I have a 99 F250 Powerstroke with automatic transmission. I took apart the steering cover last night and reattached the 3 wires to the O/D that wasn't working. At some point, I touched one or more of the wires together or against the metal. I didn't think nothing of it, but when I put everything back and tried to go - no throttle. So I found the fuse(#19) replaced it and thought everything was ok. Long story short, now I keep blowing that #19 fuse. What do I do now?

Thanks.

 

There's probably another part of the wire that is frayed and shorting. Pull the switch out the end of the stalk. That will allow you to pull the connecter with wires attached out the same end too and you can inspect the entire length of the wires. I assume you insulated the joints where you fixed the wires, right? Did you switch polarities on some of the wires?

 

Thanks Leonard, when you say the stalk do you mean where it goes in to the dash? I will look again, I think I insulated the wires but they are tiny and I just used black tape.

 

The gear selector...where it goes into the steering column. You can tap out the pin the holds it in place, just keep an eye out for the pressure spring that helps keep it in place. Easy to lose it. Like a bent piece of spring steel. Once you pull that, you can check the wiring from the connector to the end. It does sound like something is still crossed. Also as NOOB said...make sure you kept the wires straight as for the colors go. I actually added about 4 inches of wire to mine when I repaired them, then soldered the wires and used shrink tubing. I didn't want it to come apart again.

 

OK BillyBob I will check that, I think I will add some wire also. What gauge is it do you know? It is very little.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

I beleive it is 18g. It is pretty thin. I found some extra wiring that I had in my garage that was left over from another project. Just got lucky that the colors closely matched.

 

Do you know if telephone wire would be pretty close?

 

no,telephone wire is single strand,you need multi-strand

 

What rbaker said. Single strand will also break ALOT easier than multi-strand when flexing

 

I have found that the little wires in CAT5e cable works well. As rbaker and BillyBob have said, be sure to get the stranded version though.

 

Thanks guys, I used 18 gauge wire which looks quite a bit thicker than what it was and spiced about 3-4 inches and everything including my overdrive off works great now.

 

Good to hear. So what was the problem? Wires switched around? Wires still frayed and shorting?

 

The problem was the first time I just taped the wires back together (all 3 were completely in half) and I guess when I put the steering cover back on it rubbed the black tape off of a couple of the wires and they were metal to metal. Also the first time I tried to fix it I didn't take the shifter handle off and tried to reconnect everything just as it was and that is pretty tight. Should have taken a little more time the first time, but that's usually how I do things. (2-3 times to get it right...lol)

Thanks again.