2nd gen issues? Try this first!

[Turdle]

Sometimes a gremlin can be caused by the smallest thing.

There are 2 large wire bundle connectors on the firewall. Both are held tight with a 10mm bolt.
Any bad connection in either plug can cause just about any issue. from bad transmission shifting, bad o2 sensor readings, no start, no power, etc.

Right above the HVAC blower motor is the PCM connector.

Above the intake manifold is a large square black connector. This is the main harness for everything electrical and transmission related from truck to main wire harness. Trans harness for short. It also has the 02 sensor wiring because they run down along the transmission.

since this cost nothing, and can cause a lot of issues, the first thing in your troubleshooting should be to loosen these connectors, look them over for bent or pushed back pins, and then if all looks good, re-seat them and tighten the bolt.

If this does not help you, well, keep digging in the forum for an answer.
If it does, please post in this thread so we can keep track.

Thanks, and good luck!

 

[MAS Tequila]

The Trans connector was the cause of my alternator issues.

And very likely the cause of the all the codes, O2 sensors, I was getting.

So 2 O2 sensors, 2 coil packs, 1 alternator, about 30 hours, and a lot of swearing could probably have been avoided.

I found mine was loose while tracing back the green/red wire.

After separating the connector, I sprayed both pieces with MAF cleaner, it was sitting right there, let it dry then put it together and snugged the bolt up.

The alternator issue went away immediately, and all residual rough running smoothed right out.

Live and learn, remember Occam's Razor!

 

[Brownpsu78]

The Trans connector was the cause of my alternator issues.

And very likely the cause of the all the codes, O2 sensors, I was getting.

So 2 O2 sensors, 2 coil packs, 1 alternator, about 30 hours, and a lot of swearing could probably have been avoided.

I found mine was loose while tracing back the green/red wire.

After separating the connector, I sprayed both pieces with MAF cleaner, it was sitting right there, let it dry then put it together and snugged the bolt up.

The alternator issue went away immediately, and all residual rough running smoothed right out.

Live and learn, remember Occam's Razor!

What was your alternator issue?
What codes was thebo2 sensor throwing?

 

[inkjunkie]

Could one of these connectors cause a b1352 code?

 

[Collin Whitfield]

I was getting codes for unresponsive O2 sensors and a misaligned camshaft.

Spent about $300 in repairs and check engine light was still on and couldn't pass emissions.

I was super confused after I replaced the O2 sensors because my OBDII reader was showing no change in the O2 sensor voltage when I revved the engine, even though the others changed.

Just unplugged both connectors and blew out with canned air and all is well now!

Thanks for the help!

 

[tiberius]

hey folks ..have a 96 explorer sport ..im getting a morse code type beeping that wont stop..starts right away after start up ..its not the 5 beep from a burned out airbag light ..ive had that ..this is like morse code ..very annoying..scanner shows no codes related to this..seems to come from gem module in dash..what is causing this? ive sprayed all the door locks ..wiggled the ignition tumbler..no check engine light ..but will show the slow 02 sensor code for both banks.

 

[tiberius]

after pulling my gem module i opened it up and found a blown out capacitor on the board ..must have quite literally Blown as it left a burn on both sides of the board and the positive side leg of that component is Gone...i do occasionally solder repair some of my cb radio gear but i will call my Tech guy to look at this ..too small a scale for me to feel comfortable with..hoping it didnt ruin the board when it blew..everything but my dome lights worked and if it didnt do the morse code beep i would have left it alone..i guess i could have him remove the buzzer from the board but i would lose all the warning chimes..sure hope he can fix it as i dont relish the idea of tracking down another one..they arent cheap ..a real cat in a bag situation..oh well ..wish me luck

 

[rlb245]

This Might be a good place for me to start looking. I new I came to the right place

 

[slsnut]

Glad I tried this first! Have had a temp gauge wild fluctuation for 2 years now that started out of the blue on a long drive back from out of state. Changed the senders and thermostat twice, water pump and radiator once and before I dug into the cluster to fix the gauge, I tried spraying these connections with MAF cleaner and drying them with compressed air. Gauge is solid now, my left front speaker now works and engine seems to idle smoother. Have a 1995 Explorer Eddie Bauer with 80K orig miles. Thanks for the tip here!

 

[corignelson]

MAF cleaner seems to work pretty well, but there might be a cheaper alternative. Its called contact cleaner or electronics cleaner, depending on store purchased from, and it is safe on paints/plastics. Here in Sacramento its about 70% the cost on average. Another good habit to get into is applying dielectric grease to the terminals before reconnecting. It keeps moisture out and corrosion to a minimum.

 

[Explorer2.0]

THANK YOU!!! We just did this to both connectors yesterday thanks to this post. FINALLY cured the temperamental coolant gauge. Blasted air, then cleaner, then more air, then DeoxIt Gold. Did the trick! THANKS AGAIN!

Team TARDIS

 

[slsnut]

Was your temp gauge occasionally moving from the normal position to just below the top of the scale then returns to normal quickly? This is what mine was doing and the condition returned shortly after I did the cleaning. It may have been unrelated but for the record the front left speaker still works well.

 

[Explorer2.0]

Nearly two months later and the Temp Gauge is still operating properly. It went from occasionally working to erratically working to not working at all before the fix.

Team TARDIS

 

[allmyEXes]

The check engine light has been on for months. My wife said "why don't you open the hood and see if it is still in there". I finally got around to disconnecting the battery and then I disconnected the PCM. Everything looked good and clean. All the pins were straight and even. Then I reconnected it and disconnected the other connector with all the wires going to the O2 sensors, transmission etc. I reconnected the battery and drove 4 3/4 miles from work to home and the CEL didn't come back on.
Thanks Turdle for the advice and it probably wouldn't hurt to do this periodically.
Could this possibly be why my fuel gauge has been erratic ?
ADDED 8-21-18:Check engine light has been functioning properly!

 

[Balke]

The Trans connector was the cause of my alternator issues.

And very likely the cause of the all the codes, O2 sensors, I was getting.

So 2 O2 sensors, 2 coil packs, 1 alternator, about 30 hours, and a lot of swearing could probably have been avoided.

I found mine was loose while tracing back the green/red wire.

After separating the connector, I sprayed both pieces with MAF cleaner, it was sitting right there, let it dry then put it together and snugged the bolt up.

The alternator issue went away immediately, and all residual rough running smoothed right out.

Live and learn, remember Occam's Razor!

Thanks for the info , im gonna check that out .. ill just give it a quick shot of wd-40 ,, hope that I did not say anything wrong .,, but I just put in a brand new battery , and checked some fuses , I found a 15 amp that belonged to the rear wiper , just sitting there , out of its seat. , so I put it in and tried the rear wiper ,, ..nope ,, not working , previous owner must have left it out on purpose for safety reasons. any way with brand new battery ,, 100 % charge , the power gauge on dash still reads only 50 % .

 

[MAS Tequila]

That’s ALL the ammeter will read.

 

[MrQ]

Check this fuse if you have low voltage from your alternator. It's the main fuse for the power distribution box under the hood. There is a small cover behind the box that you flip down to find it.

It gets corroded and causes issue with starting and power.

I have had to do this twice, these pictures are from 5 years ago.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Sometimes a gremlin can be caused by the smallest thing.

There are 2 large wire bundle connectors on the firewall. Both are held tight with a 10mm bolt.
Any bad connection in either plug can cause just about any issue. from bad transmission shifting, bad o2 sensor readings, no start, no power, etc.

Right above the HVAC blower motor is the PCM connector.
View attachment 98220
Above the intake manifold is a large square black connector. This is the main harness for everything electrical and transmission related from truck to main wire harness. Trans harness for short. It also has the 02 sensor wiring because they run down along the transmission.
View attachment 98221

since this cost nothing, and can cause a lot of issues, the first thing in your troubleshooting should be to loosen these connectors, look them over for bent or pushed back pins, and then if all looks good, re-seat them and tighten the bolt.

If this does not help you, well, keep digging in the forum for an answer.
If it does, please post in this thread so we can keep track.

Thanks, and good luck!

Thank you for the info...I'll check these this afternoon!

 

[Heath]

I'll have to check these on my sons Explorer. It has a random no start issue after being driven and then shut off once in a while. Not often, but still a pain in the ass when it happens. After the truck sits a while (1-2 hours) then it'll start again.

 

[Raph X.]

Can unplugging and re plugging after cleaning and inspecting ofcourse solve my p0125 code. I read a comment here about how it solved their issue on the temp gauge. Well my temp gauge barely even touches the half mark. My guess is what activates the code. Its tuesday morning 6:00am finally finished checking all hoses and wire harnesses but nothing like cleaning those 2 connectors as they looked fine. I did see a tiny seeping in the thermostat housing. But could that really be the code? Any help would be appreciated.

P.s im not 100% mechanically experienced im learning as i go.