Although I read about this, I figured the odds were against it, but no....

I had the little cruise control switch harness added to my '02 E150 last year (took about a minute and a half, during the dealer's half hour oil change).

So in today's mail, I got a notice saying that the harness was probably bad and would not protect the van. I called my service guy and he said that they would have any of the "new improved" harnesses for about a month, so I guess my van may yet experience *spontaneous combustion*.

The notice indicates something about the polarity being wrong....I was thinking that all this harness entailed was a positive and a negative wire, with a fuse on one of them....my guess is that they fused the negative or something(?) Someone at Ford should check their suppliers out a bit more carefully or something....

It's all pretty funny, really, and the new fix won't take more than another minute and a half. Hope the van doesn't burn down in the meantime (and yes, I know I can just disconnect the cruise and be worry-free, but we're going on a 600 mile road trip this weekend and I'm sure gonna be using the cruise).

George

 

I got a recall to fix something like that but lost it, can I just drop by a dealer and have it done?

I have an E350 . 1995.

 

So I think you could just go to the dealer and they could confirm via the VIN number--I suspect Ford has an internal recall database showing which cars and trucks got the bad harness the first time.

The issue with mine is that they won't have the parts for a month so I have to wait for that. Service guy said he'll call me.

George

 

You can actually just call the dealer and give them the vin over the phone and they can tell ya if you need it or not and set up an appointment time.

 

Thanks guys.

 

I took my van to the dealer for some other work (it's 1k from the expiration of the 60k Premium Care warranty) so I had them go over it and they found a seeping front crank seal and a seeping rear trans seal, so they're now replaced--never even left spots on the driveway, but now they never will), and they had already gotten in some of the new fused harnesses.

The original recall piece was about a foot long, sloppily wrapped in electrical tape, looking like it was made by a 12-year-old kid. The new one is about 6 inches long, has that corrougated plastic wire-wrap on it, and a little "Made in Mexico" label.

As with the first recall, I feel relief that my van won't spotaneously combust in the driveway. Cruise works just fine. Probably costs Ford about $2 to build the harness, and the warranty sheet says they allow .3 hours to install (in reality prolly less than 3 minutes).

George