Gary Lewis

Man, you can HAVE this weather! I've had all the winter I want, and then some. I just spent a couple of hours shoveling the church sidewalks as we have a funeral there tomorrow, and we had at least an inch and a half of sleet. It was 17F when it was sleeting, for 3 hours, and the stuff piled up like snow. We had drifts 8" deep and when you drove over them they didn't squish AT ALL. Just barely left any tracks. Somehow the stuff bonded and became one solid sheet, kinda like the old white Styrofoam that was made out of little pellets. So the only way to shovel it was to get under it with the shovel and break it free of the sidewalk. Anyway, I'm anxious to see what you come up with. It will really be interesting to compare the output of different sensors when you know they are getting the same flow, regardless of what it is. Interesting about the gold plated pins.

Progress! If you replace the starter I'd with with a PMGR. Lots better cranking ability - with less current. IIRC, the M-Block takes the same starter as a 460, but you need to check that out. But our page at Documentation/Interchange/Starter Interchange says the M-Blocks and 460's take E1TZ 11002-CX, so that seems to confirm it.

Man, that's a sensitive meter! So, when does the testing begin?

I've not used solder sleeves, but have wondered about them. The low temp might reduce the tendency for the solder and rosin to wick up the wire strands and cause hard spots. But I wonder about the ability for the solder that's in there to wick on the less-than-new wires we encounter in these trucks. Is it rosin impregnated? Do you need to coat the wires with rosin?

Bill - I've used that '96 EVTM extensively, and even then bit on the PDB is hard to use. It is spread over several pages and I like to see it on one page. Which is part of why I draw my own up. Scott - Happy to clutter.

Welcome. I hope the PDB is the one you want. As for the terminals, I've not found them by themselves. I just reuse them, but not by removing the wire as it looks well and truly IN THERE. So I solder to the original wire down the way a bit. And, I indicated that on my schematic with a dot and show the two wire colors either side of the dot. But I've never found a schematic for them. I've just made my own.

And, John/Machspeed asked a few more questions via email. But I'll post here to preserve the answers for posterity. (But I've edited his questions slightly to make it easier to answer.) My answers are in bold.

Yes. Thanks for asking. Oh, you want to see one? Ok. These pics show a maxifuse connector on the left and a standard fuse connector on the right. But in the pic on the right you can see the tabs that stick out and make sure that you orient the terminal the right way. And if you don't know they are there it can be frustrating. And you can also see the slot in the smaller terminal where the retainer pin locks it in.

Good luck, and stay safe.

Yes, something that says "automotive" should be good. But I'm sure there's a rating that's on the jacket of most wires that is best, although I don't know what it would be.

Yes, basically. So "relay" for short. But the thing on the fender isn't just a "solenoid". But the thing on the non-PMGR starters is a solenoid as it actuates the Bendix engagement system.

I’ll get 10 of them on their way ASAP. We have a bit of weather happening now, but they will be there before you are. And when you pass them on to others could you post some pictures? It would be cool to see where the are going. Thanks!

I do hope to meet you “next time”. How many stickers would you like? Will you be able to get them to others?

Lol! The MPC says one thing and the box says another. But I didn’t see any external mechanical connections, without which I wouldn’t call it a solenoid. Having said that, Wikipedia says a solenoid is basically an electromagnet. But then it says “In engineering, the term "solenoid" refers not only to the electromagnet but to a complete apparatus providing an actuator that converts electrical energy to mechanical energy” My understanding fits with that. A solenoid is an electromagnet with a linkage set up to move something. And a relay is an electromagnet connected to a set of contacts that it opens or closes.

That is a good price. The shipping alone would be half of that if not more. Oddly enough the MPC says those are for 1980 - 85, but doesn't show anything at all for '86.

1981 through at least 1989 - obviously for trucks with a stereo radio as the mono radios didn't have door speakers.

Not a solenoid but a relay. Used only on the 81 - 84 F100's with a 230 to control the choke.

That's in "Nutmeg" and was apparently only used in '82.

As far as I know there is only one carb that is a bolt-on for the 4.9L, and is the Carter YF or YFA. But what are you trying to accomplish? Is your engine running poorly? Or are you looking for more power?

$32.9K???? Wow! Our page on transmission applications shows that in '88 a C6 would be the tranny in that thing as the E4OD wasn't introduced until '89. So that is going to be one huge gas guzzler with 4.10's and no OD. (Not that any 460 is economical, but...) But it should handle those 35" tires well. And with the D60 up front awa the long wheelbase it might ride decently. Still, $32.9K?

I like that approach. By the way, I'm doing something similar and I'm using velcro cable wraps to hold the wires together as I create bundles. They let me open things back up to add a wire when I discover that I missed one, but keep things organized. You can see them here:

Got a bit more done today, including the step of labeling all of the wires on the PDB side of the picture below. So essentially all of the wiring in that pic has been labeled, as well as some that I removed since I'm not using them. Having said that, I did add one back - Reference voltage to the TPS. It also supports the EGR DPFE and since I'm not running EGR I don't need that sensor. But I realized today as I was checking every wire going through C101 that it also serves the TPS, so I added it back. And, I discovered that I also removed Fuse 5 from the PDB and it serves the speed control module. Plus I'm going to use it to power the brake pressure switch since Fuse 5 is switched and I don't want that switch to have always-on power. But I saved all of the connectors so it won't take much to put them back. Anyway, it is starting to take shape. A bit more work and I can put it in the truck for a test fit and that will let me figure out how long the wires need to be to go through the firewall to the computer. And it'll let me figure out how long the wires need to be to connect to C321, C323, C325, and C727.

That # isn't in the 1994 version of the MPC. Probably was replaced along the way, but I don't know what replaced it.

I got the following questions from John/Machspeed last night via email and got his concurrence to answer them here. John's questions are in red and my answers in black. Where do my positive and negative cables attach? There will be four positive cables: The one from the battery goes to one side of the megafuse; the one to the starter comes off that same stud; a small jumper goes from that to the starter relay to power it as well as all the circuits fed from there via fuse links; and the alternator charge cable goes to the other end of the megafuse. As for the negative cable from the battery, it goes where it is now - to the block and frame. But you'll need a small jumper to the PDB in order to pull in the relays. That's the only power the PDB draws. How do I know if a particular box houses a mega fuse? What does it look like? See the pic below, but a box with a place for a megafuse will have two studs on the end of it that are 2" apart. And the slim box I have says Megafuse on the end of it. These things have many wires in them for circuits I will never use, what do you do with all those extra non useable wires? You remove them if you want to. There are "retainers" in the box, each of which prevents several terminals from coming out. And then once a retainer is removed there are plastic snaps that keep individual connector from coming out. See below. Can one unwire and use their own wires for the circuits they will utilize or do you keep them and splice into them? I haven't found replacement terminals for these, so what I've done is to use the Ford wire and then connect to that. You can see that in my schematics where there is a dot, which represents a connection, in the wire and one color coming off the fuse or relay and then another going from there. Ok, now for the pics. Here's one of the end of the slim 6-relay PDB and you can see where the megafuse goes. In fact, it is labeled for where the battery and alternator cables go. But, this is the one from which I robbed the other stud. (I do have other studs.) And here's a shot of Big Blue's megafuse in the passenger-side PDB: Now let's talk about removing the terminals. In this shot of the slim PDB you can see the retainers - they are the yellow plastic pieces. Each of the retainers has a couple of clips that hold it in, and I've circled in red one of them in this pic. Here's a shot of one of the 5-relay PDB's with the relay retainer pulled up. You can see the clips that hold it in on each end of it. And in this pic of the same 5-relay PDB I've circled some of the retaining clips that hold the terminals in the box. You can't get to those clips w/o pulling that red retainer, and you'll break the clip if you try to put a terminal in w/o pulling the retainer. (Don't ask.)

Interesting graph. But that's basically my experience as well. On the MPG, if you had backfires then your power valve is probably blown, which will kill your mileage.