Attempts stall, Idle Pulses 600-800 rpms, horrible MPG

Injector part number comparison: 95 3.8L vs all other Windstar Years 3.8L

1995 3.8L
DELPHI Part # FP10049
MOTORCRAFT Part # CM4760

1996 3.8L
DELPHI Part # FP10049
MOTORCRAFT Part # CM4766

Fuel injector flow rates
1995 Windstar 3.8L 15 lbs./hr - 155hp - 170cc per min
1996-98 Windstar 3.8L 21 lbs./hr - 200hp - 218-220cc per min

Old OEM Ford number: F1ZE-9F593-B4C - Short number on injector: F1ZE-B4C
New OEM Ford Number: F1ZZ 9F593 B - Probably new short number on injector: F1ZZ-B

Its interesting to me that Delphi got it wrong, but I'll trust Ford/Motorcraft before I will them. All other web sites (except the injector remanufacturers sites) confirm that these injectors from 95 and all other year Windstars of 3.8L variety are different. Try convincing an injector remanufacturer of that when their web site says otherwise. Thats when you just use the part number on the injector like I ultimately had to.

I confirmed too that later year 3.8L Windstars injector part numbers vary from the 95.

95 owners beware. If you buy new injectors from a remanufacturer you will likely not get the right ones. Ensure part number match before ordering. I was able to peak at my part number at the right front side of the intake plenum near the FPR to verify the right #.

So now the joy continues. I have friends coming in tomorrow for Mardi Gras and we were supposed to use the "PARTY BUS" for all of that and now I can't.

I know Wiswind advises against remanned injectors, but the ones I found come with a 2 year warranty like new ones do and if pressure holds as it should and MPG improves as it should I'll be a happy camper... and of course after this long saga full of Southern VooDoo I need to try to save some cash. Just re-ordered new remanned ones from a different site than before: injectorwhse.com - The ones I got before were from precisionautoinjectors.com and now the guy won't contact me to return them, but thats odd cause he was very accommodating by refunding my shipping without me even asking on the 1st order. He did that cause I ordered Express Mail and he didn't ship it till later.

Where am I getting the patience? I mean its just absolutely amazing.... all i wanted was 1 thing.. a set of injectors and its listed EVERYWHERE incorrectly by every injector remanufacturer. Sure i could go to Ford and/or Autozone or the likes and spend $60 or more for new injectors, but honestly I feel remanned ones are the same and I've saved about $100 .... assuming the 1st guy refunds my money.

Oh Joy.... Oh Joy.... Oh wonderful Joy joy joy.:shakehead:runaround::crying:

Remanufactured injectors should be fine.....I try to have everything matched up.....maybe different manufactures are consistant with the OEM.....but I like to have them all the same....just to be sure.
I do advise folks to make sure that the injector needs replacing....not just dirty like I have had happen a number of times on my windstar.

You can also look the injector up on www.motorcraft.com
I came up with CM4705 on there and on RockAuto for the 1995 3.8L

Yer a bad ass. :)

Wiswind, how do you know you have a dirty injector vs. one that isn't working right? I believe I have a bad one that is not injecting a mist but dribbling too much gas into the cylinder causing a flooding condition, a dead cylinder and gas out the exhaust manifold and the tailpipe. It's kind of too late to use fuel injector cleaner at this point for that one but I'll put some in to keep the others clean. Oh, BTW, the pintle cap on the injector was not dirty or anything that would block the spray, but the new one by GP Sorenson doesn't look anything like the original. A mechanic friend of mine says the new style is a much better design that doesn't have the problems of the old one like in the pintle area.

Status: Intake manifold all apart. Old Injectors loosened and ready for pulling later today after I sleep a bit. Its a serious bitch to get all that stuff out, and I left as much stuff connected as I could pulling the plenum attached to the throttle body attached to the air pipe all in one assembly. Was tricky getting it out like that, but my sister and I managed to do it. Promptly afterwards I taped up the intake so nothing would drop in there and since its been sitting I taped up everything else that shouldn't be exposed to elements either, including the connectors, vac lines, etc..

I will be changing the oil too, cause I'm told there is probably gas in it.

I will be replacing both upstream O2 sensors and while I've confirmed a long long time ago that these are not a or the problem my shop told me they were slow.

I will replace the voltage regulator that I believe to be old.

Finally, I'll replace the fuel filter if I can manage to get the damn thing off with a new tool I found at O'reilly's. I'm not sure about this yet as I would like to see the fuel pressure at first key flick after installing the new injectors. If it doesn't come up above 30psi then I'll replace the filter for sure cause it had a few runs in the old filthy gas tank before it was cleaned.

Finally received my USB to OBD/CAN connector today.... direct from Hong Kong. Took 3 weeks. I just hope I can actually use it with the free internet software.

I would've had all this done by now, but MARDI GRAS has been priority. hehe - Had a lot of fun. Too bad its over.

I think this is a very interesting indirect find that when there are issues with the rad fans cutting on or off and then engine sputtering, that our Windstars are likely to have an injector (and/or fuel delivery) problem.

The CCRM adjusts fuel flow rate (I'm sure of it) when the fans kick on or off. It must be in this minute fuel delivery change at idle that the bad injector is no longer able to handle subtle fuel delivery changes for either being stuck open or closed or just stuck not moving in either direction leaving "whatever" amount of orifice open at the spray end to cause problems.

I never in my life would've thought a fuel injector would be the fix for this problem, especially with NO CODE from the computer. I am 95% certain this is the fix for my problem in this big ole thread and I'll know for sure tomorrow when the new injectors get put in.

Working here now:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=5923959#post5923959

Got the laptop outside.

Status:
Injector 4: Cap broken off into intake; hopefully fell off in previous original or 2nd defective reman engine; This means the spray pattern was not right for this injector.

Injector 5: Faulty; stuck; leaking; gas was coming out of the tip of it. How could my van have passed the computer tests if this was the case, let alone for Injector 4 too. End cap severed at base yet still hanging on.

Injector 6: End cap severed at base yet still hanging on.

Injector 3: End cap severed at base yet still hanging on.

BIG BIG FIND: AUTOMOTIVE 101 - Don't cross the plug wires to the coils. Spark plug wires #5 and #6 were crossed. Therefore big MPG and other idle etc.. problems. This has been this way since the original engine.

Ghostbusters: "Crossing the streams is bad."

more later...

Well, all the lil bitty things that I've found add up to a nice cup of bullshit.:headshake

The injectors with the "End cap severed at base yet still hanging on." - I would imagine would have a modified improper spray pattern, especially the one missing the cap altogether. The leaky injector #5 was my obvious fuel pressure and gas leak problem.

The 2 PVC's instead of a breather and a pvc.

The backwards synchro.

The criss-crossed spark plug wires (5 & 6).

Plugged fuel filters.

Dirty gas tank. Filthy naughty dirty.

Bad battery (after buying new) due to bad voltage regulator.

UGGG....... WHAT ELSE AM I GOING TO FIND THAT THESE PEOPLE I'VE PAID THOUSANDS TO, HAVE MESSED UP.

Status: All injectors off. Waiting for mosquitoes to subside before I go back outside. Entire engine compartment taped off where anything thats usually not supposed to be exposed is. Fun fun.

"Waiting for mosquitoes to subside".....I have to do a double take when I read that......not an issue on a February evening in Wisconsin.

I would think that your motor would run rough with wires 5&6 crossed.......
Now 5&1 or 6&2 crossed, would not matter as they are on the same coils......and fire together anyhow.

"Waiting for mosquitoes to subside".....I have to do a double take when I read that......not an issue on a February evening in Wisconsin.

I would think that your motor would run rough with wires 5&6 crossed.......
Now 5&1 or 6&2 crossed, would not matter as they are on the same coils......and fire together anyhow.

Try the absolute opposite side of the USA... hot humid sub-tropical masquerading as tropical, scum bucket South Eastern Louisiana.

Yes, mosquitoes here are a big problem. If you hear of West Nile Virus, more than likely its being circulated here. I could only pray for decent cool weather here.

5 & 6 - Yeah, this pretty much means the firing sequence has always been OFF beat. If I don't see MPG improvements and the IDLE thing gone after all this stuff I'm gonna sh!t a cow.

At first when I discovered this I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then I thought - well I replaced the coils.... Did I hook it back right? - and after thinking about it I know I put the wires back exactly how they were before. I was very careful to make sure I did put them back on the same coil plugs, but what I didn't know was I was putting them back in the wrong sequence. I can see why the tech made this mistake cause the wires swap places in how they are run to the coils and you couldn't see well without pulling the wires up over the oil cap. I even had my sister trace it to make sure I wasn't going crazy. lol

Status:
Very pissed about what else I found today. I know this is the shops fault too. Who in their right mind would route the main PCM wiring harness between the hot egr intake/exhaust pipe (driver side) and the rear (right engine) valve cover? On my 95, there is about 1" .. maybe 1.5" of space between those. Both get very very hot as we all know and the egr pipe hotter than hell. I had been noticing before that the main harness plastic protector holder, that routes right behind the rear fuel rail, had the little flaps in the upward unsecured position.

I was never able to see what the deal was till the intake plenum was off, but the flaps of the harness protector atop the engine could never go down because it just wasn't put back together properly. ALL of the bottom side of the main PCM wiring harness for about 4 inches is cinged/melted very badly. Most of the wires in the PCM wiring harness have merged together as a chunk of melted plastic and wire sheaths. Fearing what would happen if I tried to pick it all apart, I stopped after picking 1 wire ever so slowly with a screwdriver end and the wire sheath just peeled off.

Since I have no odd electrical behavior (I think) and think that the injectors and swapped ignition wires are going to resolve my issue, I'm betting that the metal core of the wires are not touching each other, but merely their outer coatings are merged. I put some liquid rubber all over the cinged area and puddied it back good. Then I wrapped some serious layers of electrical tape several times around it all.

After having to unplug everything (some stuff really hard to reach) I spent probably about 4-5 hours on just repairing the harness, getting it out of the wrong position, repositioning it, and stretching ma big azz to plug everything back in. Now its routed correctly, past the egr pipe (to the right of it) and away from the valve cover.

All I wanted to do today (yesterday now) was test the injectors before reassembling and then reassemble... only to find 1 more thing that some knuckleheads did wrong.

The sad sad sad thing about this is that if my injectors and spark wires in the right positions don't resolve my problem I can only assume that 1 or more of the wires where the main harness melted have to be touching and arcing out.

Status:
Bad news. Did the pressure hold test before reassembling. Purged air out the fuel pressure tester relief valve. After that if I leave the key turned to ON to where the dash is lit we hear a constant stream of fuel being spraying into the head. Ironically its the rear bank (we think) and the leaky one was in front on cylinder 5. Time to wip out the multimeter and check the voltage and continuity of the wiring. Cowl will finally have to come off cause I gotta test at the PCM.

Not sure what to do. Repair the main PCM harness or get a new/used one. I imagine new they are quite expensive.

Am I correct to think that pressure should be "holding" and not "squirting constantly" before starting the engine right (KOEO)?

Would it matter (doing the test above in this post) if the IAC, TPS, EGR, are all unplugged and just the battery and injectors plugged?

I comment cautiously because I don't know much about fuel systems ... especially on your year model: And I have never "heard" fuel flow through the fuel rail ... (may have something to do with having very old ears.) There should be no fuel flow out of the fuel rail into the head unless an injector is opening (... or "firing"). Normally an injector only fires for a brief fraction of a second for each two crankshaft revolutions. Do you have any observations, other than hearing, that fuel is flowing into the head? ... flooded cyls perhaps ... wet plugs?

I think you are right to be concerned about the possible damaged harness. I have a test that has never failed me: The harness is unplugged on both ends and brought to a bench. With a ohmmeter, each pin-to-pin continuity is verified ... and keeping in mind that one pin, at on end, should only connect to one pin at the other ... not two.. not three... This simple procedure has helped often.

I just read the alldatadiy description......and they don't mention any fuel squirting with the key sitting in the ON position with the motor not running.

I can understand a small squirt at the beginning.....don't know if that happens or not....but certainly not a constant flow.........and I think that they may have done this with throttle body fuel injection....1 fuel injector for the whole motor (my '81 Plymouth Horizon had that).....with throttle body fuel injection, there was a distance to travel between the throttle body.....and the individual cylinders.....so maybe a need to "prime" for easier starting.
Sounds primative....but that little thing pulled a easy 47mpg......
(Read that Smart Car......at 1/2 the size.)

If there would be a constant flow......you would notice a problem when you go to start the engine......
With the concerns about getting raw fuel into the catalytic converter......I would be surprised if there should be ANY flow without the engine turning over.
Added to this is the fact that the fuel injector is spraying right at the intake valve....so there is little delay in drawing fuel into the cylinder when cranking the engine.

There is a check valve in the fuel pump assembly that maintains fuel pressure when the fuel pump is not running.

When you turn the key to the RUN position.....but don't start the engine....you will hear the fuel pump come on and run for a second or so....then turn OFF.

The fuel pressure regulator will maintain the fuel pressure so that the pressure across the fuel injector is constant........from input to output......the output being in the vaccum of the intake manifold.
As the manifold pressure increases (low load), the fuel pressure regulator will reduce the fuel pressure in the fuel rail.....to compensate for the increased vaccum in the intake manifold.....maintaining a near constant pressure drop through the fuel injector.

In the 2 hose system (our older windstars have this).....the fuel pressure regulator opens at the desired pressure, and lets the excess fuel flow back to the tank.
So the pressure regulator provides just enough back pressure to maintain the desired fuel pressure.

A new fuel injector wiring harness for 1995 3.8L lists for $52.43 and sells for $36.18 at Y2KFORD in Seattle.
The 3.0L version is not so cheap.....list of $1048.57....their price $723.51
For the price...for your 3.8L version...plus shipping....from how you describe your harness.....I would just replace it.

When measuring voltages......when you turn the key ON.....you will have + battery voltage supplied to the injectors, the RED wire......through fuse 'S' 30amp in the power distribution box......then through the contacts of the PCM power relay.
The PCM relay coil is energized through fuse '20' 25amp in the I/P fuse panel.....and grounded through the CCRM.

The PCM provides a momentary ground to the injector to energize it.
So....sitting in the driveway with the key ON, motor NOT running, you should measure the +12V at both electrical connections on the injector relative to GROUND....as the PCM should be not providing a ground at that time.

Y2KFORD also lists the injectors for the '95 at suggested list of $86.23 with their price at $49.61

Thanks ya'll!

47 mpg would be great Wiswind. :) What an early performer that car was huh? lol

The harness that melted together isn't just the injector wiring harness (EDIT: misspoke here; its not the injector wiring harness at all; its the main PCM wiring harness on the MALE end connector side over from the main fuel injector harness connection where the PCM harness and injectors harness meet). It is the main PCM harness that goes off the right side of the valve cover with a huge square-ish connector with a bolt in the middle of it that looks like it routes to the driver instrument panel. If i follow it to the left it goes atop-center of the engine over left of the pulleys to the PCM. I'm talking about like I dunno.... maybe 20-30 wires to various things (including the injectors) that melted/merged together. Basically I figure this is just the main wiring harness. I would probably need to repair it or order a new one cause I have no idea what wires to what devices may be arcing.

The spray of fuel we hear with KOEO is definitely constant. Thank ya'll for confirming for me thats not right.

Startup problems - perhaps running as long as I have with 1 leaky and 3 other broken spray end cap injectors actually for some odd reason kept me from having startup problems. I bet if I put it all back together as is now that I'd have startup problems for sure. Maybe its since I moved the wiring harness and disturbed something that its acting up like this and wasn't before, but I find that hard to believe.

Spark plug 5 was pretty black due to the leaky injector there (cleaned it since its still so new). I haven't pulled the other ones to check because the other injectors didn't seem to be leaking.

Pressure can't be maintained if there is an opening in the fuel system regardless of the fuel pump check valve. There is no question that at least one of the injectors in the rear bank is squirting constantly with KOEO.

From what I read elsewhere and what you guys say I shouldn't see ANY voltage at all at the fuel injector harness connector with KOEO and pressure should just hold and if it doesn't then 1 or more of the injectors must be getting voltage when it shouldn't be or that new injector may be bad..... which I seriously doubt, but hey I can't rule it out till I confirm whats going on.

This kinda makes sense to me because on my original engine I had a misfire on cylinder 2 i think (it was rear bank for sure) and the rear cat glowed red after I got home from being stuck in MS when the original engine overheated. Now a burned through spark wire was found in that case, but this problem could've been contributing to it too. Not to mention another thing... maybe I wasn't (prior to this injector project) having starting problems cause everything else is so new in the engine bay. lol

I spent some time tonight looking up injector data and basically it doesn't appear that you test them for voltage, but that their resistance lowers the battery 12v voltage when its applied. I did some fiddling around with online calculators and it looks like the amount of voltage passing through my injectors at hot idle would be around .0057v to .0060v.

Therefore.... someone remind me again of what the injector resistance should be. lol - I've been researching for hours. I know I had to have obtained that information somewhere on here already.

My old fuel injectors Ohm out as:

EDITED: to remove the k behind the numbers

14.7 ohms injector 4 -----front bank
14.5 ohms injector 5 -----front bank
14.5 ohms injector 6 -----front bank

14.5 ohms injector 1 -----rear bank
14.4 ohms injector 2 -----rear bank
14.3 ohms injector 3 -----rear bank

Does this tell me anything at all?

From what I read elsewhere and what you guys say I shouldn't see ANY voltage at all at the fuel injector harness connector with KOEO...

If you're measuring voltage directly across an injector pair - the red wire and the non-red wire - then that's correct, but as Wiswind said, you should read 12V on both wires when the meter's common (black) lead is connected to a known good ground elsewhere in the engine bay.

... pressure should just hold and if it doesn't then 1 or more of the injectors must be getting voltage when it shouldn't be or that new injector may be bad

No, that isn't the way that it works. Each injector's red wire is intended to always have 12V available (with the ignition switch in the Start or Run position), so if an injector was being held open due to an electrical fault, the fault would be on the ground side of the circuit, and it would indicate that the non-red wire had a permanent short to ground, instead of just being switched to ground briefly by the PCM. Or it could indeed be a bad injector.

I spent some time tonight looking up injector data and basically it doesn't appear that you test them for voltage, but that their resistance lowers the battery 12v voltage when its applied.
That's a pretty dodgy test and I'd just ignore it. It's a primitive way to indicate continuity through the injector's solenoid coil, but it's much better to measure that with a multimeter on the resistance range.

Speaking of resistance, your readings for the old injectors don't seem right - if that's around 14.5 ohms each then that sounds ok, but I wouldn't have been expecting kilohms.

I wouldn't be surprised if you're seeing anomalies in the injectors at the moment though, because the TPS is unplugged. The PCM uses inputs from several sources to determine the duration of the injector pulses, and the input from the TPS will be one of the more significant inputs, so if that's missing then it won't be too surprising if the injectors aren't behaving in the way you would expect, so I don't think that you necessarily have a new fault condition.

Injector coil resistance will be 11 to 18 ohms....from the chart for 1996 that I am reading.
So your resistance is fine.

Things are looking up....we are off page 13.....so the jinx should be off.

I am betting that if the injector is leaking....that it would be some dirt on the valve seat.
One thing that you can do is put another injector into the leaking location......if a known good injector is leaking there....then you may have an issue.

I have had a LOT of trouble with misfire from dirty injectors, as I have mentioned before.
When an injector is not spraying due to dirt......the PCM is trying to compensate.....and everything is OFF......

I want to stop and thank Wiswind and 12Ounce and everyone else (tripletdaddy of course too) yet again. I really feel better with you all along this horrible journey of mine.

Hey Selectron. Thanks for coming back.

You were right about the "K" for ohms. I just edited my post. I had the digital multimeter set to K with ohm symbol, but the display only showed ohm symbol without the K when I tested again just now.

Injector Harnesses Test
I tested all 6 injector harnesses just now and made sure the black wire of my meter went to the ground wire of the 2 wire injector harnesses and the other probe (red) went to the VPWR wire of the injector harnesses.

Key On Engine OFF - Results are as follows:

EDITED: mV is correct; NOT "v" as was before. Also, since I remember from my photographic memory the location of the injectors that were measuring 11.8 I know it was 2 & 3 and not 5 & 6 since I keep confusing which bank is which.

5.43 mV Injector 4 -----front bank
5.50 mV Injector 5 -----front bank
5.48 mV Injector 6 -----front bank

5.59 mV Injector 1 -----rear bank
11.8 mV Injector 2 -----rear bank
11.8 mV Injector 3 -----rear bank

I forgot to test from the VPWR wire to a vehicle ground. Those tests were strictly from injector wire to injector wire using the injector harnesses only.

What do ya'll take from that?

What I take from it is that I have a short to ground on Injector 2 & 3 which makes sense since this is where I hear the constant squirting coming from with K.O.E.O., but what confuses me is that I have voltage AT ALL on any of the injector harnesses while the engine is OFF (yet key ON) and/or not CRANKING. I thought I shouldn't even see those 5.5mV readings??

Guess I need to test from VPWR wire on injector harnesses to ground too. I'll do that in a lil while.

Selectron - I found some reference values in my Ford CD-ROM (for the injectors) and they were in units of measure mS (millisiemens). The values were stated for KOEO, Hot Idle, 30mph, and 55mph. They are:

KOEO: 0 mS
Hot Idle: 5.7mS - 6mS
30 mph: 4.9mS - 7.9mS
55 mph: 6.8mS - 11.7mS

I used this conversion calculator: http://www.unitconversion.org/electric-conductance/millisiemens-to-amperes-per-volt-conversion.html to convert mS to likely probable voltage that the injectors should be seeing. The problem is I don't know if this would be an accurate method for determining the right voltage for my application (the Windstar engine). Is that an accurate way to determine voltage from mS or no?

For voltages calculated/found using the mS values above, I came up with:

KOEO: 0mV
Hot Idle: .0057mV - .0060mV
30 mph: .0049mV - .0079mV
55 mph: .0068mV - .00117mV

So if I'm figuring all this stuff out right (for the first time ever) as I read that the injectors don't even require a whole VOLT to run the engine at hot idle?????

I would NOT use the non-red lead at the injector to check voltage at the RED wire.....use a known good ground.

If you still see a super low voltage at the red wire on several of the injectors......measure again at the injector plug of the wire harness.....with the injector UNPLUGGED....
In other words.......secure the black lead to a known good ground.....unplug the connector from the injector and check the red lead.
If it is low with the injector plugged in.....and high with the injector unplugged.....then it is somehow being turned on.
If it is low with the injector plugged in AND unplugged.....you have a voltage supply problem.

Now.....you mentioned that the injector wiring harness was melted?.....For the cost (just over $36 plus shipping) I would replace it.
It is more likely that the harness melt is a problem than the PCM......not certain.....but it is a known issue......and (my favorite) it is cheaper.

With the motor running? You cannot rely on a meter reading at that point as the injectors are being pulsed.....so it would be a Oscilloscope viewed waveform.
If you have a leaker with the engine not running.....then there is no need to worry about looking at the run pulses.

Hopefully there is not a short to ground in the wiring harness for any of the injectors. If so, such injector is most likely TOAST!. As we know, they are only meant to be pulsed on for a few milliseconds at a time and if a continuous current flows through them the coils will certainly overheat and possibly cause the pintle to be jammed open.

Phil

Hopefully there is not a short to ground in the wiring harness for any of the injectors. If so, such injector is most likely TOAST!. As we know, they are only meant to be pulsed on for a few milliseconds at a time and if a continuous current flows through them the coils will certainly overheat and possibly cause the pintle to be jammed open.

Phil

What if i only tested it with the KOEO a couple times less than like 30 seconds outside in the cold? I just wanna know if by testing them (2 & 3) for that short a period if I may have blown my new ones.

The new ones have not run in a running engine yet and my TPS and IAC are still unplugged as the rest of the intake is still off the top.

I'm going to continuity test the injector harness while its disconnected from the PCM harness.

I'm also gonna pull the cowl and continuity test the injector harness while plugged in to the PCM harness (PCM end) from the injector harness main connector site to the PCM as well as from the injectors to the PCM itself.

From what I see I think i'm going to find the injector harness itself is in good shape, but that the PCM harness (the one that is partially melted) is the problem.

I mean, isn't it obvious with injector 2 & 3 showing 11.8mV at KOEO that 2 & 3 are shorted to ground? Or is that not good enough to be concrete about it?

Injector coil resistance will be 11 to 18 ohms....from the chart for 1996 that I am reading.
So your resistance is fine.

Things are looking up....we are off page 13.....so the jinx should be off.

I am betting that if the injector is leaking....that it would be some dirt on the valve seat.
One thing that you can do is put another injector into the leaking location......if a known good injector is leaking there....then you may have an issue.

I have had a LOT of trouble with misfire from dirty injectors, as I have mentioned before.
When an injector is not spraying due to dirt......the PCM is trying to compensate.....and everything is OFF......

I don't know if I said it or not, but what I'm doing now is with newly installed injectors within the past few days. Intake is still off along with the IAC and TPS out of the loop. I only posted info on the OLD injectors for reference. So no dirt on the new injectors.

My OLD injectors are no longer installed. This constant squirting of fuel at KOEO is with the NEW injectors and I believe this was happening with the old ones too because I have always (since new engine install) noticed a little bit more than usual amount of white smoke out the tail pipe in the morning or after it sat for a while.

I guess things are looking up. lol - Its hard for me to be positive right now because I'm scared I'm going to find something else wrong that the shop did.

I have my settings displaying 20 posts per page so on my view here of the forum we're on page 11. lol - Maybe when MY view is past page 13 the jinx will go away.

Yeah, I thought about swapping out injectors to see if the squirting still happens in the same position, but I really don't think I need to since I know I have new injectors and I've so far seen voltages of near 12v at KOEO on inj 5 and inj 6. I'm about to post some other test results too.

I have to apologize to ya'll. A lot (or most) of these posts come in during the weee weee weeee hours of the morning... late late late... and I think I've screwed up a few details. I'm gonna go back over the last 2 pages of posts and make sure I got things right (mostly for test results). For some reason even though I've marked things well in the engine I cannot seem to absorb that the 1,2,3 cylinders are in the back and 4,5,6 in the front.

I think I kept saying 5 & 6 were the ones with the higher voltages, but at the same time I said they were in the rear bank... which is incorrect. I distinctly remember testing those near 12v results in the rear most right two (closest to driver wheel) cylinders which are 1 & 2.

I realized I'd made this mistake tonight when I went out in the cold to test some more stuff. So I'm gonna go EDIT a couple things and then post some new test results too. My new test results are confusing me even more.

I'm starting to wonder if shoving paper clips in and out of the connectors has cleaned off the connector surfaces thus changing the test results..... OR handling the harnesses and bending/twisting/jiggling them etc... may have changed the results cause I did the same voltage tests tonight (in addition to others) and got different answers than the other day.

"Waiting for mosquitoes to subside".....I have to do a double take when I read that......not an issue on a February evening in Wisconsin.

I would think that your motor would run rough with wires 5&6 crossed.......
Now 5&1 or 6&2 crossed, would not matter as they are on the same coils......and fire together anyhow.

I thought on my 95 the pairing of the ignition coils goes like this: 1&6, 5&2, 4&3

I'm assuming "pairing" works that each coil set is directly across from the other, measuring/looking across the shortest width of the coil pack.

I found some reference values in my Ford CD-ROM (for the injectors) and they were in units of measure mS (millisiemens).


Nope, the S isn't referring to Siemens (the standard unit of electrical conductance), but instead it refers to the second (standard unit of time). Thus the figures you're seeing in the manual are the pulse durations for the fuel injector measured in milliseconds (mS).

The figure which you quoted of 0 milliseconds for KOEO is handy, because that confirms that the injectors should indeed remain switched off at that point, which is what we'd all pretty much agreed on. Then at hot idle you've quoted around 6 milliseconds, which sounds perfectly reasonable. Then of course if you were driving the vehicle, as you accelerated up through 20mph, 30 mph, 40 mph, the pulse duration would keep gradually increasing in order to allow greater fuel flow in order to attain those speeds. It's often spoken of in terms of 'duty cycle', with the duty cycle increasing at higher speeds, decreasing at lower speeds, and falling to zero at KOEO.

Just to clarify on the subject of the injector operating voltage - it is always 12V (nominal), and flow rate is adjusted not by varying the voltage, but rather by varying the length of time (pulse duration) for which the injector is held in the 'open' position.

At KOEO, no current should flow through the injectors, but if you have an electrical problem which is causing one or more to be held open, then current flow through an individual injector will be around 0.8 amps (12V divided by 14.5 ohms), with a power dissipation of around 10 watts (12V multiplied by 0.8 amps) - that's far too much heat to be dissipated continuously in such a small, unventilated component, so don't leave the ignition switched on for any longer than necessary whilst you're taking voltage measurements, and do allow an interval for cooling between taking sets of measurements.

Do as Wiswind said when measuring voltages - connect the meter common lead to a known good ground, and measure the voltage first on the red wire and then on the non-red wire. No need to measure the voltage directly across the red and non-red wires, because we can derive that later, by subtracting the non-red voltage from the red voltage.

You said you've discovered anomalies in your voltage readings, so I won't comment on those until you've clarified them.

This post for corrections only:
From post 191 up till this one check for BOLD and RED corrections I've made to my posts.

Nope, the S isn't referring to Siemens (the standard unit of electrical conductance), but instead it refers to the second (standard unit of time). Thus the figures you're seeing in the manual are the pulse durations for the fuel injector measured in milliseconds (mS).


You are definitely much more an expert on the electrical stuff than me, so I don't want this to seem like I'm arguing. I merely want to be VERY sure on this unit of measure because I researched the "mS" notation before doing all that stuff I did in prior posts.

What I've found is that:
lowercase notation: "ms" = milliseconds
and
lower/uppercase "mS" = millisiemens

In the reference value chart I found it shows as lower/uppercase "mS" specifically.

I looked it up here on these sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS
http://www.sizes.com/units/symbol/mSmn.htm
http://inst.sfcollege.edu/mugs/DRC/User%20Manuals/Scientific%20Notebook/text%20format/SCIENTIFIC%20CHAP2.txt
http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/units-converter/electric-conductance/c/
http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/units-converter/time/c/

I debated with myself too about milliseconds vs millisiemens. In any case whether we are dealing with TIME or AMPERAGE/VOLTS zero is zero for KOEO.


Just to clarify on the subject of the injector operating voltage - it is always 12V (nominal), and flow rate is adjusted not by varying the voltage, but rather by varying the length of time (pulse duration) for which the injector is held in the 'open' position.

Got it.


At KOEO, no current should flow through the injectors, but if you have an electrical problem which is causing one or more to be held open, then current flow through an individual injector will be around 0.8 amps (12V divided by 14.5 ohms), with a power dissipation of around 10 watts (12V multiplied by 0.8 amps) - that's far too much heat to be dissipated continuously in such a small, unventilated component, so don't leave the ignition switched on for any longer than necessary whilst you're taking voltage measurements, and do allow an interval for cooling between taking sets of measurements.


I've decided I see no reason to leave the injectors plugged into their harnesses until I've isolated the electrical fault, so they are unplugged for now.


Do as Wiswind said when measuring voltages - connect the meter common lead to a known good ground, and measure the voltage first on the red wire and then on the non-red wire. No need to measure the voltage directly across the red and non-red wires, because we can derive that later, by subtracting the non-red voltage from the red voltage.


Coming up in next post. I did this earlier. Just didn't get time to post it till now.


You said you've discovered anomalies in your voltage readings, so I won't comment on those until you've clarified them.

Yes, but its been hard keeping track of all this ... retracing errors I made myself and things that happened that I'm doing a double take on. You see in next post.

EDIT: I had written quite a bit on millisiemens calculations, but a google search for that term and fuel injectors comes up with zilch so my Ford Cd-ROM must've notated "mS" improperly and was meant to be "ms" cause "m uppercase S" is millisiemens though from what Selectron said and reading up on injector stuff milliseconds is the appropriate word.

Reference Values from the FORD CD-ROM (I accidentally found these):

ms = milliseconds
KOEO: 0 ms
Hot Idle: 5.7ms - 6ms
30 mph: 4.9ms - 7.9ms
55 mph: 6.8ms - 11.7ms

Here are the previous test results I posted earlier:

Tested Injector Wire to Injector Wire - 1st Test
5.43 mV or .00543 volt - Injector 4 -front bank
5.50 mV or .00550 volt - Injector 5 -front bank
5.48 mV or .00548 volt - Injector 6 -front bank

5.59 mV or .00559 volt - Injector 1 -rear bank
11.8 mV or .01180 volt - Injector 2 -rear bank
11.8 mV or .01180 volt - Injector 3 -rear bank

Now for what I did last night:

Tested Injector Wire to Injector Wire - 2nd Test

Same as 1st test results except the 11.8 mV was missing from injectors 2 & 3 and instead was around 5.5mV like the others. ODD???


Tested Injector Wires to Chassis Ground - 3rd Test

3.3 mV | Injector 4 -front bank - red wire
Nothing | Injector 4 -front bank - non-red wire
3.0 mV | Injector 5 -front bank - red wire
Nothing | Injector 5 -front bank - non-red wire
2.8 mV | Injector 6 -front bank - red wire
3.3v - 6.0v | Injector 6 -front bank - non-red wire

3.2 mV | Injector 1 -rear bank - red wire
Nothing | Injector 1 -rear bank - non-red wire
3.2 mV | Injector 2 -rear bank - red wire
Nothing | Injector 2 -rear bank - non-red wire
4.0 - 3.2 (settled at 3.2) mV | Injector 3 -rear bank - red wire
Nothing | Injector 3 -rear bank - non-red wire


Continuity testing of entire Injector Harness while unplugged from PCM - 4th test
All continuity tests passed with zero resistance.

This leaves the continuity tests from the male ended injector harness connector on the PCM side to the PCM connector (gotta remove that dang cowl).

Ok ironing things out:
1. Even though I'm going crazy with all this I know injectors 2 & 3 showed 11.8mV or 11.8v the 1st time I checked KOEO red injector wire to non-red injector wire. Problem is since I screwed up the mV vs V thing I can't recall which (mV or V) it was for sure.

2. I should be getting NOTHING for the red wire's against chassis ground right? Whats up with this mV stuff I'm seeing?

3. Why did injector 6's non-red wire give me a mV results against chassis ground?

4. Perhaps in twisting, moving, the injector wiring harness I've caused some shorts that were revealing themselves to go away? or vice versa?

5. I shouldn't be seeing "ANY" voltage at all (even mV) off those red wires with KOEO...... but given the resistance of the injectors between 11.0 and 18.0 ohms (haven't measured the new ones; but old ones were 14.5 ohms on average) would a mere 3.2mV to 5.5mV of voltage even cause an injector to open at all going against say 14.5 ohms of resistance? IE: .0055v / 14.5 = 0.000379310345 amp .... looks like nearly zero current flow to me equating to likely zero injector opening huh?

6. Lastly - Anything that looked odd I repeated the test for several times before writing it down.

:banghead:

I think continuity testing to the PCM from the injectors and from PCM injector pins to chassis ground is gonna show me what I'm looking for. Its gotta be some trickle current getting in somewhere.

Couldn't millisiemens apply for "amperage/volt" running through the injectors given their resistance and given the various stages of use: KOEO, Hot Idle, 30mph, and 55mph?

I ask because when you convert millisiemens (assuming its millisiemens for argument) to amp/volt using the reference values the Ford CD provides you get volt numbers that come extremely close to what you'd experience at Hot Idle and the 11.8's are close to what you'd experience at 55mph thus would explain the constant stream of fuel we heard in inj 2 & 3. If this is right to have Hot Idle mV's during KOEO then it would indicate that the wiring for KOEO and Hot Idle conditions are crossed??? or would this indicate that the TPS unplugged may have something to do with all this?

... What I've found is that:
lowercase notation: "ms" = milliseconds
and
lower/uppercase "mS" = millisiemens

In the reference value chart I found it shows as lower/uppercase "mS" specifically.

Yes, you're right about the abbreviation in both cases, so millisecond should indeed be abbreviated to ms and not mS. The convention is that where a unit is named after a person (watt, ampere, etc.), the abbreviated form should use a capital letter, whereas when the unit is not named after a person (second, metre, etc.), the abbreviated form should use a lowercase letter. Thus millisecond should be written as ms, and millisiemens as mS. I routinely write the abbreviated form of millisecond incorrectly, and it appears the Ford technical authors have done the same thing; I'll need to be more careful in future. Regardless though, I can assure you that the Ford manual is quite definitely referring to the pulse time duration, measured in milliseconds; they would have no reason whatsoever to bring conductance (siemens) into the picture, so put all thoughts of that aside because it will only confuse things.

Speaking of confusion, I'm looking at your voltage readings and scratching my head because it looks like you have no voltage reaching the injectors - all red wires should have been reading around 12V with respect to an independent ground, so are you sure you had the meter's common lead on a good ground point? I'll make a cup of tea and read through the voltage readings again.

Okay, there's something badly amiss with your voltage readings, because all injector red wires should measure 12V. Forget about anything else until we sort this one out. It's only likely to be caused by one of three things:

1. Meter common lead isn't connected to a good ground point. When working in the engine bay, the quick way to check that is to connect the common lead to your chosen ground, and then probe the battery positive terminal with the red probe - if you don't see full battery voltage then it isn't a good ground.

2. Meter display is being read incorrectly - verify what 12V should look like on the display by taking a reading directly across the battery.

3. Fuse 'S' (30A) in the engine compartment fuse box is open-circuit. That's easily checked. It might also be worth checking fuse 20 (25A) in the interior fuse panel.

I can't think of any other explanations - oh, unless the harness which feeds the injector red wires is somehow open-circuit - either because it's unplugged, or faulty.

... I "vote" for #4, because harness damage has been observed.

Ok. I'm gonna do a sanity :eek7: check and recheck a few of those voltages I took. I'll recheck the meter leads, I'll check battery voltage to a chassis good ground, etc...

Gotcha - I'm convinced (hehe lol) ... its milliseconds and not millisiemens. :tongue:

Last night before I did all this I even recrimped the test lead alligator wires cause I didn't like that they were showing .9 resistance on the ohm meter. Afterwards I got'em to 0.00 resistance. I did also check battery voltage against a known good ground too and got the right number too. I also checked ground continuity from the engine block to the frame and got 0.00 too, but the alternator ground strap IS NOT connected at this time though having confirmed 0.00 resistance elsewhere from the block to the frame I thought would've been good enough. Perhaps I'll connect the ground strap/cable to something on the block and redo these tests and see what happens too.

But... my main purpose in going back out to redo these tests is for sanity :sly:. lol

#4 - Yeah... I have to wonder about this now for sure. I wish I could've taken a picture for ya'll. I went to the day I was repairing the melted harness and my camera wouldn't come on. Go figure. The bad voodoo :evillol: seems to be infectious.

I can't think of any other explanations - oh, unless the harness which feeds the injector red wires is somehow open-circuit - either because it's unplugged, or faulty.


"harness which feeds the injector red wires" is what I'm calling the main PCM wiring harness - the main PCM wiring harness is what melted together. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being open circuits at that point.

Last night at first I had started testing voltage with the fuel injector harness unplugged (cause of my continuity test of the injector harness), but then I caught myself after the 1st try and plugged it in to get those voltage numbers.

What is the tiny lone red wire with a white strip that has a small connector end that almost looks like a L shaped vacuum line boot? This lone red wire with white stripe slides over a small bolt stud sticking out of the engine block top right (relative to actual pulley front of engine this would be right rear). You can barely see it as its under the fuel rail and some other stuff.

Ok, since I know the injector harness check out for continuity at all pins/wires I disconnected it from the PCM harness connection point and instead only tested the 1 red wire (to save time) that goes to the PCM. I clamped an alligator lead wire to the male pin (remember PCM side of harness; black connector) with some electrical tape around the tip so it wouldn't touch other pins.

Then I clamped the other end of that red lead to my red test probe on the meter.

I had already secured a known good chassis ground (tried 2 known good chassis grounds too) with a black alligator clamp lead and then attached this to my black meter probe. I also attached another alligator clamp to the alternator ground strap and to the engine block to cover the ground that is not attached right there... even though I apparently didn't need to because chassis ground continuity was still ohm'ing 0.00 from the block to the chassis beforehand.

FINALLY: OBSERVED VOLTAGE FROM MAIN RED INJECTOR WIRE THAT LEADS TO PCM HARNESS

RED WIRE to chassis ground: 3.0 to 4.0 mV

Battery voltage tested separately: 12.06V

So that no good right?

Selectron has directed you properly.

The only sensible interpretation of the mS figures is that they are improperly labeled timing data.

However, if the purpose is to diagnose the source of the "leaking" sound, could a simple check of disconnecting all injectors from the wiring harness, then turning the key on assure you that it is not an electrical problem, since injectors should not allow any flow without electrical power applied?

Also, if you are convinced an injector is leaking without electrical power applied (an therefor the problem is a mechanical fault and not electrical) is it possible for you to remove all injectors from the manifold, install them on the fuel rail without inserting them back into the manifold, then turn on the key to apply pressure? This more involved, but it will immediately allow you to observe any leakage that occurs from each injector. In addition, you can confirm the operation of each injector by using a wire from battery to one terminal of the injector, and another from the other injector terminal to ground, catching the fuel spray in a can. I've done this on my Chevy, but not on my Windstar.

If you do this then you should be aware of the potential fire hazzard as you will be atomizing fuel in the same vicinity as electrical sparks.

None the less, the electrical readings suggest that you are not getting any power at all to the injectors, which as noted above, should always have 12 volts on one of the terminals. Also, I'm curious as to how you are accessing the harness wires, if the injectors are in place when you are taking your voltage readings. I didn't think there were any exposed wire in the harness. Is it possible that you're not making contact to the actual wires when you take these readings?

Just a couple notes about using a meter....
1 Volt = 1,000mV...... I have found that readings like you are seeing in the mV range are not reliable....in other words....can be just random inductance into the meter leads.

Resistance measurements..... for a sanity check......at low resistance value readings......try putting the 2 leads together so that you are measuring the resistance through just the leads......it is not unusual to see some resistance......even a couple ohms....
Sometimes just reseating or turning the leads where they plug into the meter can vary this.

My point being......you can drive yourself nuts with these 2 things.

A bunch of posts up, I listed the path from the battery to the red lead connection on the fuel injector......through the PCM relay.....and the fuses involve in making it happen.
Of course.....a blown fuse would impact ALL the red leads......not just one or a couple.
With the Key in the Run OR the Start position......have about +12V to ALL of the fuel injectors through the RED lead......REGARDLESS of if the engine is running or not.

The PCM is connected (through the wiring harness) to the other lead at each injector.
The PCM will be at a high resistance at that other lead......preventing current flow through the injector......when the engine is NOT cranking or running.

When the engine is trying to start or is running......
The PCM will apply a very short duration (that is where the ms....milisecond discussion comes in) in order to MOMENTARILY energize the coil.....and cause a very short squirt of fuel.

The PCM is looking at a variety of inputs to determine WHEN to squirt.....particularly the input from the camshaft position sensor....to know when to spray fuel into the open intake valve.

The length of the squirt (HOW MUCH fuel for each single fire of each cylinder) is based upon what amount of fuel is needed in order to maintain the optimum air/fuel ratio.....which is where the upstream oxygen sensors come in.....along with known data about RPM, how much air is measured flowing in through the MAF.....what temperature is that air as measured by the Input Air Temperature Sensor (how much is the air going to expand?).....and a few other things.

But.....again.....with the engine not in the start or run mode (but key in the run position) you should have +12V coming to each injector.......but NO fuel squirting.......and no path to ground through the PCM.
Which is why......using a known ground......you should read about +12V at both terminals of the fuel injector (if it is even possible to probe with your meter with the injector plugged in).

Now....it was suggested that you unplug the electrical connector from the injector and measure the voltate at the red lead terminal IN the wire harness injector plug.....you should have +12V at each red lead with the key in the RUN position.......and in the resistance mode (OHMS) you should see a high resistance value at the other (non-solid red lead) terminal.
The Non-Red wire is going to be a different color or color combination (stripe) at each injector......as each of those wires are going to a different pin on the PCM (whereas the Red wires all connecto together at some point in the harness).

Don't worry about getting confused about the cylinder numbers above.......as long as you get it figured out.......if you have an injector that is spraying under the conditions you list......it is not a good thing.....regardless of which cylinder position it is at.
So all the advice still applies the same.
Of course.....it is easier to work with the front injectors.....

How about SHOW N TELL ?
http://www.thinkrolland.com/images/externallylinked/Fuse-S-Blown-95-Windstar-3.8L.jpg

http://www.thinkrolland.com/images/externallylinked/Current95Windstar3.8EngineBay.jpg

http://www.thinkrolland.com/images/externallylinked/InjectorAndPCMHarness95Windstar3.8.jpg

http://www.thinkrolland.com/images/externallylinked/PCMWiringDiagramRelativeToEGRpipeSMALL.jpg

PHOTOS:
1. Obvious. :) A little humor too. - Like how I matched the fuse color to the words? lol

2. I thought it would help if ya'll saw my current working environment so that the questions about how I'm testing would be easier answered. TOMJ76 - KEEP UP!!! Old injectors are OUT (4 of them no good to me)!! New Injectors are in, but I have unplugged them until I fix electrical stuff.

3. MELTED PCM HARNESS photo - that whole red line indicates what I covered up with new electrical tape hoping to God it wasn't shorting anything out. The green line indicates where the injector harness goes into the PCM harness.

4. ENGINE WIRING diagram - A rough diagram I made up to explain to the shop what they did. I figured it'd help showing ya'll too.

I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE BEEN SO HAPPY TO FIND A BLOWN FUSE!!!

The skinny:
Tracking down voltage issues after hearing the injectors squirting full blast, I think the answer is in my test results which made me think I was going crazy. I DID SEE 11.8v on 2 & 3 when I first started testing, but thereafter is when I believe that fuse "S" blew from me handling the PCM and injector wiring harness. So, after that when I retested I got nothing or some obscure mV readings.

I suppose my test leads flopping around for a few moments before testing could've triggered a fuse to blow, but I saw no sparks during any of my tests as I was very careful what touched where, especially since I'm real close to raw fuel.

I had noticed after the 1st voltage tests that the check engine light was not coming on anymore at Key On. At the time I didn't know what that meant, but I do now since Selectron made me recheck fuse "S". Fuse "S" was NOT blown before I started working on the vehicle as I'd checked it several times in the past when trying to trace down all this stuff. What I'm gonna have to do now is check EVERY FUSE after all of this gets fixed right because I have to assume that ANY/ALL wires touched some place they shouldn't have due to the melted PCM harness.

I think that handling the harnesses basically revealed a short over X number of wires. This very likely has everything to do with my engine trying to stall after the fans shut off and the weird a/c clutch coil clanking on the 1st start of it after its sat for a long time.... and last, but certainly not least... this will finally probably resolve my MPG issue.

Tomorrow I'm going to the shop with my Father (team up on'em) to talk some sense into these people. They have been reasonable every time and always worked to resolve things, but since this is such a hairy and potentially time consuming issue I'm wondering what they are gonna say. All I want out of them is a new wiring harness as I will replace it myself. If they can't do that and just want to repair it.... sorry but.... f them.... I'm not letting them touch my engine bay anymore.

I'm very clear on how to use my meter. This stuff is cryptic enough as it is so I'm gonna leave meter usage practices out of this. I know i need to make sure continuity is good before testing voltages etc.. and that leads shouldn't touch unless I mean for them too, etc...

I repeatedly test my meter leads for resistance. They always come up 0.00 - its a digital multimeter with auto-ranging. I know what yer sayin though, cause someone (probably was you Wiswind) told me about that a while back. When I attach test leads (alligator clips and paper clips) I do a resistance test so I know what the variance is now.

What I didn't know though was that I could see obscure erroneous mV readings. I guess this is similar to seeing the mV readings range all over the place when a positive lead is connected and no ground is connected yet.

GOING ON SAFARI:
I will certainly post back to let everyone know what happens after the shop visit tomorrow, but tomorrow as well I will be going out of town and leaving this project on hold till I get back. I've been holding off a girly-friend of mine for 2 months now on a visit and now that I know this repair is going to be quite hairy I'd rather go see her, have a GOOD time, and then come back and resolve this after the shop gets me the stuff I need or after I order what i need, or if I just decide to buy a bunch of wire and fix it myself.

HUMOR OF THE DAY:
I went to NAPA Auto Parts today to exchange the faulty alternator that my shop just put in only a couple weeks ago. I had them test the new one. Guess what? It had extreme physical damage at one of the mounts (looked like it got in a fight with a sledge hammer). They put it back and should have another one for me tomorrow. :) WONDERFUL LUCK HUH????? LOL

I am now wondering if the new alt that the shop put in was bad to boot or bad after it encountered my engine bay with this wiring problem..... but..... my old alternator I do believe was GOOD and didn't need to be replaced to begin with so I really believe this alternator from NAPA that the shop put in was bad to begin with.... especially since the voltage regulator looks like the old one or just looked very beaten up.

Well, I thought my photo post would've generated even a LiL bit of buzz and laughs with you guys. lol - Hope so.

Yesterday was a good day.

I went to the shop. Told'em about the melted harness, 5&6 spark plug wires swapped, injectors, blown fuse etc... and the owner offered to come and repair the harness at the house since I had it all apart in the driveway. He came over, inspected it, and then left and came back with some tools and we worked together on it.

I don't have the info on me at the moment, but I wrote down the color/stripe of the wires we had to repair and at least 3 of them were fuel and O2 sensor related. There were 2 others: 1 a ground wire to the block which had escaped me until I looked into replacing the injectors... it was hidden basically behind/under the fuel rail and stems off the PCM harness to the block. 2nd - Red wire with white stripe running to what appears to either be an engine block temp or pressure sensor. (EDIT: Found out this is the "TEMPERATURE SWITCH" aka "Water Temperature Indicator Sender Unit" aka "Coolant Temperature Sender")

I cannot find this in the PCM connector diagram. This wire and the ground were exposed significantly and very close to each other. The others were in the vicinity too, but not as close.

Alternator - Yesterday marked the 3rd Alternator from NAPA that was no good upon arrival to their store. 3 alternators in a row tested bad before I even installed them (the last 2). Finally I went back to my now "sorta trusted shop again" to get my money refunded so I could go somewhere else to buy another Alternator. Supposing to be the less quality store (Autozone) I went there to get a Duralast. Had'em test it.... PASSED on 1st try. Bought some new 30A small fuses too.

Currently the engine bay is sitting how you all saw in the photo as I've run out of time. I can't keep a lady waiting forever and tomorrow during the day I'll be driving to visit her for a couple weeks. It sucks that after coming so close to finishing this crap that I'll have to wait to get back and put it together to see if the wiring fixes were the magic touch that ends this bad voodoo Saga.

POETIC IRONY????? - When I was at Autozone as soon as I walked in I saw the tech that installed my engine (twice) who no longer works at my "sorta trusted shop". He was let go. I hadn't seen him anywhere else EVER in my life except at the shop. I was having a good day and then I saw him and just tried not to laugh or worse get mad at all the problems he's caused me.

The owner, that came to my house yesterday, tried to take blame personally for the spark plug wires n stuff .... but I couldn't agree with him cause I know how he is (meticulous like me) and I told him I knew it was that guy he fired and that things have probably been setup all fudged up for over a year and a half since the new engine install.

Until I get back and then we can finish this.:biggrin:

What a learning journey you are on! (... and I don't mean the one with the lady friend.) That engine bay looks very sanitary. You are using tape and protective paper on the engine very wisely. You've spent more, time if not money, than the car is worth ... but think what you've already learned. A bounty!

Education is expensive ... but always a good investment.

Searcherrr - regarding the issue of spark plug wires 5&6 being crossed, which you mentioned a few days ago - I noticed an anomaly in something which you later said, but I didn't mention it at the time because I wanted to get the injector voltages sorted out first.

So, from post # 205:
I thought on my 95 the pairing of the ignition coils goes like this: 1&6, 5&2, 4&3

I'm assuming "pairing" works that each coil set is directly across from the other, measuring/looking across the shortest width of the coil pack.

Well when I was looking at the fuel injectors on the '95 PCM wiring diagram, I happened to notice that it shows the ignition coil pairing as being: 5&1, 3&4, 2&6.

Wiswind's post #189 fits in with that pairing:
I would think that your motor would run rough with wires 5&6 crossed.......
Now 5&1 or 6&2 crossed, would not matter as they are on the same coils......and fire together anyhow.

So I'm wondering if maybe you're identifying the coil pack's terminals incorrectly. Are the numbers marked on the pack? If not then it would probably be a good idea to get somebody to clarify the numbering of the terminals before you reconnect the leads.

This one's been nagging away at the back of my mind all weekend so I decided to investigate. Below is a link which shows the coil's high-tension (HT) output terminal numbering, and if you start out at HT terminal one and then proceed clockwise, the numbers run incrementally through 1, 2, 3, 4, but then when you get to terminals 5&6, they break the sequence, so I assume that's where the confusion has arisen. Now that I understand that, I can spend my Sunday thinking about something else. Of course, the way to avoid confusion altogether with ignition coils and spark plug leads is to do what I do, and drive a diesel. http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/images/icons/icon10.gif

'95 3.8L Windstar ignition coil, high-tension terminal numbering (http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x64/Selectron/Windstar/Windstar-ignition-coil.gif)

This is why I try to have ONLY 1 wire disconnected at a time.......greatly reduces the chance for me to grab the wrong loose end.
That is a lesson that I learned very early on......and has stayed with me.
Of course, this is not always possible.....but I certainly do look for a way to do this.
Otherwise......I tape and label the wire ends.
Of course....this is starting with a situation where things are connected in the correct place to start with.

I'm very interested to see what a new wiring harness does. My van does funny things at idle and I have a replaced parts list similar to this one, too. Plus perpetual 171/174. I wonder if I don't have similar electrical problems.

Ooopss. :)
http://www.thinkrolland.com/images/externallylinked/WindstarIgnitionCoil.jpg

Selectron's nice graphic to supplement my lil self-drawn diagram above:
http://redirectingat.com/?id=252X400&url=http%3A//i180.photobucket.com/albums/x64/Selectron/Windstar/Windstar-ignition-coil.gif

I had drawn out my diagram above for another thread I did (Bad Coil Pack symptoms) and not recalled that 5 and 6 have weird positioning.... weird to me. It is ME who made a mistake on 5&6. I thought since 1,2,3,& 4 are in the position they are in that the last 2 positions would be "middle 5" and "last 6", but clearly 6 is in the middle on the non-connector/harness side and clearly 5 is the last terminal on the non-connector/harness side.

Its simply easy to mistake this and I goofed. I even labeled it wrong in the engine bay despite my diagram being correct, and I will have to fix that when I get home. Lucky for me I have great help on here and ya'll noticed it before I tried to start the van. I would've been some f'in pissed.

I have 2 new coil packs (1 performance and 1 OEM; perf. one on vehicle). The OEM pack has the numbering on it with a sticker. I will confirm on that pack too when I get home later this week, but I believe the diagrams are accurate and that Selectron found my boo boo.

Drive a diesel huh. :) lol

12Ounce - EDUcation indeed sir. INDEED. $$$$$$$ and lots n lots n lots of TIME. I do like knowing all that I know now though. I really do, because it just is good to know what I'm dealing with whenever I bring it in somewhere if anything else.

Wiswind - I guess in all this highly technical stuff I thought like Selectron mentioned (going clockwise around the coils) that 5 & 6 would be in order even despite the diagrams. I guess I was mirroring what I saw to draw that diagram, but wasn't registering that in my engine bay I had it backwards.... which means that my shop DIDN'T mess up the spark wiring after all.

Freakzilla69 - I'd seriously doubt this problem I had would be on other Winnies unless someone had pulled the engine and rerouted the PCM wiring harness OVER the EGR pipe and between the rear (right) valve cover of the engine like on mine. This key mishap is what caused my wiring to melt. If I were you I'd scout all your wiring and make sure its not touching anything hot or rubbing on anything that moves.

I'm about to post the wiring numbers so ya'll can see what I believe will be resolving this problem FINALLY!!!!

The following is a list of the wires that were melted together and sitting right next to each other exposed in various places with current likely arcing across each other's wires.

Color Legend:
DG = Dark Green
LG = Light Green
GN = Green
BL = Blue
DB = Dark Blue
BK = Black
Y = Yellow
P = Purple
R = Red
W = White
O = Orange

1st Color = Main Color/2nd Color = Stripe

DG/Y - pin 40 circuit 238 - Fuel pump monitor input

BK - pin 25 circuit 57 - Case Ground

LG/P - pin 17 circuit 639 - High Fan Control
....Or it could've been P/LG, but I think it was LG/P; P/LG is pin 61 circuit 393 for HO2S #2 Input - heated oxygen sensor 2 input)

R/W - pin 93 circuit 387 - HO2S #3 Output - heated oxygen sensor 3 output
Although, i recall this going to what looks like the temperature switch on the block

O/LG - pin 43 circuit 71 - Fuel Flow Output (digital cluster only)
Not sure what this means for me since I have the analog cluster, because this wire does exist and I explicitly wrote "ORANGE with GREEN STRIPE" on my lil notebook.
**There is a LG/O which is pin 99 circuit 560 for Fuel injector #6, but I'm sure it was Orange over with green stripe.

BL or DB - Just blue wire. Matches are a DB on Pin 6 circuit 349 of the Ignition Control Module for the Crankshaft Position Sensor (+) and what makes more sense due to my problem that started this thread: DB pin 14 circuit 228 Low Speed Fan Input from PCM. THIS COULD VERY LIKELY BE THE BIGGEST AAAAAHHHHH HAAAAAAAAA !!!!! OF THE THREAD!!! ATTEMPTS STALL WHEN FANS CUT OFF!!!!! Also, circuit 228 passes through connector C100 (the big one in front of the brake booster which goes to the melted spot on my PCM harness).

*If ya'll are wondering, I brought my notebook with me to be able to post this thread later on during my visit to my lady friend. I'll probably be home to finish up the van later this week. For now though I figure those wires are something to ponder. I think it says a lot about what was going on, if not everything.

G'night - it beez 5:15 AM CDT

Hello Sports Fans!!! I'm baaaaackkkkkk! .. like Randy Quaid in Independence Day!!

If anyone is still watching - There is this thread I just created:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=5976208#post5976208

Well, I had no desire or energy to put the van back together a couple months ago. I ended up staying longer at my lady friend's house (a month) and left the van cocked up on one side in the driveway with everything taped over until I could get to it.

The past 4 days I put everything back together meticulously taking care to follow torque specs and methodical instructions in the shop manual. Tonight around 9pm CST (or is it CDT now?) I took my sister and mother outside to say a blessing over the hood of the van before I tried to start it up. Excited 10%, and 90% knowing to expect a problem resulting in a feeling of indifference, instead of the old forgotten used to be reaction of disappointment,

.....I had my sister turn the key to light up the dash so I could listen for injectors spewing gas before engine start. This time I didn't hear it. So far so good.

At least the dash lights up as it should since replacement of fuse S, which blew after handling the melted wiring harness - pre-repair.

Started. No good.

Fuel spewing out of front exhaust pipe where 3 outlet manifold meets front down pipe. Same condition as it was before we (The owner from the shop and I) fixed the melted wiring harness. Engine shaking the whole van pretty harshly.

New alternator, new battery, new injectors, repaired wiring and those who remember .... an array of other new parts not to mention engine and tranny too..... still no fix.

What was odd though was before I'd heard (1,2,3) injectors squirting furiously just at Key On Engine Off before the PCM wiring harness was repaired, so I would've thought my problem would've been back there. For all I know though there is gas spewing out of the rear exhaust too and I don't realize it.

Thoughts:
1. What are some things that would cause gas to spew down the exhaust pipe unburned?

2. The fact that I have gas spewing out of a joint between the exhaust manifold and the downpipe - could this mean that the entire exhaust pipe is "FULL" with gas up to the top of the joint? Cause I don't see how else gas would spew out of this joint with pressure going OUTWARD. Would seem to indicate backpressure buildup, but I have new cats and new exhaust pipes..... ????????? what da hell?

3. Is it possible that with the electrical problems at the harness, a bad alt and a bad battery ALL AT THE SAME TIME that a spark plug on the front bank (4,5,6) blew out?

4. Could my "performance" ignition coils be causing too much spark for the stock plugs to handle? Could that in-the-middle-of-repair-upgrade have blown out a plug?

5. Due to all the electrical issues, could the new PCM be blown out with me getting no indication of it on the dash?

6. Finally, I commend anyone who is still following this thread, and again thank you further for your time and help. Any new ideas you have are appreciated. I hope someone can help me find a new direction for tomorrow because all I have left are guesses about a blown plug(s) or a blown computer and gas shooting out the front of the engine.

You've got to find precisely where the "gasoline" is squirting out ... more than just "out of the front of the engine". Maybe you could position a large mirrow, or other glass surface, as a target for the expulsion. Stuff shop towels around??

Be careful!

OK.....I put a post in your new thread about what can cause gasoline to show up in the exhaust......

What I would do......is get your hands on a timing light (while you may not have seen those 2 words together in some years.....I'll bet that (like me) you are old enough to know what one is).

Once you locate a timing light. Disable the fuel pump......no fuel pressure.
Then.....one cylinder at a time......clamp the timing light pick up onto each spark plug wire......and have someone crank the engine, like they are trying to start it.
You are looking for the timing light to flash.....indicating a spark.
No flash......no spark.
The timing light pickup is activated by current (not voltage) through the spark plug wire.
Take your time and check all 6 cylinders.

If you have 1 or more cylinders without a spark.....correct that problem before moving on.

You might consider putting in a OEM style coil pack.
I don't think that a "performance" coil pack would be the cause of this problem....however, I have seen some things listed in catalogs that do not match up with our windstars......so the concern would be if the coil pack is wired correctly for the windstar.......

I cannot see why you would have fuel spraying out at the exhaust manifold / exhaust pipe junction......
The only thing that comes to mind is some obstruction.
On your new catalytic converters......I really hesitate to say it.......if I were standing there in person.....I would have a quick escape route planned out before I said it.
But......it does need to the considered.
Raw fuel into a catalytic converter causes it to get very hot (as you had happen before with your "red hot" situation a number of pages back).
So.....now that I have said it.....I would eliminate a obstructed exhaust situation before moving from the spark issue to adding more fuel.

YES....it is possible....but not certain, that you have fuel coming out of the rear exhaust manifold / tail pipe junction.
DO NOT get under the vehicle while it is running to try to determine this......as I don't want you to get fuel in your face (and end up getting burned, should it ignite).
Each exhaust manifold has its own catalytic converter.......and they merge after the converter....
I am sure that you know this by now, having been under there as much as you have.
But.....it is possible that 1 bank is OK, while the other bank is not.......or that both banks are blocked.
What you DO know for sure is that you have the fuel issue on the front bank of cylinders......it is the rear bank that you don't know about.

One might be able to probe the pins on the fuel injector electrical plugs.
When connected to the injector, ignition ON, but motor NOT running, you should measure the +12V to ground at BOTH wires.
1 wire stays at +12V, the other wire goes to the PCM......and the PCM MOMENTARILY grounds (around 0V) that wire to cause the injector to spray.
You will not "see" this on a meter because the sample time of the meter is much slower than the ground (0V) pulse.
So.....if you see a low value......you have a problem.
At this point, you can see where a pinched wire harness for the fuel injectors can cause a injector to stay "ON" and spray fuel constantly.

Now.....once you know that you have spark at all plugs.....no exhaust obstruction......and no low pin at any of the fuel injectors with the ingnition ON, motor OFF.....you are ready to proceed from there.

If you think only 1 injector is spraying too much....and you do not find a low line to any injector....you can unplug the injectors 1 at a time.....to see if that will narrow down the leaker.

Needless to say......if you have fuel spewing out the exhaust......you likely have fuel leaking past the rings and down into the crankcase........so you are looking at needing to change the motor oil.
I am just not getting past the pressure at a level to have you see fuel come out at that point......some pressure is normal.....but that much raw fuel?

You've got to find precisely where the "gasoline" is squirting out ... more than just "out of the front of the engine". Maybe you could position a large mirrow, or other glass surface, as a target for the expulsion. Stuff shop towels around??

Be careful!


I know exactly where its coming from. Its where my Maganflow Ypipe meets the front exhaust manifold. This is the nightmare Ypipe that won't go away. If I'm seeing gas out this area this also means there is an exhaust leak there too I would think. I can't see how it would matter though, cause the flow of exhaust (when not spitting fuel) flows down and outward and the flared/tapered metal joint where the Ypipe and manifold meet doesn't seem like it would allow much exhaust to get out. I definitely don't "hear" a difference with this tiny opening either.

I'm not getting a CEL. Would this mean the PCM is busted?

I pulled spark plug #6 today and it was wet with fuel and black and it's only 10k miles old, but was also in my old engine. I am hoping the old injectors being faulty and wiring shorted issues that were resolved have fixed this condition and that new plugs will resolve my issues. The plug wires were replaced with the plugs 10k miles ago. I wonder if they went bad too. :( Ugg.

From what I've read a totally black plug is carbon deposits and carbon conducts electricity very well, thus distorting and spreading out the electric charge the plug is supposed to emit in the gap... instead the charge follows the black carbon and I guess amounts to no spark.

I might have a timing light somewhere. I've always heard of it yeah, but never actually knew how using one helped me. lol - I may try the timing light procedure after I replace the plugs. I had already bought a set a few months ago in case I needed them. Putting OEM Motorcraft Platinums back in. I hate gapping plugs. I've been waiting years for good gapping tools to come out and I finally see Accel has released a set of gapping pliers.

Since plug #6 was bad I bet all or most of the others are too from the previous messed up engine condition where the injectors seemingly were squirting erratically and/or full time due to crossed/shorted PCM wires.

You got me scared on an exhaust blockage. I still have that back pressure tester, maybe I can hook that up (if I think I need to after resolving the plugs issue) and see if there is excessive back pressure buildup. 1st guy I was trying to save money with did all kinds of shitty welds, though I doubt he did one large enough that would block enough exhaust air to cause a restriction.

Keep in mind, I have not driven the van anywhere since it started doing the gas spitting. It has just happened in the first 30 - 60 seconds of idling in the driveway. If I can't resolve this with the new plugs, then I think I've made up my mind to deliver it via tow truck to the shop that messed it up to begin with.

If the new plugs don't resolve this issue, I will probably put in OEM coil pack if the shop can't resolve the problem.

Wiswind - Thanks a great deal. I am going to mesh your instructions with what I know now since I've found #6 plug fouled and proceed with testing after I replace all the plugs.

GAS AND OIL MIXED - I HOPE YOU CAN GUIDE ME HERE. I just changed the oil yesterday after I got it all assembled, because I knew this was happening from I think you and another Ford tech telling me this (The shop told me that as well), that gas going into exhaust means gas into crankcase oil.

I only ran the engine for maybe 20 - 30 seconds SINCE THE OIL WAS CHANGED yesterday. Prior to that, the engine sat not running for over 2 months with the old oil. I think I could smell the gas in the old oil.

1. Anyway, my question is since I've only run it once 20 - 30 seconds 1 TIME since the new oil was put in do I yet again have to change the oil or will it be ok?

2. Are my brand new rings on this new engine now bad? They've run probably 2500 miles with the old faulty injectors fouling the plugs.

I would not think that your rings are bad.....I just mentioned that raw fuel sitting in the cylinders will leak down past the rings into the crankcase.

I do not know how to check for exhaust back pressure, or know what the specifications are. Fuel leaking out around the joint.....just is not normal...I would expect it to drip on down. You pretty much have my head spinning on this one.

You are smart to not let the motor run when fuel is leaking out that spot......however it limits the troubleshooting process.
I want to tell you to unplug the fuel injectors on at a time to see if unplugging 1 will change things.....but that has the motor running FAR too long.
HOWEVER.......I think that removing each spark plug.....1 at a time and inspecting them.....maybe 1 or 2 are wet and the others are not?.......which would narrow things down a bit.

Thanks for info about the rings. Think the freshly changed oil is ok since that 1 short idle?

Yeah, I'm gonna go plug by plug and label them and take pictures of'em so ya'll can see too. If the problem still exists after the new plugs then I'll try all the other stuff you mentioned.

Exhaust backpressure testing is as simple as vacuum pressure testing except its done using a hole on the exhaust somewhere. I have one that mounts into the Oxygen sensor holes that I can put on any of the 4 to see if there are pre or post cat pressure build up issues. There is a colored green/red range on the backpressure meter. Basically there should be little to no back pressure on fuel injected engines... less than 1 psi.

Just for safety's sake I think tomorrow I will remove the front O2 sensor just to check if the pipe is full of fuel. I'll stick my finger in there and fish around and see if its wet.

Gapping spark plugs - I absolutely HATE doing this. I'm meticulous and I cannot relax unless each plug is gapped exactly right and the same on each. With no good tool to do this without damaging the center electrode I built something out of a piece of 2x4, a wide head nail, a piece of deck strong-tie flat metal and 3 screws. I used a knife to dig a small indention into the 2x4 piece and hammered the nail into it at that spot. Then I screwed the deck plate into the 2x4 with half the head of the nail exposed. Now I have a flat plate to hook onto the ground electrode and can slide it under the plate and tilt the spark plug backwards to bend it backwards without touching the center electrode. Then to close the gap, the lil taps on a table or piece of wood. Came out pretty good, but I'd much rather have a set of gapping pliers that I finally see someone (Accel) came out with.

Don't get too carried away with the gapping of the plugs.....the Platinum enhancement could be damaged by too much contact with hard tooling.
You can usually see it.

As far as oil.....hard to say how much fuel might be in it.
You could try the "sniff" test......
Once you get the motor running smoothly, I would change the oil again.....as you can pretty much count on some fuel with the amount you mention seeing at the exhaust.

As far as the CEL, maybe you did not have the motor running long enough to set a CEL.....although I would not try to run the motor very long when it is not running correctly.....and codes may not be of much help........the problem being......was the code caused by the problem or causing the problem?......you don't need a code to tell you that you have a misfire.........you don't need a code to tell you that your exhaust is too rich (fuel coming out is about as rich as it gets).....

It would be good to eliminate excessive back pressure from the list....as well as see if you have 1 super wet/fowled spark plug......
If you can narrow down to 1 cylinder......unplug that fuel injector's electrical connector......

Another thing to try before starting the motor........turn the key to the "ON" position....but don't start the motor...
This will pump the fuel system up to pressure.
Then turn the Key "OFF".....and see if the fuel system holds pressure.
If the pressure dies down quickly (like in 30 seconds to a minute), you could have a fuel injector spraying, or leaking fuel.
If the fuel pressure drops quickly.....you could try unplugging the fuel injector harness....and see if the problem still happens (which would eliminate a physical problem vs a electrical).
If unplugging the harness clears the problem....you can reconnect it and try each injector.....to get down to the injector that is staying ON......and then correct the problem from there.

Today's News:
I started late today (like an hour ago) and cleaned #6 and #5 plug bores before I put the new plugs in. Both are gapped wrong and way too low from the factory spec and neither gap matches either. DOUBLE WRONG.

Those plugs I've removed (taking a while cause of cleaning the oil/fuel mix out of the plug bores first) are both not set to the right gap at all. In fact they are like .046 on #6 and #5 is .039. #6 was filthy wet with fuel and oil. #5 was wet with fuel, but not as much as #6 and thats probably because #5 was removed by me previously and I cleaned it up hoping that would do the trick. Still, .039 gap when you are supposed to be in a range of .052 - .056 to me is waaaay off and not enough spark to burn all the fuel properly..... hence another reason that expedited fouling my plugs.

I just hope that I haven't ruined the plug wires SOMEHOW????:sly: I guess if the new plugs do not fix anything I'll have to make sure the NEW plug wires weren't ruined too when the electrical gremlins were still present (hoping that I did get all those gremlins too). Your instructions for the timing light would tell me this answer.

I pulled the O2 sensor in the front too, and found it had fuel still moist on it and it was a tiny bit oily too like the plugs were. I hope some seals aren't ruined now letting too much oil into the plug chambers???? Comments on that??

I may go back out in a bit and finish the 3rd plug (plug #4) before the sun goes down and do the rear bank tomorrow since I don't wanna be eaten alive by mosquitoes and other insects while I'm inserting my body into the engine bay. I think I can reach the rear plugs just by removing the air pipe and nothing else. Looks easier than I had previously thought except for the pain of laying on top the engine.


Reply to post:
Are you saying gapping the plugs isn't important?

I had thought gapping the plugs to the right gap spacing was important on all plugs except Iridium's, but even then I don't see why you wouldn't gap them if you can do it without touching the center electrode.

If you were just talking about being careful while gapping, I haven't touched the center electrode at all except to check the size. While gapping, I have devised a tool/method to not touch the center electrode.

How long after the motor is running right ya think I should change the oil? After 1 tank of gas? I ask cause I was thinking about getting ALL the fuel out before I waste money on more oil. Is there an additive that helps to get rid of fuel in the oil that wouldn't gum up my new engine?

Good point on the CEL. I thought about that. I bet it wouldn't kick the code till the vehicle reaches full operating temp.

I don't plan on starting it again until all the plugs are removed, inspected and new ones installed.

I would have to get very clever about unplugging the injectors because I really don't see how I could reach the connectors to unplug them with the whole intake put back on. I have a long spring grabber tool though for things that fall down during repairs...... maybe I can weasel that thing in there and open the clips up with a small pick at the same time. Only problem with that is that 3 of the injector connector's clips are broken and I secured them with security ties before putting the intake back on. I'd have to weasel a clipper in there first to get those off to do this test and then I'd have no way of redoing the security ties unless I'd take off the intake again. :(

I continuity/resistance tested the injector harness separately with no power to it and it checked out fine. I now remember though that I only got as far as injector #2 and #3 before Fuse S blew out prior to the PCM wiring repairs. It was that testing and manipulation of the wiring that caused the fuse to blow mid-test. So I know the injector harness is good, but I don't know if the PCM is grounding it right or if its LIVE all the time on that live 12v ground wire.

Keep in mind, my injectors are brand new so they should be operating just fine barring irregular PCM signals (grounding on/off).

Thanks Carl.

YES, correct spark plug gap is important.......I was just cautioning to be careful as the platinum enhancement can be damaged if one jams a tool against it.
Most likely, the 0.039 gap would still "work"....maybe more prone to "fowling", but not right away.
I DO check/adjust the gap on spark plugs before I install them.
The correct spark plugs are rated at 100K miles.

Spark plug wires do not take well to being handled.......take the time to grasp the boot...and twist the boot on the spark plug before pulling......to prevent damage.
Easy to forget when one is frustrated / in a hurry.

I am leery of "performance" spark plug wires after a friend put a set of Taylor "performance" wires on his Sunbird.....rough idle (missing) showed up right away.
As he had done a complete tune-up.....he did not know what the problem was.....and over the next 6 months was trying all kinds of things......
Then one night, he tried my trick of lifting the hood in the dark, with the motor at idle.
He said it looked like a city around the spark plug wires.
New wires.....problem solved.
Needless to say, while he was happy to have solved the problem, he was very unhappy to have had it caused by a "premium" part that he had paid extra for.

As far as the injectors being new.....I am hoping that you have the correct ones for the vehicle.....they MUST have the correct flow rate. Too much or too little is no good.
They are rated by flow rate (how much fuel flows when they are "open").
The PCM is calibrated to expect a given fuel flow rate when the injector is spraying.
I am pretty sure that you got the correct ones....but I have seen some strange claims on the internet....

:)

Yeah, I got the right ones. I actually had to send back the ones I got at first because they were the wrong part number (wrong flow rate) and were for all the later year Windstars with more HP. Swapped'em out and got the right part number. Too bad too that I had rushed shipping on the 1st order and was sent the wrong injectors, but the guy refunded shipping for me on his own..... which was nice.

I just think the old rich condition (which I hope is old now) with the bad wiring, bad alt, bad battery = irregular unreliable voltage throughout the van messed up the spark plugs because of irregular injector firing over 10k miles from the old engine to the new one.

I take great care before removing the plug wires. I always grab the boot and pull directly straight outward, while not putting tension on the wire itself. Lots of practice while working with other electronics (always grab the connector) has me that way. Good advice to state in any case.

I'm removing AUTOLITE Part # AP5145 {PLUGS Platinum} plugs and installing the OEM MOTORCRAFT Part # SP482's {#AGSF44FMF6} which are platinum as well. I'm hoping to see this thing perform better than I've ever seen it when I'm done.

Good thing there is no monetary cost on Hope.