Car starter problem 04 EB Expedition

[Fordgirl01]

I had that exact problem last year on my 2003 Expy. Remote start ONLY ... starts ... dies ... restarts ... dies ... repeat. Then the battery ended up running down from all the restarts.

What it ended up being was ... there was a wire added (at some point years ago) from under the dash (steering wheel area) that ran through the firewall and was spliced into a wire going to an injector. The splice action had compromised the wiring in that section (at injector connector) to break. Fixed the splice and put new connector on and all good. Obviously charged battery. Lots of weird things can happen when battery runs down.

I thought that wire that ran from dash to injector was from the remote start install but I didnt really know for sure. It doesnt make sense to me that remote start needs a wire to an injector?





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[Fordgirl01]

OK-your post did end up being helpful!! I looked under the hood and found a green/brown wire running through the firewall-it looked OK. So I found the same wire behind the dash-nothing looked broken or unattached. So I’m starting to dread the millions of wires under there thinking it must be something else. I looked under the hood again and decided to take that ********* plastic cover off to see where the wire connected. I discovered it was not connected to anything!!

So, when you said your wire was connected to an injector, did you mean one of the COPs? Mine looks like it may have been on the red wire on the COP on cylinder #7 as it was the only one that had electrical tape on it. I don’t want to just splice it in without being sure I’m not going to ruin something!!

Now I’m thinking I must have knocked it loose some time ago when I replaced the plug and COP on #5.

Thanks again!!


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[Plati]

So ... yes I would say its an injector but I have been wrong in the past. Once, back in 1972 (me so funny). pic below of repaired wire/connector. That is the cylinder on passenger side all the way to front whatever number that is.


I also included pic of same wire under dash by parking brake pedal ... going to a bundle with a momentary switch (which I "think" is remote start related). I didnt trace it all the way down to end (too old to fit my ageing body in that cavity). All joking aside, I'm not sure of any of this analysis other than it started working again when wires repaired.


AND (I'm sure you know this) but whatever my situation / problem was is no guarantee that you have the same scenario. Good luck!

but i found this website that says remote start needs a tach wire connection or you can use an injector wire for that purpose
https://www.explorerforum.com/forum...-wire-for-remote-starter-installation.127704/

 

[1955moose]

I wasn't saying you Ford girl, but somebody [emoji205] around with your wiring. We've seen it here so many times. Some vehicles aren't no big deal, but these expeditions don't like when you tap into something for power. I don't know why these vehicles are so picky, but they are. I can't count how many members in my 4 years here on the forum have had bizzare electrical issues that we've tried to help with. 9 out of 10 times it turns out to be some Yahoo before the current owner that tapped into some source for a hot positive lead, and turned the vehicle into a running nightmare. They usually figure it out, but it takes a week of back and forth, and a minimum of 30 posts.

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[Plati]

I wasn't saying you Ford girl, but somebody [emoji205] around with your wiring. We've seen it here so many times. Some vehicles aren't no big deal, but these expeditions don't like when you tap into something for power. I don't know why these vehicles are so picky, but they are. I can't count how many members in my 4 years here on the forum have had bizzare electrical issues that we've tried to help with. 9 out of 10 times it turns out to be some Yahoo before the current owner that tapped into some source for a hot positive lead, and turned the vehicle into a running nightmare. They usually figure it out, but it takes a week of back and forth, and a minimum of 30 posts.

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In my case ... the wire "tapped into" , put stress on the crimp of that wire at the terminal/connector @ the injector which broke when my clumsy elbow whacked it while replacing a vacuum elbow. I play basketball the same way!

In this case, it sounds like for Remote Start you need an "ac signal" (which is a mutilation of the term alternating current) not power. So you kind of need to "tap into" a circuit somewhere. Just do it right. The hacks at the Ford dealer that installed my $550 OEM remote start used an insulation displacement tap on the wire which is highly unreliable and ended up cutting the copper after years of vibration (and loosening up). Also it wasn't tywrapped down so that went through 17 Billion vibration cycles over 14 years and ended up compromising the crimp at the injector connector terminal. Also, the wire to under the dash wanders around the engine compartment like a drunk on Quaaludes. Triple trouble. More than most people want to know I'm sure.

 

[Fordgirl01]

So....the remote starter is working again! Thank you for the help and I especially thank MrSticker for chiming in with his fix for the same issue. The coil I mentioned before was the only one with tape on it. I unplugged it and took off the tape today and discovered a bare splice. So I spliced the loose wire from the firewall back in and it works fine now[emoji1360]. Whoever did the install put that wire in a bad spot-draped loosely near the oil dipstick. I put it out of the way and secured it so it should be OK. thanks again-i never would have looked under the hood for the problem[emoji51]


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