fixing harnesses?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Hi--
Just noticed one of the 2 wires that go into the egr harness, was falling out of it.
They have little clips that hold them in, to release a wire, you push at some spot with a teeny screwdriver to push back the retaining bit of plastic and the wire pulls right out.

Well, that retaining bit of plastic is either broken off or completely worn, because the wire just falls right out the back of the harness no matter how firmly or which orientation I try to push it back in at.

Minor niggling little problem I know... what have you done to fix such obnoxiously failing harnesses?
I'm thinking about some sort of putty shoved in there to keep it in, even epoxy if it comes to it?
Or pull the other wire out, and just forget the damned harness. The clips do independently hold on with some strength.

[BerniniCaCO3]

btw, I thought I got my engine timed right, but the idle is still uneven, and very weak-- I don't know what the rpms are, but they're too low to even keep the oil pressure above idiot light level. Could this be a cause?
But egr only comes on on the highway after the engine's warm, right, wouldn't affect cold idle?

[1990LTD]

I would be looking at the cause of no oil pressure before anything else. Did you just put this motor together? No oil pressure = bottom end badness

[gadget73]

bad/unhooked IAC will cause low idle.

if the actual pins are OK, you get yourself another connector and swap the plastic shell on. If the pins are not OK, you get yourself another connector and splice it in. I like solder and shrink tube.

[BerniniCaCO3]

which one is the idle air control?
It worked fine before the engine swap, so it would be strange coincidence if it were suddenly bad, or clogged, now-- but an only partially clipped in harness is possible.

[mrltd]

Even with a low idle, there should be more than enough oil pressure to keep the idiot light off.

Either go to a junkyard and get another connector, or go to the dealer and get a new one (although I doubt you can get it from the dealer anymore)

The idle air control is the one on the side of the throttle body... (again google is your friend)

[pantera77]

Ya, I'd be a lot more concerned about that oil pressure first.

[gadget73]

Do you have the proper oil pressure sender in there? If the one in the motor came from an Explorer or a Mustang, its not the same switch as a Vic.

[BerniniCaCO3]

the oil pressure light goes off when the starter motor engages, actually, for a moment-- before the starter disengages and it's all the engine. And it goes off when I rev the engine.
I know it used to put out the full 40psi at idle. It's got a brand new oil pump, which I did prime, I can't for the life of me imagine that it's the oiling system. Gotta be the pathetically low idle.

Actually...the battery light comes on, too, and I verified that the battery voltage is OK, and I verified that my 3g alternator wiring is correct, and I verified that the 3g alternator works (at salvo auto parts).
Now that I think about it, the battery light comes on if the alternator puts out less voltage than the battery currently has (13.5). Could also be a symptom of a very slow idle. I do have a tach gauge that I was going to install, I guess I can find out just how slow is slow. But if the alternator is underdriven and the oil pump isn't pumping 6-7psi unless I give it some gas...

Some other questions then.
I did the HO conversion. I used my lopo sensors though... did I need to use the HO throttle position sensor, IAC, egr, and other sensors, or are they the same as the lopo ones? If the HO ones put out a different signal, then that could definitely do it.
I didn't forget to swap pcms however If I still had the lopo pcm, with its different firing order, it probably wouldn't even start.

The bracket that holds the tv cable, throttle cable, and cruise control solenoid might be about 3/16" off, since I had to modify it. Not worse than that though. If the throttle is closed, the throttle is CLOSED, right, so the throttle cable would only subtly change how much your foot on the gas pedal gives it gas-- shouldn't have any influence on idle right?

[BerniniCaCO3]

ya, I have the lopo oil pressure sender in it, but the mark vii computer-- so maybe it's still not the right one?

[1990LTD]

oil pump does not create pressure, it creates flow. pressure is created by the minute clearances between parts (rod to bearing, etc etc etc)


the pump has absolutely nothing to do with pressure...think of it like a garden hose flowing normally. that's your oil pump. put your thumb over the end of the hose....your thumb = bottom end parts hindering flow and creating pressure

[gadget73]

nah, the ecm isn't related. Just making sure you had the Vic sender in there and not something else. I've done that, and it makes the light do funny stuff.

Actually most of those sensors are exactly the same HO vs non-HO. Ford stuff is pretty standard across the board. In many cases you can even use much newer parts if you change the plugs over.