Help identifying electrical component, and figuring out sputtering issue.

Hi everyone, got an 86 bronco 2 2.9. There is one electrical component located on the wiring harness drivers side where it runs between the engine and fender well. It has a green wire going to it on either end, and when the loom is on the harness it sticks out of it. I have never seen one like it and it has no part number that I can see. A link to a pic of the part https://postimg.org/image/3k6gi3utv/ , it has no continuity and it also does not give me any reading when I set my multimeter to diode mode.

As for the sputtering issue Heres some background:

Prior to my issues I have recently replaced:
-Main ground cable from battery to block, and I added one from the block to the frame as I didn’t see any hooked up.
-distributor, tfi module, cap, rotor, plugs, wires and ignition coil (separate issue that the dizzy took care of)
-fuel filters
-exhaust system
-some other stuff I can’t think of right now lol

She’s been running pretty bad recently when I take her out wheeling, last weekend after I’d been up there for a bit it started acting up. Couldn’t make it 50 yards before it’d start sputtering then clear and repeat till I could get on good ground to inspect. Quick inspection led me to find a loose terminal on the starter solenoid that fed power to lots of wires (and fusible links). Tightened it up and away I went, all was good for about an hour, until the truck sat and idled for a bit. As soon as I went to take off it happened again, and kept happening once a couple minutes at least until I could get to the service road and keep it cruising at a normal speed. On the way home it drove fine, until I’d get to a stoplight and have to sit for a bit-it was pretty inconsistent though some stoplights it would take off fine. Stopped off at a parts store to grab something real quick and it was okay until I was already in traffic (of course) and it really sputtered hard, and backfired (though it could have been a explosion in the exhaust from unburnt fuel).

So basically what I’m thinking is it starts loading up when it’s sitting for a bit and not getting any flow. Although the sputtering seems more like a bad electrical connection.

Well now it’s in the garage and after a good amount of research I’ve come up with a few solutions:
-bad ect sensor
-bad act sensor
-bad wiring/grounds
-semi clogged fuel injectors
-faulty map sensor

But I know those can’t be the fix all solutions.

According to various forums my ect sensor should read approx ~41k ohms at 65 degrees and 2.78k ohms at operating temp. I could not find a chart of values, but my ect and act both read 440k and 390k ohms at ambient air temp which over here right now is 50 degrees roughly. Sounds a bit off someone chime in with values if possible.

Next I pulled the egr valve to find it caked with carbon. With no vacuum applied it leaks through which would cause a pretty severe vacuum leak. The hose that goes to the dpfe sensor also is brittle and loose, I figure I will just make a block off plate to rule out all of the egr nonsense for now-who knows if all the sensors are corresponding like they should. If it pings too much (or 92 octane wont cure it) I’ll fix the egr system, but it shouldn’t make it sputter I assume.

Next I inspected the wiring. This is where it gets really ugly. Most all of the plugs on either fender well are caked with what appears to be old dielectric grease that looks almost corrosive now. Among this there are a few wires which have lost their rubber shielding near the connector. I haven’t even check to make sure the pins are tight in their slots-yikes. I checked to ensure all fusible links have continuity, which they do. I’m going to clean all the connections and bare wires as they are horrendous-I’m surprised the thing ran after looking at these, don’t want to say it but this is almost worse than Chrysler electronics hahaha. Grounds appear to be okay, one on the back of the head is clean and tight, as is the one on the intake manifold. One ground needs attention so I will take care of that (body to exhaust manifold pass side). Ground by ecu is good.

I also tested the tps sensor and it seems to check out good, 0.9v and smoothly raises to about 4.8v at WOT. As far as the map goes I am unsure of how to test it, apparently you need a multimeter that does hertz, I’ll check if my strap-on meter has that mode at work tomorrow. Injectors could very well be an issue, but I want to fix the things I have found first before diving into that. Well that about does it for this essay let me know what you guys think, thanks.

-Christian




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It’s a 22k ohm resistor that runs from the ignition coil to the ignition module, providing engine speed information to the ECU.

Thank you, wasn’t on the right ohm setting then I guess lol, it has 20k ohms so I’d say its close enough and feeding the ecu info it needs.

I guess I’m onto cleaning up this wiring harness and go from there.

Can anyone verify the clt and act sensor values?

Also, would it be okay to get rid of all the fusible links and get a fuse block and just use regular fuses instead of those links? They work, I know, but I just like fuses better lol. If so, how could I go about getting the amp rating? I haven’t looked to hard yet but all I see is fusible link on it, no amp rating.


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cp2295 said:

Also, would it be okay to get rid of all the fusible links and get a fuse block and just use regular fuses instead of those links? They work, I know, but I just like fuses better lol. If so, how could I go about getting the amp rating? I haven’t looked to hard yet but all I see is fusible link on it, no amp rating.

Click to expand...

Fusible links do not have an amp rating like a fuse, and behave slightly differently than fuses in how they blow. There is not a true 1:1 correspondence with fuse current ratings, but effective replacement is entirely possible.

On my '88 Ranger with crumbling wiring, I decided that non-replaceable fusible links was a poor idea after a worn power wire shorted to the block and blew a link. I went to the local pull-a-part and bought the underhood fuse/relay box and 18" of attached harness wiring from a '96 or '97 Ranger.

After moving the battery aside to the edge of the tray, and moving the airbox back a couple inches, there was just enough room to mount the new fusebox above the starter solenoid. (P.S. If you do this, relocate the solenoid; learn from my mistake.)

I wired all the systems through the main fuse on the side of the fusebox, and split them out with the maxi fuses inside, with the exception of the power door lock circuit and electronic shift circuits, which my truck did not use. While I was in there, I decided to ease the load on the in-cab headlight switch and multi-function switch, and routed the headlight power through relays in the same new enclosure.

I spliced all the wires with soldered joints and sealed them with heat-shrink tubing. I had not yet discovered glue-lined heat-shrink, and would recommend using it now.

Here are the diagrams of what I ended up with. I covered the original diagrams in the Helm EVTM with post-it notes and drew new diagrams over the top. The first picture is the notes of the complete wiring for the new fuse/relay box, some of which was unused.

I originally intended to also install a modification to make the marker lights blink with my turn signals for greater visibility, but never completed that.

Unfortunately, that truck was totaled in an accident about 8 months ago, so I cannot provide any additional pictures. My fusebox modification performed flawlessly for 5 years before that occurred.

Spott said:

Fusible links do not have an amp rating like a fuse, and behave slightly differently than fuses in how they blow. There is not a true 1:1 correspondence with fuse current ratings, but effective replacement is entirely possible.

On my '88 Ranger with crumbling wiring, I decided that non-replaceable fusible links was a poor idea after a worn power wire shorted to the block and blew a link. I went to the local pull-a-part and bought the underhood fuse/relay box and 18" of attached harness wiring from a '96 or '97 Ranger.

After moving the battery aside to the edge of the tray, and moving the airbox back a couple inches, there was just enough room to mount the new fusebox above the starter solenoid. (P.S. If you do this, relocate the solenoid; learn from my mistake.)

I wired all the systems through the main fuse on the side of the fusebox, and split them out with the maxi fuses inside, with the exception of the power door lock circuit and electronic shift circuits, which my truck did not use. While I was in there, I decided to ease the load on the in-cab headlight switch and multi-function switch, and routed the headlight power through relays in the same new enclosure.

I spliced all the wires with soldered joints and sealed them with heat-shrink tubing. I had not yet discovered glue-lined heat-shrink, and would recommend using it now.

Here are the diagrams of what I ended up with. I covered the original diagrams in the Helm EVTM with post-it notes and drew new diagrams over the top. The first picture is the notes of the complete wiring for the new fuse/relay box, some of which was unused.

I originally intended to also install a modification to make the marker lights blink with my turn signals for greater visibility, but never completed that.

Unfortunately, that truck was totaled in an accident about 8 months ago, so I cannot provide any additional pictures. My fusebox modification performed flawlessly for 5 years before that occurred.

Click to expand...

Wow great stuff man, I will head that route once I figure out this sputtering issue as my links still have continuity but this is a definite upgrade imo, thanks a bunch!


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Well I cleaned all the connections, changed the ignition and fuel pump relays and harnesses, changed the act and ect sensors and blocked off the egr valve. The rig runs better/smoother most of the time but occasionally it’ll still sputter, and will do it almost consistently under hard acceleration. I’m thinking about just not wasting my time on this tired 2.9, thing smokes like a 2 stroke. Thinking about just swapping a 4.0 in it and snag the power distribution box/wire harness/ecu out of a junkyard rig and go from there. More power, more reliable wiring, and more than likely a much less tired motor.

I’ll just need to source an m5r1... this fm145 is gonna blow up on me any day now lol


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