Technical Wiring diagrams and reality

So, in my recent battle with wiring , I pulled several wiring schematics off the web, and, in comparison with the harness in my car, found several discrepancies that I don't think the previous owner caused. Run across this much? I never seemed to run into this on Falcons, but the Galaxie is almost as simple...

 

I would think that you should be year,modle correctly and search that only,,,not generic.

 

Finding specific year/model wiring diagrams on the internet is hit or miss....if you have a car and you want to figure out how it works, maybe buying a factory shop manual for it would be a good idea?

But also, over 50+ years lots of things on a car can get changed.

 

I find it much easier to wire a car than it is to follow wiring schematics. All those lines running parallel are hard on these eyes.

Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

wiring, as with other parts on a factory produced car, has no true absolutes - during the year of production things are altered by model, accessories, etc - can find same year/model car that fenders, suspension, etc are not identical - use any produced wiring diagrams as a guide line - then use aftermarket wiring to achieve what ever it is that you are trying to make work - unless a points winning ride no one else will know, or care.

 

I would love to find a source for striped wire so MY repair would match

 

Try Rhode Island wiring,com

 

I'd say on those years Fords there are too many "either, or's and iff's " involved. I absolutely hate working on Ford wiring from the 60's on any rig as there seems to be no continuity and each model in a series seems to have it's own wiring. Not as bad as mid 80's Subarus but a close second.
What year and model of Galaxy? I might have the diagram in my diagram book but don't know if it goes back that far.

 

When I rebuilt my 68 firebird I bought an actual dedicated wiring book for it. I had more confusion trying to follow the diagrams then following the wiring on the car.

The car had about every option, ac, power everything including Windows etc. and almost none of the extra accessory wiring in the car matched the diagrams.

I ended up take wiring out in sections and redoing it that way. What a pain but I really miss the old gal.

 

The worst automotive wiring nightmare ? , 1998 Sony suburban! I owned one and that thing had more wiring than most aircraft !! Ever option gm offered on it plus dual radios, 18 speakers, 3 amps, 1 pre amp, built in cell phone. Satellite phone, 4 heated captains seats, heated and cooled cup holders, built in t.v., vcr, Sony PlayStation, 4 color monitors on the back of the headrests, alarm, autostart etc. Kill a battery in 3 days sitting. A wiring harness the size of your arm down the middle just for the accessories.

Sold it a year ago because I couldn't find info on all the wiring/ accessory crap. Probably going to be one I wished I kept later on.

 

I have yet to run into a 'factory' full harness diagram that didn't have at least one mistake in it. And even for me (a retired electrician who has dealt with much more complicated diagrams for process/motor controls), those are hard to read; too much information in too little space. Most factory manuals have 'unit repair' sections that show the wiring for just that part of the harness/circuit, I've found those to be a lot more accurate.

 

Absolute worst wiring mess I ever encountered was a 62 Lincoln , many variances from the factory schematic .wires changed colors here and there , spent the better part of a week with my head under the dash ,good thing this was50 years ago , don't think I'd last too long under that dash now !!

 

Most aftermarket kits use GM colored schematics, not very useful for a Ford.

 

ClassicWiring.com 11"x17" laminated for your car...a must for any hotrodder.

 

Ford typically used the same color code across the entire line for decades. I've been able to take sections of harness from seventies pickups and fill in sixties Falcon harnesses. I even swapped a mustang harness into a 54 customline I changed over to 12v. Probably the simplest harness for a relatively new car.

 

I consider color coded wire as nothing more than a guide. I've ran into too many instances where colors were faded, changed slightly due to production differences, and just plain mistakes. One wrong wire can send you down the rabbit hole far too easily, I check everything with a meter to make sure it goes where it's supposed to.

Takes extra time, but can save a bunch of troubleshooting time later...

 

Know what fun is ,,,
Work on a GM that a ford guy wired
Oh man.

FORD . Finished on right day
They switch shit on the second Tuesday of every week

 

My nieces Mercury has wiring but it don't match any schematic I've seen.
I'm not fixing it, it's not worth it

 

https://brillman.com/

 

I had a pickup truck that some genius overlaid a complete Mopar wiring harness into, without taking out the factory harness. Must have been one of the worst cluster fucks i've ever seen. Might have been one of you guys from what I've been reading here.

 

I thought clusterfuck was 1 word , like asshole ??

 

This is what I am currently sorting through. Just gonna have to rewire the whole car. Doesn't even have a fuse panel!? ( already bought one...)

 

It depends on the strength of the statement, I think. You commonly split some words in two to emphasize your dissatisfaction

 

There is a difference between wiring schematic, and wiring diagram. The diagram should be exact , the schematic is not exact but tells the story. I learned early working on aircraft. Sometimes the terms are interchanged wrongly by mistake. Generally the drawing will be labeled as to one or the other.

 

Jag had the best wiring diagrams I have ever seen.
The wiring book per year and model variant was about as thick as an operator manual for a nuclear reactor!
But was broken down into each sub section and each wire you were given what it did when ( power on, off, load on, etc)
Wiring colours where accurate and all.

Shittiest diagrams Land Rover , my dog could eat a 32 pack of crayons and shit on a gravel road in the rain and it would still be better then a rover diagram.

Also the chilton or hays books you buy at the parts places etc. Give you just enough information to make you dangerous and don’t cover all the years and various configurations that happen over a production models life span.

Also cars built in the souther USA could differ from the north and from Canada ...... wiring and electrical can be a bugger when your going in mid informed.
Better off having a good grasp of electrical and diagnosing your self then following a generic wiring schematic

 

Trouble was, they only used 10-12 colors for the whole goddamn car... open up a bundle and find multiples of the same color, sometimes more than one color.... They also like to hide stuff in unlikely places, like under glued-in carpet.

 

When wiring my truck I striped some of the wiring with different colored Sharpies, it works well on lighter colored insulation.

 

Lol should have been clear anything built AFTER ford bought them was great.
There wiring diagrams from the 70’s unfolded like roadmaps and had intersecting and overlapping wires that your head hurt!

 

Here's my go-to, default, fits-all wiring diagram. I use it for everything!

 

Where's Bob