacked several times as newer radios have been installed. The original power connector has the yellow with black hash (on in ACC and RUN), and the blue with red stripe (illumination for radio). I managed to salvage the existing wiring, I crimped the connector to the wires from the last radio install using the IWISS crimpers. The connector seems secure (but I haven't applied heat to the tubing yet), and I'm getting a clean 12 V on the yellow wire. The radio itself has those two wires on the connector, but also a orange I believe with blue dots. I looked in the EVTM and couldn't see a reference to that but I may have missed it. Anyway, the pins in the power connector (female side that plugs into the radio end of the plug) fell out. So, I just put the female connector right onto the radio male pins to test the radio (see pictures) Long story short, some odd behavior but it's possible I have a bad radio (which is ok I guess, I intend on updating to the Aurora Design guts inside the stock radio chassis, but I hope the cassette drive still works). When the key is in ACC, I turn the radio on but no orange light on the top right of the dial (I remember this lighting up from when I was a kid). If I pull the headlight switch out to running light or headlights, the illumination comes up. So far so good except no illumination on the top right of the dial, right? After the female spade connectors fell out, I've tried to put them back in and they are a bear. Any tricks there? I doubt it, but is there a significance to the orange wire that seems to be missing from my power connector on the truck side but is there on the radio side? Or could my issue be that I don't have the radio installed into the dash (grounding?)

Yep, I have things bagged as well but I had one bag for “dash screws”. If I knew how involved it ended up being, I hope I would have sub-divided it. At least I though that much ahead when I started this, but I didn't evidently go far enough! Good idea on the long/short screws, I'll try that next time. To be fair, when I took at this part I didn't think I'd get to it a couple years later. Now I know better.

It being from an aftermarket radio is a good guess. I completely forgot about that to be honest. I’ll try to keep the guessing game to a minimum but I appreciate the answer in this one. I’m guessing you are indeed correct!