fernleybjk
Registered
Good morning to all:
I am very elated this morning because my rough idle problem is solved. She has been running perfectly for the last two days.
I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and help on this problem but a special thanks goes to Whiplash15. I won't give out his name because I don't know if I am supposed to but his constant support, encouragement, and knowledge helped solve this insanity. I can't thank him enough. He allowed me to call him whenever I needed to and together we solved this tough problem.
The first thing I did was to undo everything that the repair shop had touched. I have photos of the butchered harness and will email them to you if you email me. If you remember, they stated that they had found two wires shorted together, repaired those and then later found another short further down the harness, repaired that and the problem was still there. They stated on the invoice that they used shrink tubing to cover the shorted wires and charged me $5.43 for the tubing.
I carefully unpeeled all of the electrical tape, taking pictures all the time. Let me add that it was Whiplash15 that told me to undo the damage created by the repair shop. There wasn't a centimeter of shrink tubing anywhere on the damaged harness. What I did find was exposed wiring everywhere. It looked like they hacked away with a pocket knife because in one place I found a 1 inch section where the insulation was completely stripped away. Some of the strands were cut and sticking up. They had covered most of them with electrical tape but further down the harness, where it was hard to reach, there was still exposed wiring directly shorting to the chassis. I covered each wire separately so that there was no possibility of a short.
I figured that if they had lied about the shrink tubing, then what else had they lied about. I went to the Ford dealer and bought new insulators and a new coil. I put the insulator on the coil for cylinder 7 in the parking lot and a perfect idle returned. There is definitely a lesson on making assumptions here. I went to the parts desk and took one of the guys out to show him what they had done to my harness and that by replacing the insulator the problem was solved. He couldn't believe how unprofessional they were.
I noticed that the coil they had replaced looked funny and I asked the Ford parts guy if he recognized the replaced coil and he told me that it definitely wasn't a ford coil. If you remember I asked why the coil they replaced was so expensive and the sales manager told me that it was an OEM part. I bought a Ford replacement coil to eliminate any other problems that might occur. I drove it home and wanted to protect the newly wrapped coil wires so I bought a split loom to place them in. When I did that the rough idle returned and the misfire code returned. I checked every inch of that butchered harness and couldn't find any exposed wiring that I hadn't covered. I put a meter on coil 7 connector and found a direct short. I had the leads of the meter on the connector and was moving the wires with my other hand and could see the short become an open like it was supposed to be. Aha, I thought that I had found the problem and now I just needed to locate where it was shorting to ground. I went back to the Ford dealer and bought a new connector with pig tail because every time I moved the connector itself, the short would return.
I am not confident when it comes to doing anything with a car so I recheck everything a hundred times. Before I cut the connector off, I asked my wife to hold the ground of the meter on the engine and when she did that, there was no short to be found. I was really developing a defeatist attitude but Whiplash15 kept after me and told me we were going to find the problem and fix it. I assumed that because I was trying to hold the meter leads and flex the harness at the same time, I was getting a false reading. I was ready to admit it was beyond me and had called another mechanic to take a look at it. Before I put the coil cover back on, I asked my wife to hold the ground lead once more and moved the harness by the firewall. It was then that the short and open appeared again as I moved the harness. I still couldn't figure out how a wire within a protected harness could become exposed enough to short. It was driving me nuts because there is only 14 volts going to the coil and I assumed that the current flow was insufficient to cause the insulation to melt and short.
There is a hard rubber piece on the harness that fits between the coil cover and the engine. I assume that it's there to protect the wiring when you put the coil cover on. I looked on the other side of that rubber piece, the side toward the firewall and it looked smashed. Then I saw the exposed wiring. Someone had put the coil cover on and not made sure that the rubber piece was sitting in the groove so that the cover had smashed the wiring hard enough to cut through the insulation so that they were shorting to the engine. I removed the hard rubber piece, very carefully, and separated the wires and the moment I did that, the perfect idle returned. After repairing that it has run perfectly since.
Whiplash15 keeps telling me that I was the one who found the problem but I know that without his help, I would have given up and been at the mercy of another mechanic. He kept after me not to give up and that we would find the problem. He has taught me a lot about the Lincoln motor. I truly, truly, can't thank him enough for his help. I thank all of you for your suggestions and this site because without it, I would never have found the problem.
Budd
I am very elated this morning because my rough idle problem is solved. She has been running perfectly for the last two days.
I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and help on this problem but a special thanks goes to Whiplash15. I won't give out his name because I don't know if I am supposed to but his constant support, encouragement, and knowledge helped solve this insanity. I can't thank him enough. He allowed me to call him whenever I needed to and together we solved this tough problem.
The first thing I did was to undo everything that the repair shop had touched. I have photos of the butchered harness and will email them to you if you email me. If you remember, they stated that they had found two wires shorted together, repaired those and then later found another short further down the harness, repaired that and the problem was still there. They stated on the invoice that they used shrink tubing to cover the shorted wires and charged me $5.43 for the tubing.
I carefully unpeeled all of the electrical tape, taking pictures all the time. Let me add that it was Whiplash15 that told me to undo the damage created by the repair shop. There wasn't a centimeter of shrink tubing anywhere on the damaged harness. What I did find was exposed wiring everywhere. It looked like they hacked away with a pocket knife because in one place I found a 1 inch section where the insulation was completely stripped away. Some of the strands were cut and sticking up. They had covered most of them with electrical tape but further down the harness, where it was hard to reach, there was still exposed wiring directly shorting to the chassis. I covered each wire separately so that there was no possibility of a short.
I figured that if they had lied about the shrink tubing, then what else had they lied about. I went to the Ford dealer and bought new insulators and a new coil. I put the insulator on the coil for cylinder 7 in the parking lot and a perfect idle returned. There is definitely a lesson on making assumptions here. I went to the parts desk and took one of the guys out to show him what they had done to my harness and that by replacing the insulator the problem was solved. He couldn't believe how unprofessional they were.
I noticed that the coil they had replaced looked funny and I asked the Ford parts guy if he recognized the replaced coil and he told me that it definitely wasn't a ford coil. If you remember I asked why the coil they replaced was so expensive and the sales manager told me that it was an OEM part. I bought a Ford replacement coil to eliminate any other problems that might occur. I drove it home and wanted to protect the newly wrapped coil wires so I bought a split loom to place them in. When I did that the rough idle returned and the misfire code returned. I checked every inch of that butchered harness and couldn't find any exposed wiring that I hadn't covered. I put a meter on coil 7 connector and found a direct short. I had the leads of the meter on the connector and was moving the wires with my other hand and could see the short become an open like it was supposed to be. Aha, I thought that I had found the problem and now I just needed to locate where it was shorting to ground. I went back to the Ford dealer and bought a new connector with pig tail because every time I moved the connector itself, the short would return.
I am not confident when it comes to doing anything with a car so I recheck everything a hundred times. Before I cut the connector off, I asked my wife to hold the ground of the meter on the engine and when she did that, there was no short to be found. I was really developing a defeatist attitude but Whiplash15 kept after me and told me we were going to find the problem and fix it. I assumed that because I was trying to hold the meter leads and flex the harness at the same time, I was getting a false reading. I was ready to admit it was beyond me and had called another mechanic to take a look at it. Before I put the coil cover back on, I asked my wife to hold the ground lead once more and moved the harness by the firewall. It was then that the short and open appeared again as I moved the harness. I still couldn't figure out how a wire within a protected harness could become exposed enough to short. It was driving me nuts because there is only 14 volts going to the coil and I assumed that the current flow was insufficient to cause the insulation to melt and short.
There is a hard rubber piece on the harness that fits between the coil cover and the engine. I assume that it's there to protect the wiring when you put the coil cover on. I looked on the other side of that rubber piece, the side toward the firewall and it looked smashed. Then I saw the exposed wiring. Someone had put the coil cover on and not made sure that the rubber piece was sitting in the groove so that the cover had smashed the wiring hard enough to cut through the insulation so that they were shorting to the engine. I removed the hard rubber piece, very carefully, and separated the wires and the moment I did that, the perfect idle returned. After repairing that it has run perfectly since.
Whiplash15 keeps telling me that I was the one who found the problem but I know that without his help, I would have given up and been at the mercy of another mechanic. He kept after me not to give up and that we would find the problem. He has taught me a lot about the Lincoln motor. I truly, truly, can't thank him enough for his help. I thank all of you for your suggestions and this site because without it, I would never have found the problem.
Budd
