Tracking down a short

[quivver42]

Hi, I'm new to this thread and an idiot with vehicles in general so if I'm posting this in the wrong place, then I apologize, please let me know and I'll take it down.

Here's what's going on.
I'm trying to solve a short in my 2002 Ford Explorer. A few weeks ago my battery started draining overnight. Using a multimeter, I found it was pulling over 2 amps while everything was shut off. After pulling fuses I found that removing F2.17 stopped the drain. This provides power for the windows, interior lights, and radio. I then found a short on the wires going to the light in the glove box. It is a black wire and a black/lt. blue wire. The short was NOT at the connector, so I tried, unsuccessfully, to trace it back to the CJB. So, I started pulling connectors from the CJB, I pulled the first one, located on the back side of the fusebox by the relays, and closest to the passenger seat. I put F2.17 back in and the drain was gone (~100mA or so). Progress!

However, now the interior lights don't work which I'm fine with but the A/C and gauge cluster are not working either, which is a problem. I also noticed that there is NOT a black/lt. blue wire at this connector. The wiring diagram shows the lights going to the fuse and relay, yet obviously it must branch off somewhere else, right? This seems like plenty of info to make locating this short "easy", but looking at the wiring diagrams has been completely useless and infuriating. I would be happy just knowing the pinout of the connector.

So, A perfect solution would be to fix the short. A good solution would be to disconnect the wire and never have a glovebox light. An acceptable solution would be for all my interior lights to be disabled, but everything else works.

Does anybody know how I could find the pinout of the connectors on the CJB, or better yet, does anyone know where the glovebox light wires actually go? I just don't get how the wiring diagrams show the lights going directly to F2.17 and a relay, but I pull that connector with different colored wires from the light wires and disconnect all the interior lights. Again, sorry if this isn't the right place to post but my hair is getting grayer every day that I think about this stupid problem. I'm also not wanting to take it in, I'd rather pull the fuse and just not have windows or a radio for a while. Thanks in advance for any additional information that any of you can provide to help me out.

 

[rrgone]

Hi, I'm new to this thread and an idiot with vehicles in general so if I'm posting this in the wrong place, then I apologize, please let me know and I'll take it down.

Here's what's going on.
I'm trying to solve a short in my 2002 Ford Explorer. A few weeks ago my battery started draining overnight. Using a multimeter, I found it was pulling over 2 amps while everything was shut off. After pulling fuses I found that removing F2.17 stopped the drain. This provides power for the windows, interior lights, and radio. I then found a short on the wires going to the light in the glove box. It is a black wire and a black/lt. blue wire. The short was NOT at the connector, so I tried, unsuccessfully, to trace it back to the CJB. So, I started pulling connectors from the CJB, I pulled the first one, located on the back side of the fusebox by the relays, and closest to the passenger seat. I put F2.17 back in and the drain was gone (~100mA or so). Progress!

However, now the interior lights don't work which I'm fine with but the A/C and gauge cluster are not working either, which is a problem. I also noticed that there is NOT a black/lt. blue wire at this connector. The wiring diagram shows the lights going to the fuse and relay, yet obviously it must branch off somewhere else, right? This seems like plenty of info to make locating this short "easy", but looking at the wiring diagrams has been completely useless and infuriating. I would be happy just knowing the pinout of the connector.

So, A perfect solution would be to fix the short. A good solution would be to disconnect the wire and never have a glovebox light. An acceptable solution would be for all my interior lights to be disabled, but everything else works.

Does anybody know how I could find the pinout of the connectors on the CJB, or better yet, does anyone know where the glovebox light wires actually go? I just don't get how the wiring diagrams show the lights going directly to F2.17 and a relay, but I pull that connector with different colored wires from the light wires and disconnect all the interior lights. Again, sorry if this isn't the right place to post but my hair is getting grayer every day that I think about this stupid problem. I'm also not wanting to take it in, I'd rather pull the fuse and just not have windows or a radio for a while. Thanks in advance for any additional information that any of you can provide to help me out.

My guess is you have a short in one of the vanity mirrors. How many wires and what colors are they on the connector you lifted from the CJB? Are you looking at Ford diagrams or something aftermarket?

 

[4pullingGM]

I found a short on a little newer explorer (2004 or so) on the circuit that fed power to the interior light circuit (dome lights, climate control lights, floor shifter lights). The harness that ran from under the dash underneath the center console was shorted against the support that runs from the dash and bolts to the floor. You have to take the center console out to reach it easily. Not sure if that will help or not, happy hunting!

 

[quivver42]

My guess is you have a short in one of the vanity mirrors. How many wires and what colors are they on the connector you lifted from the CJB? Are you looking at Ford diagrams or something aftermarket?

The vanity lights were my first guess based on other people experiences, however, there was no short measured on that connector. Something that is strange is that I also tried unplugging the connector in the drivers side pillar that goes up to the roof (for vanity, dome, etc.) and when I tried to re-verify the drain it would not remain constant. It was constantly fluctuating from 500mA to 5A and everything in between, being that it never settled, I'm assuming the computer is turning switches on and off repeatedly since it's not getting a proper input from one of those signals telling it that everything is ok to leave on. But that's just a guess, and I figure that's not a big deal because I definitely have a short at the glove box and have not seen one anywhere else.

To answer your other question, I'm not sure if it's Ford official or not. I'm looking at the wiring diagrams on the Autozone website as that seems to be the only place I can find anything. I'm not sure what color the wires are, but I will check as soon as I'm off work in a couple hours and post that info here.

 

[quivver42]

I found a short on a little newer explorer (2004 or so) on the circuit that fed power to the interior light circuit (dome lights, climate control lights, floor shifter lights). The harness that ran from under the dash underneath the center console was shorted against the support that runs from the dash and bolts to the floor. You have to take the center console out to reach it easily. Not sure if that will help or not, happy hunting!

ugh... That doesn't sound fun. So, you had to remove your center console (like in between the seats?) and found the harness had exposed wire up against the support? Did you have a fuse blowing and just traced the harness there? I'm pretty sure my problem is between the gauge cluster and the glove box, but with the crappy documentation I have, I guess I don't really know where the harness goes, and where my signal is going/branching.

 

[quivver42]

My guess is you have a short in one of the vanity mirrors. How many wires and what colors are they on the connector you lifted from the CJB? Are you looking at Ford diagrams or something aftermarket?

To answer your question about the connector it is a 10 pin connector as follows:

----------
| 6 --- 5 |
| 7 --- 4 |_
| 8 --- 3 | |
| 9 --- 2 |_|
| 10 -- 1 |
|_______|

1: Gray/yellow
2. Gray/yellow
3. Green/Purple
4. Green/Purple
5. NC
6. Brown/yellow
7. NC
8. Green/red
9. Purple/Orange
10. NC

 

[rrgone]

To answer your question about the connector it is a 10 pin connector as follows:

----------
| 6 --- 5 |
| 7 --- 4 |_
| 8 --- 3 | |
| 9 --- 2 |_|
| 10 -- 1 |
|_______|

1: Gray/yellow
2. Gray/yellow
3. Green/Purple
4. Green/Purple
5. NC
6. Brown/yellow
7. NC
8. Green/red
9. Purple/Orange
10. NC

I am looking at Ford Explorer wiring diagrams for both 2002 and 2003. I can locate two 10-pin connectors attached to the CJB (C270d and C270h), but neither one has the configuration you have indicated. Weird. BTW, 270d and 270h are both suppose to be gray.

The power wire to the glove box lamp is BK/LG and is found on pin 8 on a 16-pin connector (C270e) also attached to the CJB. C270e is suppose to be blue. Power to the GB lamp flows thru a TDR. It's called Interior Lamp Relay in the 2002 book and Battery Saver Relay in 2003. Maybe your TDR is fused closed and is not interrupting power to some accessory after the designed interval (about 15 minutes I think).

 

[4pullingGM]

Yep, the console between the seats. I worked at a ford dealer when I worked on this, the fuse would blow every 2,000 miles. The customer was going on a road trip, so they brought it in last minute to see why the lights weren't working. I put a fuse in it and they took off on their trip. When they came back, they said the lights quit when they had right around 2,000 miles on it. I ended up wiring fuses into each circuit separately since the fuse fed power to 13 separate circuits. I was able to isolate the problem much faster this way. Once I knew which circuit to concentrate on, I was able to find it relatively easily.

 

[quivver42]

I am looking at Ford Explorer wiring diagrams for both 2002 and 2003. I can locate two 10-pin connectors attached to the CJB (C270d and C270h), but neither one has the configuration you have indicated. Weird. BTW, 270d and 270h are both suppose to be gray.

The power wire to the glove box lamp is BK/LG and is found on pin 8 on a 16-pin connector (C270e) also attached to the CJB. C270e is suppose to be blue. Power to the GB lamp flows thru a TDR. It's called Interior Lamp Relay in the 2002 book and Battery Saver Relay in 2003. Maybe your TDR is fused closed and is not interrupting power to some accessory after the designed interval (about 15 minutes I think).

Thanks for this info. The connector itself is gray. Is there a drawing somewhere of the CJB connectors? I can try pulling C270e and see if that also takes care of the short. This is helpful, I will take a closer look this afternoon. Is there a place online where i can find this information you just gave me? I'm willing to pay for it if there isn't a free one, I'm just not sure what to get or where to get it. Thanks.

 

[rrgone]

Thanks for this info. The connector itself is gray. Is there a drawing somewhere of the CJB connectors? I can try pulling C270e and see if that also takes care of the short. This is helpful, I will take a closer look this afternoon. Is there a place online where i can find this information you just gave me? I'm willing to pay for it if there isn't a free one, I'm just not sure what to get or where to get it. Thanks.

I bought the 2002 wiring diagram book from an ebay seller shortly after I bought my 2002 Exp. I always get as much documents as I can find when I buy a vehicle. Anyway, I later found out about the early-build vrs late-build thing for the 2002 MY and realized mine was a late-build and much wiring was different from the schematics I had bought. So I went ahead and picked up the 2003 schematics from ebay again and I find it is pretty much correct for my Exp. But when I see info like that connector you show here I wonder if there are interim wirings used by Ford between 2002 and 2003 for late-build vehicles.

There is lots of very useful info on the connectors (color, location, pinouts) as well as on the wiring and cables in the Ford schematics books. I highly recommend picking them up for troubleshooting. They are cheap.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2002-Ford-E...anuals_Literature&hash=item5650dcc4d2&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-Ford-E...anuals_Literature&hash=item5b05e54b42&vxp=mtr

What's the build date on your Explorer?

 

[quivver42]

I bought the 2002 wiring diagram book from an ebay seller shortly after I bought my 2002 Exp. I always get as much documents as I can find when I buy a vehicle. Anyway, I later found out about the early-build vrs late-build thing for the 2002 MY and realized mine was a late-build and much wiring was different from the schematics I had bought. So I went ahead and picked up the 2003 schematics from ebay again and I find it is pretty much correct for my Exp. But when I see info like that connector you show here I wonder if there are interim wirings used by Ford between 2002 and 2003 for late-build vehicles.

There is lots of very useful info on the connectors (color, location, pinouts) as well as on the wiring and cables in the Ford schematics books. I highly recommend picking them up for troubleshooting. They are cheap.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2002-Ford-E...anuals_Literature&hash=item5650dcc4d2&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-Ford-E...anuals_Literature&hash=item5b05e54b42&vxp=mtr

What's the build date on your Explorer?

Awesome! Those are plenty cheap, I will order them today. I'm not sure what the build date is, how would I go about finding that info? Input the VIN number somewhere? I know there are a few strang oddities because mechanics have told me several aspects about it look like a 2001 model, while the VIN and other aspects show it as a 2002.

 

[rrgone]

The build date can be found on the tag on the edge of the driver's door. Also, I sent you a PM.

 

[quivver42]

The build date can be found on the tag on the edge of the driver's door. Also, I sent you a PM.

Awesome. Well, the build date says 01/01 which is why I think there's been confusion over whether or not this truck is a 2001 or a 2002. The build date says 2001 but the VIN links to a 2002 explorer.

 

[rrgone]

Awesome. Well, the build date says 01/01 which is why I think there's been confusion over whether or not this truck is a 2001 or a 2002. The build date says 2001 but the VIN links to a 2002 explorer.

Well that explains the pinout differences from what you have and what my schematics show for 2002 and 2003. You don't want either of those Ford wiring books I linked to above. I recommend you get one for 2001 and hope there wasn't a early-build vrs late-build issue that year too. You might ask in the Gen 2 forum to see if anybody knows. Good luck.