Wire from + battery cable cut

[turbo79]

The list of mickey mouse repairs on my '92 that were done before I got it in July 2007 is long, and would make many of you SHO lovers wince, but most have been dealt with ($$$ of course).

There is one nagging question, though. The positive battery cable has an additional wire (12 to 14 gauge by my guess) that runs about 4-5 inches but is now just cut off. You see, when I got the car this wire was used to hard wire the cooling fan to a switch inside the car (that's on the top five list of reasons the former owner should not drive anything more robust than a Ford Fiesta). Since the car ran with the hard wired fan, I just disconnected the wire when I threw that wire job out and had the IRCM replaced (that's why the fan was hard wired, no doubt).

I've heard, or read, here, I think, that that wire goes to the EEC computer (or ECU). Thing is, the car runs fine without it being connected to anything.

???

Any clues? If so, where should it hook up properly?

 

[deercrusher]

They most likely hardwired fan to bypass a faulty CCRM. So, if you plug in your OBDI tester to the ECU test plug on the passenger side firewall, or just use a jumper to begin the test - the first thing you should hear is your fans kicking on - first low speed , then high. If your fix has worked , then that is what you will hear. It is wired through the ECU - the computer uses the ECT sensor to monitor coolant tempuratur then turn on the fans through the CCRM. Give the above test a shot to see if those fans are working properly.

 

[turbo79]

They most likely hardwired fan to bypass a faulty CCRM. So, if you plug in your OBDI tester to the ECU test plug on the passenger side firewall, or just use a jumper to begin the test - the first thing you should hear is your fans kicking on - first low speed , then high. If your fix has worked , then that is what you will hear. It is wired through the ECU - the computer uses the ECT sensor to monitor coolant tempuratur then turn on the fans through the CCRM. Give the above test a shot to see if those fans are working properly.

Well, I when I said IRCM I also meant CCRM, since Ford called that device by those two different names depending on the year. The fan does seem to work fine, if the '92 had a two speed fan - I'm not sure on that. But, I can let the car idle for 15-20 minutes (when in a line) and it never overheats, so something is working. Thanks for the tips.

What I do want to know is what that positive wire I mentioned is for originally!

 

[kevinspann]

Nothing, Your positive cable has been replaced with a universal cable. Im guessing the sheathing on the cable is also black? If you look at your negative cable, there should be the same wire, that is attached to the inner fender. While I cant tell you why the additional ground is needed (a backup, maybe?) I can say for certain that it only on needed on the negative cable.