Hello all,

I have the common affliction of a gummed up / fouled passenger side connection to the solenoid pack causing the usual gamut of codes and transmission misbehaviour. I have finally gotten ahold of electrical contact cleaner, a small enough brass brush to be effective, and some di-electric grease, and things are working better, but the connector clearly needs to be replaced. I plan on buying a new one when I am back in the states in Nov; I cannot find one here in Peru, unsurprisingly It works well enough for now and I am now quite adept at the quick slide under the van to wiggle/reseat it as necessary.

Just starting to look for a replacement, however, and, all the images I see online show a connector that appears different from mine. The male side (solenoid pack / tranny side, not the wire coming from the engine compartment) on my transmission has a red plastic spine separating the two rows of pins. I do not see this type of connector online.

Any thoughts? Has part of the female plug come off and is it stuck in the male 1/2 of the connector (certainly possible but I don't want to pry and break anything), or is this another "Ford used different parts randomly" kind of joy?

As well, that male part of the connector that sticks up from the side of my tranny - that is part of the solenoid pack, it looks like, and not replaceable without replacing the solenoid pack? I am thinking about purchasing a solenoid pack and rebuild kit just to have the parts, not super expensive insurance given the number of transmission woes I have had. Any recommendations on where to buy said parts to get the best quality and the lowest chance of a dud solenoid pack?

It is now working well enough so I don't particularly want to pull it apart to take a photo of the connector, but I certainly can if my explanation is not clear.

Cheers, as always, in advance! And in the meanwhile, the beach in Paracas is lovely.

Josh

 

That red thing is the lock for the wires in the wire harness, without it fully seated into the harness the wires could be pushed out the back. You should be able to get it out of the solenoid block, if it is stuck maybe the pins are bent a little.