Is this a factory ford ignition shielding?

G

GRWeldon

6th Gear Poster
Joined
Oct 5, 2023
Messages
540
Location
Alabama
Country flag
In the process of changing my spark plugs (SC) I am keeping an eye out for possible shorts that could be the cause of my airbag code 51. I've found this (see Pic below).

What was there originally was the regular round plastic wire protector wrapped with electrical tape. Showing through were cracks with shiny foil shielding showing through. After removing the tape on this section, the plastic protector crumbled away revealing some foil shielding, a bare stranded wire underneath the foil that wraps around the two insulated wires (blue and white). The harness on either side of the section I removed seems fairly sound.

Is this a repair or is this a factory shielded portion of the harness. This harness comes out of the same harness the coil is plugged in to. I believe the termination on this end goes to the AC compressor.

If this is the factory ford method, I can easily repair it. If it's somebody else's repair, I'm not sure it's correct.

Any facts or opinions you knowledgable folks would like to share?

Also, I'm not sure if an airbag code 51 refers to a short only in the airbag wiring or any short overall. The only way the "shield" shown in the pic could cause ANY short would be if the bare wire got hot enough to melt in to the insulation on the blue or white wires. Possible? Maybe, but I don't thinks it's all too probable.

Chime in please....
 

Attachments

  • 20240815_113409.jpg
    20240815_113409.jpg
    2.6 MB · Views: 17
There is supposed to be bare wire under the foil so it does seem normal to me, but maybe it’s the light but I’ve never seen the bare strands in bare copper color, they’re almost always silver so someone might have made a repair splice
 
When I replaced my crank sensor harness, I was pretty stunned that the factory setup looked like that. It just seemed messy.

I had periodic crank sensor codes, which on one occasion made the car completely immobile. Once I had replaced the harness, that problem never resurfaced. However, I also replaced the PCM after that, which may have been part of the solution.

I'm not sure if I understand how this harness relates to an airbag code (?). The airbag sensors are on each side of the grille. I think they share the same harness as all the lighting.
 
You can't easily make a connection to the aluminum foil, so the bare wire makes random connections along the length
It is usually tinned,as that makes a better contact, but ford is cheap. A shield only needs to be grounded on one end. If grounded on both, it can cause problems with ground loops. the O2 sensors,crank,and cam sensor would all be shielded. airbag trigger,idk.
Also, there are two wires, the important ones, to all those sensors,and they are generally twisted together, a twisted pair and shield is one step down from coax cables.
 
Last edited:
Grog6 said:
You can't easily make a connection to the aluminum foil, so the bare wire makes random connections along the length
It is usually tinned,as that makes a better contact, but ford is cheap. A shield only needs to be grounded on one end. If grounded on both, it can cause problems with ground loops. the O2 sensors,crank,and cam sensor would all be shielded. airbag trigger,idk.
Also, there are two wires, the important ones, to all those sensors,and they are generally twisted together, a twisted pair and shield is one step down from coax cables.
Click to expand...
Hi, I'm in the process of extending the wiring harness to move the DIS about 30 inches. Would you know where I could get additional tinned wire and foil wrap?
I'm starting a thread on this as well but seen this thread in search
IMG_20260603_192037833_AE.jpg
 
You can get "Shielded twisted pair" wire from digikey.com, as many pairs as you need. For the coils, it needs to be 18 Awg. It will have a better shield. IIRC, The foil shielding was invented by Belden, called 'beldfoil'. Keep it one piece, and ground the braided shield,(or foil wrap wire), At the EEC only.
 
Grog6 said:
You can get "Shielded twisted pair" wire from digikey.com, as many pairs as you need. For the coils, it needs to be 18 Awg. It will have a better shield. IIRC, The foil shielding was invented by Belden, called 'beldfoil'. Keep it one piece, and ground the braided shield,(or foil wrap wire), At the EEC only.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I will research this.
 
I don’t think the bare wire is tinned copper I think it’s actually aluminum, you can’t cut or scratch it to expose the copper core and when you cut it it feels different.

Ngl I’ve used actual aluminum foil I cut into 3/4” wide strips for this task, works fine
 
It's way cheesier shielding than I've ever speced, the drain wire could be aluminum. If a bic lighter melt's it, it's aluminum. Tin foil works for hats; it'll probably be fine.
 
FORD. Copper is 4x aluminum costwise.
Pick up a roll of speaker wire at wallyworld. Note that it's Way too lite, and the label says cca or copper coated aluminum. even that is better than bare aluminum.
You pay thru the nose for good OFC grade speaker wire now.
Price a foot of 10 awg rope lay monster cable equivalent. :)
 
Ok, so reading between the lines correct me if lm wrong. If I strip 14ga copper auto wire and soder it to the existing drain wire(tested, yes it does) wrap it the length of my extended wires, then wrap the length with "Renyolds" aluminum wrap strips, then wrap that with electrical tape and place it in plastic split loom it will work.
 
That's probably as good as it gets; but if you soldered to that drain wire, It's not aluminum, unless you have my flux collection, lol. That's a good thing. I'd add another bare wire connected to the drain only at the eec end, and wrapping outside the aluminum foil to be sure. Then tape over it , ect.
 
Thanks for input guys, in really out of my depth with this type of stuff. Will get pics up later.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Back
Top