Fuel Injector Wire/Connector Replacement

Tiny
GINALANGSTON1
  • MEMBER
  • 2000 FORD F-150
  • 4.2L
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 236,000 MILES
While putting in New Fuel Injectors in on my 2000 Ford F150 4.2 v6 I noticed that a few of the connectors needed to be replaced so Dummy me cut a few of the wires/connectors off about an inch down from the connector and went to a Junk yard and cut a few off a Ford truck same as mine and went home and put them on mine, Not realizing that they had to be a specific length in order to work properly, so I bought a New set (wires w/ connectors) online but decided this time I will bring it into a shop and have a Professional re-do them. However with Every Past experience with EVERY Mechanic shop that I have had, the idea is really stressing me out. So my Question is, Will they have to remove my Head to get down into the Fuel Injection harness far enough to where they need to re-splice the new wires into? I don't want to be charged for a bunch of work that they SAID they had to do to repair MY mess up, so I really need to know what exactly is going to need to be done in order for these New wires/connectors to be connected properly. Please help. Any Info. You have on this subject will be sooo Greatly Appreciated. The Wires that need Re-done are #4, 5, 6 and one from passenger side #3 I believe. Thank you
Friday, May 29th, 2020 AT 3:56 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
DANNY L
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,648 POSTS
Hello, I'm Danny.

No, no reason to take the head off. Can you take a picture with your cell phone and upload here with how short you cut the harness and the connectors off? They or you should just be able to re-splice the connectors to get to work again. Hope this helps and thanks for using 2CarPros.
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Monday, February 15th, 2021 AT 9:54 AM
Tiny
GINALANGSTON1
  • MEMBER
  • 65 POSTS
Thanks for quick reply. Here is a picture of two of the four fuel injector wires that I cut off of my truck, as you can see I cut #6 right at the connector so I would have as much wire as possible to splice new one on. The other 3 are pretty much the same length as the other one in pic (If I remember correctly that is) but now the ones I added on those from the junk yard were a little longer. So do you think if I were to re-do it and remove the ones that I already added and replaced with my brand new ones cut down to the size that I cut off in the first place, that it will be okay? And if so, how much of a problem is it going to be as far as running condition and the fuel injectors working properly if I am off on the length just a bit? Also when I did them, I never did soilder them together, just shrink tube. Please let me know what you think I need to do. Thanks.
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Monday, February 15th, 2021 AT 9:54 AM
Tiny
DANNY L
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,648 POSTS
Hello again.

Yes, you can just splice the wires together. I would suggest using shrink wrap after soldering the connections. The length will not matter and it will not affect the performance of the the injector. It will work just fine. Hope this helps and thanks again for using 2CarPros. Let me know if you have any further questions about this issue.

Danny-
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Monday, February 15th, 2021 AT 9:54 AM
Tiny
GINALANGSTON1
  • MEMBER
  • 65 POSTS
Okay, I not only read information online but also have had a few different people tell me that the length does matter Extremely. That the total length after splicing in the new wire have to be the same length as originally. So your saying that that is not true? That it will not matter? That would definitely be awesome for sure, cause I wouldn't even know how to measure from the ones cut off.
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Monday, February 15th, 2021 AT 9:54 AM
Tiny
DANNY L
  • MECHANIC
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Hello again.

Just be sure to use the factory wire from the harness you found to replace to reattach. If you were to use a different size wire to attach that is what would possibly affect performance. Be sure to solder the connections and use heat shrink tubing to protect and seal the wiring. Being a little shorter length will not affect performance if you reattached as I stated. Let me know if you have any further questions about this repair. Hope this helps and thanks again for using 2CarPros.

Danny-
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Monday, February 15th, 2021 AT 9:54 AM
Tiny
GINALANGSTON1
  • MEMBER
  • 65 POSTS
Okay, I tool it in and had them put on, soldier, and shrink tube my New Fuel Injector wire connectors/pigtails to the harness and my truck runs bad. He said that #5 cylinder was misfiring and that I needed to replace my spark plugs which they were all just barely replaced brand new and wires just recently so I told him no. Well then driving home from the shop my check engine light came on with a P0174 code so being that the truck was running extremely bad I decided to buy all new wires and plugs again and put them on which barely made a difference. The Truck starts right up every time and doesn't sound to bad until I put it in reverse and drive, then it sounds bad and shakes and runs terrible. The longer I drive it throughout the day the worse it starts running. I ran the OBD scan on it and wrote down results, now I know the P0174 is a lean issue in bank 2 but what I need to know is what it means as far as the codes. Now the other day I ran the Live Data set and then ran it again today and got different readings which showed the following:
(The other Day) (Today)
Fuel Sys 1 OL Fuel Sys A OL
Fuel Sys2 Fuel Sys B
ECT 83 ECT 35
SHRTFT 1 39.1 SHRTFT 1 42.2
LONGFT 1 0.0 LONGFT 1 0.0
SHRTFT 2 39.1 SHRTFT2 42, 2
LONGFT 2 0.0 LONGFT 2 0
IAT 53 IAT 38
MAF 0.10 MAF 0.10
TP 19.6 TP 19.2

Did not record O2S11(V) 0.000
SHRTT11 42.2
O2S12(V) 0.000
SHRTT12 99.2
O2S21 0.000
SHRT21 42.2
O2S22 0.000
SHRTFT22 99.2

Now what any of that means I have no clue. Now( the other days )Freeze Frame with "key on not running" read a Load at 70.6 RPM 1604 VSS 66 ECT 92 with SHRTFT1 3.9
LONGFT 1 3.1 SHRTFT 2 6.31 LONGFT 2 13.3.

And will driving the SHRTFT1 and SHRT2 went up and down with SHRTFT 1 0.0 to -0.8 to 16, -16, -39, 61, -2.3, etc. SHRTFT 2 2.3, 21, 08, 31, 32.8 etc.(Not in those exact orders of course)
while the LONGFT 1 stayed MOSTLY at 6.3 while the LONGFT 2 stayed MOSTLY at 14.8.
VSS 0 Sparkadv 14-24

Now If I only knew what it all meant. Please help me...
Could it have anything to do with the length of the fuel Injector wires being too short or too long and therefore not sending the proper amount of voltage through the injectors in the correct amount of time to fire them when needed? That is what I think myself is going on and I really need to know if I am right or wrong on this. Please help me and reply ASAP. Thank you so much.
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Monday, February 15th, 2021 AT 9:54 AM
Tiny
DANNY L
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,648 POSTS
Hello again.

Having the repair done with the fuel injector harness will not cause a misfire. This is a separate issue. Usually a system lean condition is usually caused by a vacuum leak or intake gasket leak. You might want to try disconnecting the cylinder number 5 fuel injector connector and see if any change in performance happens. If you disconnect and nothing changes then you will know that cylinder is not getting an injector pulse and is not firing. If you want to check for an intake leak you can get a can of starter fluid and spray the intake manifold gasket area. Any leak when found with starter fluid will drastically raise the idle when found with the engine running. If disconnecting the injector harness and no change in performance that would be and indication of a faulty driver in the PCM - power-train control module. Again this is not caused by your wiring fix. Hope this helps and thanks again for using 2CarPros.

Danny-
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Monday, February 15th, 2021 AT 9:54 AM

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