ok...now we know

[mmrseed]

After 9 days at Ford, I am finally being told that my transmission wiring harness is bad (got burned by exhaust after 11 years apparently) and that is what is causing my tranny problem codes on the 99 expy. However, I am being told that it will cost around $650 to swap out the harness. Is this legit or just a dealer premium markup and then some? Other car repair places I talk to can't quote me something because they don't know what is involved in rewiring the harness. Is there something especially unique about the ford trucks? Anybody know? Thanks.

 

[rptr00]

curious what is burned? melted connectors or just burned wires. I would just rewire any damaged wiring versus throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Maybe I am oversimplifying this?

 

[Eric]

I'm with Raptor, why replace the entire harness if it's just one spot damaged. It should be very easy to find the bad wires and repair them.

 

[rptr00]

wonder how much of the $650 is labor. I can imagine it would take a while to gut the harness and run a new one.

 

[KWT2000]

i would take it to an auto electric shop and see what they would charge to fix the burnt portion... seems high price to R&R a wiring harness

 

[mmrseed]

the guy at ford said the wires were burnt. I find this curious because a while back when I had to have the entire engine removed due to a blown spark plug (long story, another post) I find it entirely likely that when said engine was reattached the harness may have been left in a position that allowed it to burn next to the evhaust while previously it had remained unburned for 11 years. can I prove it? No. What is even more curious is that niether an electrical shop nor a trans specialist could find the problem and it took ford 9 days to do it. Thanks for the help. i will ask the dealer if they can just rewire the burnt wires to get it running again.

 

[mmrseed]

wow!!!!!! apparently that is all labor only just to cut and solder and crimp and shrink wrap a few wires....damn...no wonder Ford never needed government bailout money...they just needed to rewire a few cars to get back in the black

 

[rptr00]

LOL! is the dealer Woody Anderson? I used to live there so I know all about them. If they get $650 to repair the burnt wires then I think I have found my calling...

 

[Stoned06]

I would imagine a good portion of that labor was trying to diagnose the issue. They don't do that for free, especially 9 days (or however many they actually worked on it) worth.

 

[rptr00]

mmrseed, are they charging a diagnostic fee? In other words, how much will it cost to walk away without the repair?

 

[mmrseed]

nope....diagnostic fee is $85 and yes it is woody anderson ford. I doubt they spent 9 days looking at my car. I think they spent an hour looking and 8.9 days hoping the problem would reveal itself through magical visions as they worked on other cars. What can I say? I'm stuck here in northern alabama. I think the next closest ford dealer is 4 hours away in Memphis Tn...jk. I've heard some bad stuff about Woody Anderson but honestly I've never heard a good thing about any ford dealership anywhere (I love ford but not their dealerships)...like the time Cerritos Ford in California refused to fix my faulty fuel pump on my 3 month old 95 cobra with only 525 miles on it because they claimed a K&N filter voided the manufacturers warranty...or the time that i took that same cobra to Santa Monica Ford for that problem since Cerritos refused and they gave me my brand new cobra back without a rear bumper (turns out a porter ripped it off scraping a taurus while parking it) and then had the nerve to question whether i brought it in that way...or the time that....

 

[rptr00]

so true. well at least you know whats wrong with it. The fix should cost no more than $20.