Ford Dealership Work

[98SteedaGT]

I brought mine in to a local mech to have the TA/Underdrives put on. They did a good job putting it on.. The only complaint I had was, since the pickup for the timing now sits outside the block, they had to un-clip the wire harness a little to let the last plug reach to the TA.

Well, when they did this, they zip-striped the rest of the harness down to the front sway-bar...(OMG!!! WHY???) I didn't realize it until it was too late, I fought my car for 3 days trying to figure out why everytime I hit a bump the engine would surge and try to shut off.....

Well, it finally stranded me on a back road in the area...(Talk about pissed, man was I saying some words!!) What had happened, since the harness was tied to the sway bar, the movement of the car finally tore the wire inside the casing, but it didn't tear the casing.. (thus causing the short on bumps)... well, now the wire isn't even touching the other side... I have a nice wire-lead severed inside the casing.... Needless to say, after a half-mile of walking and finding the shop that did my rear-end work, I called in to the local dealer to see if I could just by the plug on the end.. (What was I thinking?) They don't sell it alone (Not buying the whole harness)...

So, I pulled a MacGuyver and asked for two paper-clips, I proceeded to walk back to my car following some train tracks.. I found a local SWBell phone box on the side of the road that was open (Looked old, the casing and wires are all exposed, no way it's still being used). I would have grabed some of the 26AWG phone wire in there (being a network admin, I know how well this stuff works for various things), but no... Tx Fire Ants have taken up residence in there, and anyone here from Tx knows you don't screw with our fireants.. Right before I got back to the car I found some old nylon string on the ground (Light Flickers!!!!)...

So, I break out my car keys and strip the casing of the wiring harness so I can see the empty space where copper wire is supposed to be. I unfold one of the paper clips and sharpen it on the concrete to a fine point on both ends. I inserted it into the remaining wire lead on the plug, and the same into the trailing lead to the harness.. Slipped the wire casing back over it, and then used my knot tieing skills (glad I paid attention at the Scout Meeting that night) to form a cheap splint, I then used a small twig and lashed it to the wound and plugged it all back up... I sit down inside the car, said a few prayers, through some holy water over the mustang on the air bag. Proceeded to crank the car... THANK YOU GOD!!!! it starts and I limped back home......

I found a junk yard with a 6Cyl Stang and got the plug of it and made a proper connection and sealed it back right, and it's been running fine ever since.....


---I didn't know you could fix a mustang with just a paper clip, and nylon string..... Maybe that should be added to the Ford Owners Manual