Electrical Eec Wires Wrong Color? ('90 5.0)

DuderMcMerican

Active Member
Mar 7, 2016
148
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28
Woodbridge, VA
Howdy,

How big of a deal is it if the wires coming out of my EEC pin connector are the wrong colors? For instance, pin 46 is supposed to be black/white but mine is white/orange. There are a bunch of others that are wrong too (perhaps all?).

I have the '90 electrical/vacuum shop manual, which is why i'm pretty sure my colors are wrong and not the diagram I'm referencing..

Is this something to worry about? Like maybe some jagoff replaced the harness with an incompatible one for my year?
 
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The different colors are a clue that something isn't right. Since you say you have a 90 Mustang electrical manual, I would go by it.

In the front of the electrical manual I have there is a wire color/circuit chart. Look up the wire and stripe color in your manual and see if it is associated with the pin 46 signal ground circuit.
 
Thanks, jrichker. I don't have the manual in front of me at the moment, but I don't recall the wire color/circuit chart. The color-coding that I previously referenced was from the back of the manual--section 50--which shows the 60-pin connector, lists the component each pin is associated with, and also the wire colors for each pin.

I will take a look at the manual when I get home to search for the other chart you mentioned. Is it like this one: http://351winsor.com/joel/EEC-IV/90_Wire_Diag_2.JPG ? Joel5.0 posted it on sbftech a while back, and it's for the '90 5.0.

Referencing pin 46 on Joel5.0's chart certainly tells a different story from the pinout chart in the back of my manual. This one says the #46 wire should be gray/red, which is kinda close what I saw last night with a flashlight (white/orange). Why might there be differences between the two? Am I missing something here?
 
Thanks, jrichker. I don't have the manual in front of me at the moment, but I don't recall the wire color/circuit chart. The color-coding that I previously referenced was from the back of the manual--section 50--which shows the 60-pin connector, lists the component each pin is associated with, and also the wire colors for each pin.

I will take a look at the manual when I get home to search for the other chart you mentioned. Is it like this one: http://351winsor.com/joel/EEC-IV/90_Wire_Diag_2.JPG ? Joel5.0 posted it on sbftech a while back, and it's for the '90 5.0.

Referencing pin 46 on Joel5.0's chart certainly tells a different story from the pinout chart in the back of my manual. This one says the #46 wire should be gray/red, which is kinda close what I saw last night with a flashlight (white/orange). Why might there be differences between the two? Am I missing something here?
Gray/red is correct for pin 46. After years of heat and wear, the colors get distorted or faded and it become difficult to tell what they really are.
 
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It depends on the year of the car - on 87-89 year cars pin 46 was black/with a white stripe. Every once and awhile I seem to miss on one of the off years like the 90. TMoss' diagrams all say 87-90 are the same wire colors, but in your case, they aren't.
 
It depends on the year of the car - on 87-89 year cars pin 46 was black/with a white stripe. Every once and awhile I seem to miss on one of the off years like the 90. TMoss' diagrams all say 87-90 are the same wire colors, but in your case, they aren't.

You know, just now looking back at this post, it occurs to me that TMoss' diagrams (& most others on the web for the '90) are probably based on the '90 electrical shop manual, which got it wrong itself. I'm sure that's caused headaches to many a mechanic over the years!:bang: