Right,,, tiny bit of duff info there.... That plug we talked about ages ago for the coil. That's IS needed and is the supply to the coil pack, there must be a matching socket.

TT

there are 3 multi-plugs behind the battery 4pin, 6pin , 8 pin. These connect the body loom to the engine loom.

Inertia switch is another name for fuel cutoff

TT

Ok there's tons of plugs around that area with varios "branches" going all over the place it seems so I guess you're on about that as I didn't touch anything like that when I stripped it. It was only plugs that went into components so to speak that I disconnected to get the engine out, and then disconnected stuff on the bodywork so speak like lights to then be able to pull the loom out in one piece.

If you're refering to this I found the connection for it, it was next to the headlights:

That's the one, For some reason ford put the ignition feed to the coil on the Body loom ( which includes the front lighting loom ) and not on the engine loom.

So one part of the connection you will find on the engine loom, and the other on the body loom. If that's the engine loom then you can just connect it to +12V while testing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wmQZOEwR-4

1 wire to the coil feed.
1 wire to the black on the multiplugs.
1 to the starter wire.
(plus engine loom connected to battery)

TT

can't watch utube at work, will see if it plays on my phone at lunch ;) Have you got a picture of the multiplugs you're on about or is it clearly visible in the video?

Will take a picture for you later.

TT

This is sort of what they look like in their "Sierra" location.



Although this is on for a slightly (HAHAHAHAH) modified installation..

But these three plugs should be on your engine loom.

TT

OK, I've definitely got a cluster of plugs that look like that very close to the battery connections. I didn't get a chance to work on the car really tonight so I'll have to try some of these things tomorrow night all going well. 1st thing to try is still take out fuses 20,21,22 and check black/yellow to see if one of the fuses has gone? Then take the starter off for testing?

The fuse won't have gone, We are looking for 12V coming back the wrong way indicating a short or miss connected wire. That wire should only feed via those fuses so with them removed we should hopefuly see 0v at the switch and then be able to work through the circuits...

TT

Ok so got in the garage tonight and worked on this a bit more. I started with the fuses and took out 20,21,22 like you said and tried the voltage test again. I'm still getting 12v coming thru though with the fuses out on the yellow/black wire at the ignition :(

Here's a picture of the fuse box, I took out the 3 at the top left:



So I took a picture of the alternator connections just incase they're wrong..

Here's a picture of how the starter is currently wired up:


and some pictures of it on the bench:

I'm guessing these are the multiplugs you mentioned?


I've also got this thing which I'm not sure what it's for?


And another plug like this at the battery connections:

Ok test the voltages on the plug for the ignition switch with it unplugged.

Starter looks right, you can bench test it with a black jumplead on the case to the negative on the battery. Red Jump lead to the big terminal and + on the battery and then touch another wire from the + to the smaller terminal on the starter. IT WILL Jump a bit :)

TT

the last plug looks like a side repeater.

the one with a red cap is the self test socket.

Alternator looks right.

Ok so I just went & tested the starter like you said, needless to say it made me jump! So I guess it's working ok as it spun round and jumped and make some nice big sparks.

I also checked the yellow/black wire in the plug with the multimeter and there's still 12v coming thru to the plug in all key positions :(

So what does the self test socket do?

unplug the ignition switch, we need to determine if the switch is causing the +12V on the wire or if there's voltage on it regardless.

I think we can put the starter issue down to the immobaliser. PM on its way...

TT

So when I just did that voltage check, I had unplugged the ignition at the column and stuck the probes down into the plug on the loom side vs key hole side so to speak?

Yes. loom side

Ok I checked the ignition plug loom side and I still get 12v on the yellow/black wire in all key positions(reading does go up slightly in position 3). I also had a look for the plug you mentioned in your pm and I can't see anything like that. I have got a pair of 2 row, 6 pin plugs that are red & white nearby but I'm not sure if anything was plugged into them when I stripped it. I have disconnected the whole stero loom as this was just one plug that went in near the column so maybe it's on there somewhere or that needs to be connected?

Its only a thought but most of the problems seem to stem from what is present in the way of live feeds to and from the ignition switch. Has the ignition switch/barrel ever been dismantled? We had a situation a while ago on a machine where the plastic bit on the back of the switch had been tugged out and one of our guys just shoved it back on and bent the tags over again. This in effect had wrongly indexed the barrel to the switch and had the starter engaged all the time.<cost me a starter> but a lot more in time finding the fault.

Just thoughts.

Bob

Well again a newbie question here but is the ignition switch the same as barrel where the key goes in or is somewhere else on the loom? I guess we've proved by testing the voltages on the plug (not the barrel) are the same as the barrel so I would have thought the problem is somewhere else in the loom?

Has the ignition barrel been off or dismantled or any part of the assembly been apart. Also was the donor a runner when you got it ie,on the button.

The ignition barrel/assembly hasn't been touched for what i can tell I can tell but I'm a bit of a newbie that way. It was just unplugged when I took the loom out. It just looked like the yellow/black wire was cut at some point in the past before me as it was joined up with a terminal block when I took it apart. The donor was indeed running as I drove it home because I didn't have means to move a non-runner.

Ignition switch is on the oposit end of the barrel from the key.

TT

Ok so that rules that out I guess. Where do I go next to try and get it running? Do you think I need to connect the ecu?

We need to figure out waht's wrong with the loom. Did you check the voltages with the switch unplugged?

TT

Yes, they where the same as with it plugged in.

I've been trying to read the wiring diagram and it looks like there should only be two wires on the ignition switch on the 1.6/1.8 cfi's. A red and yellow/black. It looks like the yellow/black should to to the anti-theft module (which I don't think I have), then it also seems to split and go to 1) power delay relay as a black wire? 2) ecu as a black wire [pin 5] 3) edis as a black wire [pin 8]. The red wire coming out of the ignition on the other had appears to split also and go to an engine managment relay, the battery positive, the ecu via a fuse [pin 1], and the power delay relay. Is the problem something like because I don't have the ecu plugged in, it's not completing the circut and i need to cut the ecu wires off and connect them up to each other?

Ok. Have you found the alarm module and it's black/Yellow wires. Unplug the module and test the voltage at the ignition again.

Also test the continuity between the starter wire at the starter and the blue/black at the switch.

Have you managed to find the matching wires for the coil?

TT

It doesn't look like mine had an alarm as I can't find any plugs for it on the loom.

I'll try this when I get home.

yes that's connected now

In the below picture the security module is the black box you can see right at the bottom of the picture. I think all the later Sierra's had one fitted regardless of spec.



The mass of wiring in the picture is all the loom that was removed from Gus's car as it was not required, and his was only a basic model without electric windows etc.

I'll have a look thru my pile later for something like that but I don't remember anything like that but I'm probly wrong! I plan to start picking off all the black tap that the loom is wrapped up in to make tracing some of these wires easier. I've also been picking my way through the wiring diragram for the sierra and looking for stuff I think i'll need to take out. For example will I need to keep things like the engine management relays or the power delay relay?

Yep that black box is the alarm/imobaliser. Present on all post 90 cars.

TT

Looking at diagram 4 in the Haynes manual (1.6 & 1.8 CVH Engine CFI 1990 onwards), the only essential items you must keep to make the engine run in your setup are as follows.

1. Item 40 - Crankshaft position sensor.
2. Item 57 - EDIS Module
3. Item 112 - Ignition Coil
4. Item 153 - Suppressor

All the other items could be binned without trouble.

All this must start to make that wiring loom from premiers look very attractive!

Bob

The photo only shows all the redundant wiring. You have then got all the excess that needs cutting out for the lights, and engine circuits to get the wiring neat, rather than having coils of wiring loom.

I never bought a donor only that parts I needed so I had no choice but to buy a wiring loom. If you have a look in my photobucket you can see the Premier wiring loom being fitted.

I would recommend it to anybody. Quality product comes with loads of connectors and a crimping tool.
I even had mine modified by having it made without all the wiring for wipers & heater as I never intend to fit one. I also told them I had the later spec column switches so they made sure the relays were wired accordingly.

Right I had another dig thru my pile of parts and I definitely don't have anything that looks like that. I remember though when my mate helped me strip it that there was some things we left or cut off the loom as they'd be redundant like interior lights etc. so I don't know if this was one of the things that got left. My donor was a really low spec though as it didn't even have a rev counter so is it possible though that it may not have been fitted with the anti-theft module?

I tried a continuity test between the thin red/black starter wire and the blue/black wire at the ignition and I only get a beep when its in position 3.

I did manage to get all the tape off the loom from the column up to the fusebox and traced the yellow/black wire that's got voltage which shouldn't. About an inch away from the fuze box it hits a solder joint where it splits into 9 other wires all of which are yellow/black or black. most seem to go into the fuse box into the relays, some seem to go to small plugs nearby then go back to the fusebox. I got as far as tracing one of the small black splits but then it disappears into the engine loom towards the inlet manifold connections. I did however retry the voltage test against the solder joint and noticed I only got a very small number (0.05) so I retried it against the loomside ignition plug and got the same reading. I must've done something wrong when I tested it last time :confused:

what does this look like as I don't think i've got anything like that wired in at the moment as it should sit close to the coilpack?

With removing all the redundant wires, am I better of waiting till I can get it to crank & run before I start taking stuff out? There seems to be alot of plugs all over the place of different size & shapes which didn't have anything plugged into them :confused:

The suppressor is a grey box with single black wire going to it. It would have been bolted to the coilpack bracket on the side of the engine.

Personnally I would try and get the engine to run before removing anything else from the loom.

:confused: I dont have any grey boxes like that with a single wire going into them near my coilpack. do you have a picture of one?

Cant help but think your losing to much valuable build time over this wiring problem. A few of the guys here could probably get to the bottom of it if they were there. Might pay to get a local autospark to have a gander. Set yourself a time limit and if its still no go tie a long rope to the loom, fasten it to the back of your daily driver and drive off. That would remove the problem so you can start again.

Bob:D