BWM Brown Wire Mod 3rd Gen | Page 21 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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BWM Brown Wire Mod 3rd Gen

Thanks. Looks good!
 



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Where did you find the brown wire? I heard the 2004's are different from the others.

Passenger side engine compartent. There are to shileded bundles that come from behind the intake manifold and run to the firewall.

The wire is in the top bundle wich is slightly smaller and you can pop it out of the holding clip. The wire is the same color as the one pictured on page 7 by the guy with the 04 4.6L but his bundle is in a different spot than ours. So look for the same color wire in his pic but look for it where I told you to.

There are 3 wire sizes in the bundle, thick medium and thin, the wire you want is a medium size in comparison to the ones in the bundle. Has a dark teal color to it.

Doing this was a real crapshoot. I went off of his picture and hoped it was the same color because I have trouble telling colors apart. I have incredible vision but really suck with colors haha.

Good luck and let me know if you find it and email me if you have an issue and i'll give you my number if you need.
 






Hey guys, I did the BWM on my 02 xlt D4 code and I noticed that whenever I do some mud donuts or roost my buddies with the bwm engaged the 4x4 high light comes on within about 5 seconds of slow spinning (I dont like to romp on it in 2wd). It will also come on randomly when I am just driving casually on roads with a lot of curves. I am wondering what sensor is triggering the fault (shaft sensor, diff sensor exc.) and also if it is possible for the system to override the brown wire and engage the clutch regardless of the brown wire's status.
 






Hey guys, I did the BWM on my 02 xlt D4 code and I noticed that whenever I do some mud donuts or roost my buddies with the bwm engaged the 4x4 high light comes on within about 5 seconds of slow spinning (I dont like to romp on it in 2wd). It will also come on randomly when I am just driving casually on roads with a lot of curves. I am wondering what sensor is triggering the fault (shaft sensor, diff sensor exc.) and also if it is possible for the system to override the brown wire and engage the clutch regardless of the brown wire's status.

I know for a fact the brown wire(only) feeds power to the magnet that engages the clutch pack thus 4hi. If you did indeed cut the power to the magnet there is no way for the truck to engage the front axle period...this goes for hi and lo range.

Sounds like its thinkin it is engaging front axle but actually isn't due to bwm.
I wouldn't worry about it unless you are indeed gettin power to front axle.
 






Tested it out today in a big pile of soft mulch and 4x4 definitely did not engage even though the light did come on. Thanks for the clarification!
 












I got mine done today. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
 












Maybe we can get a moderator to make changes to the original post?

1. show where the wire is for the 04/05 guys
2. tell everyone that there is absolutely no reason for a relay
 






^ I agree. I found mine by tracing up the wireloom from the transfer case. Mine was on the passenger side, smaller wire loom. Only brown wire in the loom. Ran straight to toggle switch.
 






^ I agree. I found mine by tracing up the wireloom from the transfer case. Mine was on the passerger side, smaller wire loom. Only brown wire in the loom. Ran straight to toggle switch.

Right, i read that somewhere in this thread before i did it but with 21 pages it was a pain in the ass to find.

I have no idea why a mod this simple has 21 pages of random discussion. The posts in here are so confusing and incorrect that I didn't do this mod for several months because I can recall someone stating that it doesn't work if you have the 3.55 gears.

The entire thread needs to be cleaned up of incorrect posts. So many people skip this mod because it comes off as complicated.
 






I have full knowledge of the difference between 4X4 and AWD (also the intricate differences in AWD systems/applications between vehicles), but I have only experienced how a natively FWD vehicle reacts when the Auto 4x4 engages. No knowledge of how a natively RWD vehicle reacts when Auto 4x4 engages. Is it really that bad? I have a hard time believing its so bad that I need to disable it for winter driving. Yes, I do understand that this mod is not just about winter driving, but that's not what I'm curious about. I'm curious about the people who insist on disabling 4wd for winter driving.

I have driven an 03 Ford Escape XLT 4X4 which is natively FWD with the Auto 4x4 thingy, and every time the Auto 4x4 engages on ice there's never been a problem, in fact it's been nice having it there to back me up while navigating my excessively icy 1-lane road to home. I've never felt like it was disruptive, intrusive, or dangerous in any way. And yes, I understand what a 4-wheel lock does to steering, driveline response, and how the vehicle handles/drives/turns - blah blah blah, not telling me anyhting I don't already know.

So I must ask: Is the Auto 4x4 really so bad in the Ex? Anyone ever had a wreck as a result of it and can PROVE that its not their own fault for driving poorly? I'm looking forward to having it this winter because Ford's auto 4x4 system has ALWAYS come through for me in the snow and ice.

Yes, ICE.
 






I have not done as much snow and ice driving in mine as some, but I always thought the auto 4x4 system was fine in the way it worked and handled. The only reason I would consider the BWM is if the system were engaging a lot in slow turns (i.e. parking lot).

I have full knowledge of the difference between 4X4 and AWD (also the intricate differences in AWD systems/applications between vehicles), but I have only experienced how a natively FWD vehicle reacts when the Auto 4x4 engages. No knowledge of how a natively RWD vehicle reacts when Auto 4x4 engages. Is it really that bad? I have a hard time believing its so bad that I need to disable it for winter driving. Yes, I do understand that this mod is not just about winter driving, but that's not what I'm curious about. I'm curious about the people who insist on disabling 4wd for winter driving.

I have driven an 03 Ford Escape XLT 4X4 which is natively FWD with the Auto 4x4 thingy, and every time the Auto 4x4 engages on ice there's never been a problem, in fact it's been nice having it there to back me up while navigating my excessively icy 1-lane road to home. I've never felt like it was disruptive, intrusive, or dangerous in any way. And yes, I understand what a 4-wheel lock does to steering, driveline response, and how the vehicle handles/drives/turns - blah blah blah, not telling me anyhting I don't already know.

So I must ask: Is the Auto 4x4 really so bad in the Ex? Anyone ever had a wreck as a result of it and can PROVE that its not their own fault for driving poorly? I'm looking forward to having it this winter because Ford's auto 4x4 system has ALWAYS come through for me in the snow and ice.

Yes, ICE.
 






I have not done as much snow and ice driving in mine as some, but I always thought the auto 4x4 system was fine in the way it worked and handled. The only reason I would consider the BWM is if the system were engaging a lot in slow turns (i.e. parking lot).

Thats why I got mine done because of the slow turns. I do not see much ice or snow down here.
 






Did this over the weekend to my 02 Explorer. I looked at the wire loom under door sill and thought this had to run up by the dash. I looked behind the glove box and this loom with the brown wire runs across towards driver side. I just put an on off switch there to save the few extra feet of wire.
 






I did the mod as well over the weekend on my '04. Mine was a little different. I found the brown wire in the loom along the firewall on the right side, so I didn't have to run a set of wires down to the T-case. Now I just need to reset my 'lost' shift motor. (lost is to weak of word, mine's fallen off the face of the earth) Thanks to a neighbor who 'played' with the switch while I had it apart. Now I'm lost!!!!!
 






Other than burnouts. There is really no benefit, right?

Some front diff lockers don't work on these systems unless you can turn "auto 4wd" into "real" 2wd/4wd. Which is all that interests a lot of people who own 4wd's, not drag racing. :australia
Either that or find manual locking hubs ??
 



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So I must ask: Is the Auto 4x4 really so bad in the Ex? Anyone ever had a wreck as a result of it and can PROVE that its not their own fault for driving poorly? I'm looking forward to having it this winter because Ford's auto 4x4 system has ALWAYS come through for me in the snow and ice.

Yes, ICE.

What I did covers all that, I was coming back from a w/end of 4wding with 4wd club following a mate (driving Nissan Patrol) on dirt road with a sweeping, angled left hand bend (we drive on left here), I was in a small controlled side-way slide on the inside & half-way around bend when 4wd cut in & sent me straight into the roadside scrub. Minimal damage to front, at that stage I'd only had the X for a couple of months (98 XLT wagon) & didn't know about 4wd cutting in, soon learnt but LOL.
This is were the Brown Wire Mod comes in handy.
 






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