Classic frustration
Posted by Dogman6969ahhh@reddit | projectcar | View on Reddit | 9 comments
For the last week I've been feeling my way through a repair for a faulty fuel gauge and a broken shift indicator on my 92 Ranger. Tore the whole dash apart and took the bed off, traced wires with a multi-meter, learned the underside of my dash is a Frankenstein shitshow of epic bullshittery from that last dude who owned this thing. Finally found the loose wire on my fuel sending unit only to put the bed back on and get the opposite read on the fuel gauge, meaning the sending unit is probably broken and the bed needs to come off again after another $60 purchase. DIY fix for the shifter is a loss. They don't make the shifter wires anymore so I'm at a loss for how to fix that once I take the dash apart again. The truck runs like crap, everything is still broken and I'm taking a thanksgiving break from the project.
fiddlythingsATX@reddit
I once had a similar pain in my truck, sometimes I'd blow fuses just driving due to weird ground shorts and loosely twisted exposed wires. Honestly, the best thing I ever did for my truck was a complete rewire with a new harness - I went from lowkey hating it to feeling hope again.
Dogman6969ahhh@reddit (OP)
Where'd you get the new harness at?
fiddlythingsATX@reddit
Mine is by American Autowire, got it from Summit. There are model-specific ones as well as generic
QuestionableMechanic@reddit
Classic frustration
😂😂 I think we all understand the car project pain
I often curse myself for taking the entire car apart and putting it back together piece by piece (I haven’t ever driven it and it’s been 3+ years)
But maybe it’ll be worth it…
Dogman6969ahhh@reddit (OP)
lmao god willing
metapulp@reddit
Post pics of the shifter wiring and what the problem is.
Dogman6969ahhh@reddit (OP)
https://imgur.com/a/NtOuBJB This is an example of a working one. The white wire sheath in the middle is missing on mine and the nylon looking wire inside is frayed in half. I tried fishing line but it stretches and doesn’t pull the shifter with the right amount of tension.
metapulp@reddit
It just happens I make specialty cable. You want no creep cable. (Creep is stretch under load). We use Dyneema instead of stainless steel. It’s 15x stronger than stainless with no creep. You can find varying thicknesses of it on Amazon as UHMWPE. It is hard to make knots or terminal loops with it because it is slippery, so I use specific knots or sew the terminals with Dyneema thread.🪡 I can’t quite see all that you need to replace but I know I could make the entire cable assembly.
philipdaehan@reddit
I had to jerry rig a fix for my car because Toyota literally doesn't sell the individual wire I needed. It was either pay a fortune for the whole wiring harness and swap it out for a single fuel injector sensor (I hate squirrels), or just buy wire and solder it myself. It was daunting but worked out perfectly. Costed me 30 bucks, and that's mostly for tools from Harbor Freight.
As metapulp said, post pics. The internet is incredible and can guide you through the most impossible things.
Take a big step back and breathe. Owning a car that was beaten by a previous idiot is literally a rite of passage. With that being said, Ford Rangers are cool as heck. It doesn't matter if you were driving this or a new car. Cars are a pain. There is no such thing as a car that you put gas in, do regular maintenance like clock work, and makes you smile every time you drive it.
Electric and suspension work are easily some of the most complex processes of overhauling a car. Before you go back to tearing the bed off, watch videos on YouTube (like ericthecarguy, ChrisFix, do not watch Scotty Kilmer unless just for laughs) to get some outside pointers on the process. Hope you have a multimeter, and a general kit to solder wires.
And again, if you're in a bind, hop on the internet and share/research your situation. You got this, buddy.