Electrical Issues

Hi guys,

I was out driving last weekend, and she just quit, to make a long story short, I have found some wires that have melted.

I have a SPF MK1, the wires in question are along the tub, to the inside of the oil cooler. The wires from the coil go down behind the oil cooler and merge with some other wires inside a corrugated plastic tube. The plastic tube is melted around the wires.

Obviously there is a short somewhere, any thoughts?

Another question, as I was helping to get the car off the tow truck, I noticed that the front sway bar attachment, the one that hangs down below the car is very loose, I remember reading something about loose front sway bars, any thoughts, Thanks.

Is the sway bar loose on the end or ends? You may need the end welded to the flat stock that holds the ends. Not much meat there as I was told when mine was welded.

What wires (what do they connect) were melted? Did the associated fuses not Blow? What is the chance that the wires where chaffing against sheet metal?

Glad you didn't have to use the fire extinguisher!

Jim, I can probably help you since I'm working on exactly that part of my car right now (and am an electrical engineer, and have the circuit diagram close to memorized). However, I'm not sure I'm oriented so let me ask some questions which may seem dumb but keep in mind these cars all differ in various ways.

Which side of the car are we talking about (left or right, from driver's point of view)? I ask because the default oil cooler location is the left side, but the coil is usualy on the right. Do you have two oil coolers?

If you can take a picture that would help a lot. The other think you could do is disconnect the battery and then expose the wires inside the "corrugated tube" That stuff is called "split loom" because it is split lengthwise. This means you should be able to pull it off of the wires it is encasing, and then from the set of colors and location I can probably tell you what circuits are involved. This will also allow you to see which wires are melted which will also narrow the set of possible circuits. BTW I'm guessing we're on the right side, which happens to be about the only place on the car where there is wiring that is not fuse-protected (and therefore would not have been capable of melting anything). Also, I suspect the split-loom was added by your installer because all the wiring on my virgin roller is jacketed in smooth black heat-shrink tubing.

Alan,

Thanks for taking the time to help out!

You are right, it is the right side, most of the SPF MK1's I have seen are like mine with the single engine oil cooler on the right. The wires involve the large red one from the battery and wires from the coil that group together inside a "corrugated" plastic sheath that I'm pretty sure are original. It could be that they changed the wire wrap on later cars.

This is probably a moot point at this time because I have sent the car to a Roush warranty shop that has a pretty good reputation in this area.

Your comment about this area not being covered by fuses is right on, that would explain the melting of the bundle instead of just a blown fuse.

Thanks very much for your input, I'll let you know how it works out.

Yes, please let us know the root cause. It would be a perfect time for me to address it on my car.

Good point about the possible improvement. The more I dig into P2160 the more I find amateurish looking stuff that could well (I hope) have been improved in later cars. My latest is the headlight flasher relay lying loose inside the dash at the end of a long harness (what, was the tie wrap you used to bundle up all the extra wire the last one in the shop?). And the speedometer cable bent 90 degrees sideways right at the speedometer. I wonder how long that would have lasted before it broke.

As a side question for my education: so on your car the oil cooler is mounted to the lid of the battery box? How do the battery cables exit? On mine the lid is raised in the center and there are open rectanglar windows in the inner side of the raised area, one each for + and -. Or did they make round holes in the sponson surface to the front like on the left side? Or what?

Anyone know why SPF/Hi-tech would put the oil cooler on the right side? I thought the historical location was left side.

Alan,

I'll check the battery wires next time is see the car, perhaps Mon/Tues.

As for the oil cooler location, looking through my books on the subject there were several locations, but most of the MK1's I've seen have the oil cooler on the right with the aluminum "duct" leading to the side scoop. I have noticed that although this duct is similar to the original ones it is not exactly the same as the original ones seemed to slope up and to the right when looked at from the rear. Where the SPF ones are level with the ground/top of battery.

Historically the pictures show the oil cooler on the MKII is located vertically on the left side, similar to the SPF MKII.

Alan,
I see that you mentioned a problem with your speedometer. I bought my Superformance MKII about 6 months ago, but haven't driven it yet (came to me with speedo not working)....(I haven't driven it for so long because I had shoulder surgery, not for the speedo issue). Anyway, I had a friend who is a mechanic look at it, and he said that my cable was too short (he removed the speedo and had it tested and it worked fine). He wants to pull the speedometer cable out and put a new one in that is slightly longer. So here's the million dollar question- is that normal for these cars (he said it's a common install issue)? I purchased the car from someone who had the rolling chassis built by superformance and the engine professionally installed.
I wish I was more experienced with the actual builds of these cars, but I don't really know more than I read. Could you recommend a pro mechanic near the LA area?

Alex --

See reply to L.A. thread.

Yes the speedo cable has many problems, including a really tight turn right at the back of the meter itself. If you plan on keeping the Smiths gauge most people put a 90deg. drive gear on the gauge and put the cable into it. The one I have is made by Arthur Allen MFG. Part #AA-1042, it has a 1-1 ratio. Don't just blindly put it on the speedo and expect it to work. I had to shorten the square drive pin that comes with it otherwise it binds up. Check for binds at every step.

Even after you fix the bind at low speeds the needle jumps. I've heard a quality cable (all new end to end) fixes that but mine doesn't give the right speed so for now I use my Droid phone and a Speed app. There are several apps including one the reveres the numbers so when it's sitting on the dash it show up as a heads up display, go figure. Who needs a damn speedo anyway.
Also if you have a ZFQ like I do where the speedo cable plugs into the very back of the transaxle the cable really isn't long enough anyway.

There is a long thread about other solutions and fixes you need to look up. There is also more info on this thread. http://www.gt40s.com/forum/superformance-gt40s/31633-service-around-los-angeles-area.html