Ford Scorpio

[ajlelectronics]

so whats the gate latch for?

As I suspected, the factory jack has a loop which goes over that. It holds the jack in the correct location for it to lift on the 3mm structural section at the back of the wheel arch. I had to use it in anger and the only jack available was the Ford one!

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

@ajlelectronics

A few weeks ago, they made a replacement rad for a 1959 Jenson, were the core and the tolling was not available.
OK it was not OE, but it did the job and it fitted.

All they asked for was the old one as a pattern, plus could they keep it.

It was a sweet tidy job.

 

[Robotstar5]

Core is no longer available and nor is the tooling. Only option left there is a custom build at around £500. Just the same as the exhaust system in fact.

I think the problem is that it is too old for mainstream suppliers, but too new for classic suppliers to be interested. Plus the low numbers built makes life "interesting".

Have you got the remains of the old rad?, I've used Readyrads in Birmingham a few times, the only one they couldn't do had the sides crimped onto the core, but they did stock a replacement far cheaper then OEM prices.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Next issue:

The magic Lucas smoke has escaped!

As the admins at the FordScorpio.co.uk forum are too ignorant to respond to any of my four emails to them, I will try to document what I do with the car here, if our moderators have no objection?

 

[ajlelectronics]

The magic Lucas smoke has escaped!

I have been seeing some unlikely error codes and some persistent ones, like code 92, HEGO sensor left bank reporting rich. I bought and fitted a new sensor which achieved nothing. Also code 12, IACV error kept popping up. Looking for the issues I decided to check out the connector for the HEGO and found it had moved away from its clip. Just touching it caused sparks and smoke. Aha, says this Mastermind champion, that could be a clue! Although it was right at the back of the engine, I could see that the insulation was missing from the wiring and it was just a twisted mess. An attempt to examine it more closely resulted in the plug coming off in my hand. Getting to it properly was so difficult that I had to undo many of the connectors and fixings just to get my hands on it. Eventually I decided that as the rest of the loom was rough, I may as well strip it and remake the lot.

Here is the HEGO sensor wiring:

Other parts of the loom were a fire in waiting as I found when the loom tape etc was removed. Feast your eyes on these delicacies...

 

[ajlelectronics]

It would seem that until June 1996, Scorpio looms were made by an outfit called Anitel and all of their looms end up like this. After that date, Ford used a different supplier and the problem went away.

 

[Robotstar5]

It would seem that until June 1996, Scorpio looms were made by an outfit called Anitel and all of their looms end up like this. After that date, Ford used a different supplier and the problem

Did Anitel make the looms for the Zafira?

 

[ajlelectronics]

So to the repairs...

There was clearly no chance of getting a new loom at any price. Last bloke selling secondhand looms wanted £800 a time for them! As the whole loom was shot, I made up an order with Vehicle Wiring Products afer carefully (ha!) assessing the colours I needed. All wiring was now going to be 1mm thinwall. The loom connector was examined and all wiring colours noted. I had four of them in stock so I ordered the rest on Friday. VWP good as their word despatched them same day, but due to our postman who refuses to deliver to me on a Saturday, I didn't receive them until today.

I set to with some of the worst bits first. Then I discovered something interesting... Ford in their wisdom, change colour codes on a run. So for instance an earth wire (brown) enters a crimp sleeve and exits in brown/white, brown/red, brown/yellow and brown/green. Further investigation shows 12V ignition feeds (black) suddenly turn into a rainbow assortment of colours. As acresult, I had missed some of the colours I needed so am making do with the base colour, which is far more logical anyway.

 

[Robotstar5]

I've found some of the Jap bike wiring changes colour in runs too.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

So to the repairs...

There was clearly no chance of getting a new loom at any price. Last bloke selling secondhand looms wanted £800 a time for them! As the whole loom was shot, I made up an order with Vehicle Wiring Products afer carefully (ha!) assessing the colours I needed. All wiring was now going to be 1mm thinwall. The loom connector was examined and all wiring colours noted. I had four of them in stock so I ordered the rest on Friday. VWP good as their word despatched them same day, but due to our postman who refuses to deliver to me on a Saturday, I didn't receive them until today.

I set to with some of the worst bits first. Then I discovered something interesting... Ford in their wisdom, change colour codes on a run. So for instance an earth wire (brown) enters a crimp sleeve and exits in brown/white, brown/red, brown/yellow and brown/green. Further investigation shows 12V ignition feeds (black) suddenly turn into a rainbow assortment of colours. As acresult, I had missed some of the colours I needed so am making do with the base colour, which is far more logical anyway.

If I'd found that it would have been a case of

plus

 

[ajlelectronics]

First up was the distributor plug. That is six ways with three of them in a screening sleeve.

To remake that, I stripped a length of WF100 coax and wrapped the three new cores in the copper foil, taped one end then fed the lot down the braid to provide something to solder to. Then the lot was wrapped in fluffy loom tape...

 

[ajlelectronics]

The wiring to the plug was cut and the insulation remnants removed. A few minutes with some 800 wet and dry and the copper was bright again. To reconnect, the end of each wire was twisted and formed into a hook. Same with the new wire. Then they were interlocked and rolled between finger and thumb to reduce the diameter as much as possible. Then soldered and heatshrink fitted...

Finally it was wrapped in fluffy loom tape.

 

[ajlelectronics]

 

[Robotstar5]

A nice soldering exercise there . Do you find you need at least 3 hands when doing jobs like that?, I normally use a set of long nosed pliers with an elastic band round the handles to hold one of the wires.

 

[mylesdw]

Great stuff, keep up the posts. I love real detail like this and learning how to solve really gnarly problems. Scorpio forum's loss is our gain!

 

[ajlelectronics]

A nice soldering exercise there . Do you find you need at least 3 hands when doing jobs like that?, I normally use a set of long nosed pliers with an elastic band round the handles to hold one of the wires.

In the last photo, you will see exactly that! Also used to heatsink, preventing the heatshrink from activating before placement.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Scorpio forum's loss is our gain!

Well there is that. I can't believe the rudeness of them. Fair enough, they have said that to register, you need to contact admin first, but then they completely ignore emails despite giving a good comprehensive introduction about what I am doing and how I believe it would benefit the Scorpio community.

 

[ajlelectronics]

I've found some of the Jap bike wiring changes colour in runs too.

It is very irritating and makes fault finding more difficult than it needs to be. I would have redesigned it if I had realised before.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

It is very irritating and makes fault finding more difficult than it needs to be. I would have redesigned it if I had realised before.

Why do manufacturers do that? Is it driven by availability of components, or just cost?

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I seem to remember there was a guy on fleabay who could supply all the wire colours under the sun so you could match up with existing looms. That looks like a scary amount of very frustraiting work....I'd be cursing all the way through!