wiring harness question

[crusher773]

So are all the wiring harnesses wired for A/C? Are the 5 speeds and autos also the same or are they different trying to figure out how exact I have to be on getting one. I'm also seeing them broke up into engine and dash harnesses. I am guessing I need engine running from the ECU and ignition through the fender, to the fusible links and over to the passing lamp relay?

[Movin]

No they are different. AC and power seat belts..
I would think it would be easier to fix what you have.

[crusher773]

Man I am about to the end of my rope I am not having any luck finding anything that looks the slightest bit frayed or where its grounding.

[crusher773]

What years are all the same too? Will like a 90-93 all be the same?

[Movin]

as long as the ac and tranny are the same it should be workable.
If you have a dead short this may help..

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42913&highlight=cool+tool

[georgeb]

Why would you go through the hassle of replacing the harness when checking the one you have is just a matter of disconnecting the 4 or 5 white wire connections?

[crusher773]

I have gone around and around with trying to find this short I am sick and tired of the car being down and just want to get it going again that's why. Even if I unplug everything which it all is now at this point I still don't really know what I am looking for at this point. I haven't found anything at all that looks like a worn wire or anything where it should be grounding. I just want to be driving the car again. I don't have the time or patience to jack with it anymore. So far pulling the harness would have been way easier than all the diagnosing I have done with it and gotten nowhere.

[Movin]

I hate to say this but it may be a part the loom is plugged in to.
You could be right back where you are now and not very happy
about the situation. Follow that short to the problem then you
will know with confidence what it is and you will fix it!! Probably
improve it so it will never happen again to you!! Just let us know
what the fix is so that we can improve the reliability of our little
jewels too!

[bravekozak]

I think it's easier finding the short. If you change the wiring harness with the fuses, you have to take the fender off. The problem may not even be in that section of the harness. It may just be in the engine compartment harness, the passenger compartment harness, the dash harness, or the hatch harness. All of them are a pain to remove without taking out the seats, carpeting, dash, etc.

Did you try to isolate the problem circuit by pulling fuses one at a time?

[crusher773]

It is not in the engine compartment harness we have eliminated that. The fender is already off the car a week ago thats not an issue. I have everything unplugged and its still pulling ground on that harness. It has been isolated to the main white wire that should not be grounding but is. Both muddevil and I have spent a lot of time on it. If anyone else thinks they can find it I'd be more than happy to let you try. Everything points to that harness and pulling fuses doesn't do anything its blowing the main in the fusible link. Its the white wire that runs out of the fusible and then goes into the harness. You guys are damn nuts if you think finding this short is "easier" than just pulling that harness and plugging a new one in. I have at least 8 hours in this already I think if I was going to find it I would have by now.

[Movin]

Man, if anybody needs help you do, I wish I was close by. What are you using
to replace the blown main for testing? I do not quite get what you mean by

'pulled ground" while testing?

[crusher773]

Yeah tell me about it I can use all the help I can. If you take a test light and hook it to positive on the battery then that white wire is grounding and making the test light light up. You can hook to the battery and every single fuse on the interior fusebox is also grounding on both sides. I initially went to all cartridge fuses to replace the fusible links when this happened. I blew a couple of them trying to diagnose and the haven't even bothered to replace it since then since it will just reblow it. From the wiring diagrams that I have seen that white should be a hotwire not a ground so that has got to be what the problem is. We have stripped the loom from the passing lamp relay all the way to the fender and found nothing. I have unplugged all under the dash and found nothing. There is only about 3 feet that is even still wrapped.

[Movin]

All that light tells you is the 12v has somewhere to go. What you need to know which
one of those paths leads directly to ground. It could be a wire shorted to ground or it
could be a component that has failed and providing a short to ground. The only way
you would find it with a test light is if the short to ground was the only circuit there.

This would be ideal for the breaker and the meter in http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...cal+cool+tools

They are cheap n easy!

[crusher773]

If its a component that has failed then why would the car have restarted as soon as I put a new fuse in? Why also would the fusebox which runs off that white main wire also be showing all ground and nothing hot? We did a bunch of checking on wires that first day and everything pointed to that white wire coming off the main so that is what we have been chasing.

[crusher773]

I can get a harness for $100 including shipping which I didn't think was bad. This way if I put a new one in and still have a problem I have a spare harness that I'm sure someone else could use later down the road. I've got it almost all the way out like I said already because I had pretty much decided last night that was what I was doing. I really don't want to have to get in there and replug everything in just to turn around and repull it again. It wasn't very easy to do. I just don't see how it can't be in that harness from everything muddevil and I went through on it.