Can this be right? Wiring harness is obsolete part and unavailable?

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Rich Stern

Rich Stern

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Last week, I posted about my damaged engine control wiring harness. I attempted to repair it myself. Didn't work out. Figured I would suck it up and just order the new one, rather than try to redo the repair.



Called my local Ford dealer. Gave them the VIN. Was told the part is "obsolete" and not available anywhere within Ford's dealer network. My ST is 2001 Gen 2.



Obsolete part not to be found anywhere within Ford's network? On a 10 year old vehicle? Isn't this why I bought an American brand? To avoid being told parts are impossible to get?



Argh!
 
Sad but true..... MANY Dealers are actually selling off their older inventory and older numbers....



Gonna be tough to get parts for the ST real soon.... Many interior and trim parts are obsolete too !!!!!



Todd Z
 
Guess you've checked with Voyles ....... he still there? Bought a Bronco II clip there many years ago. Is your Trac drivable?



This is the harness that controls the transmission?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Rich,

There are a number of aftermarket companies that make OEM style wiring harnesses (can't think of the names right now)but I know one is called "Pain-less Wiring". They always advertise on shows like "My Classic Car", "Gears", "HorsePower TV" etc. They claim that they can make any factory or custom wiring harness. Worth a try, but I'm sure it's not cheap.



Back in 1977, I bought an old 1967 Chevy Van and the previous owner really hacked up the wiring. GM Wanted $475 for the main harness which included the Fuse panel. I just made a new wiring harness and fuse panel myself for about $50.



...Rich
 
Sad but true..... MANY Dealers are actually selling off their older inventory and older numbers....
Click to expand...



This is happening in more than just the auto industry. I have a barely four-year old HP Touchsmart computer for which I also purchased an extended warranty that's supposed to be still in effect. The DVD drive has been acting up, so I called to have it fixed. Was told that my model of computer is obsolete, and that HP no longer provides support for it. I thought that if I still had an active extended warranty, that I could still get parts/service for this computer. Sadly, that's not the case.:angry: Their solution was to send me an external USB DVD drive.:banghead:



Next day I opened up the case, got the model number off the DVD drive, and in five minutes found it for sale from tons of vendors on Google for about $28:eek:nline:, yet HP no longer provides support for the computer?



:angry::banghead::soap::fire:
 
That sucks, now I'll have to be more cautious with my ST.



Though, why would you buy an extended warranty on a computer?! By the time it'd kick in, the computer is ancient, and it isn't as though the warranty gives you an upgrade every X years. In HP's defense, not that I really wish to defend them as their consumer-level products are of the lowest quality possible (DeskJets are abhorrent), a 4 year old optical drive in a 4 year old HP pc probably is obsolete.



28 bucks had to be less than the extended warranty.



Is it even a SATA drive?
 
Though, why would you buy an extended warranty on a computer?! By the time it'd kick in, the computer is ancient, and it isn't as though the warranty gives you an upgrade every X years. In HP's defense, not that I really wish to defend them as their consumer-level products are of the lowest quality possible (DeskJets are abhorrent), a 4 year old optical drive in a 4 year old HP pc probably is obsolete.



28 bucks had to be less than the extended warranty.



Is it even a SATA drive?
Click to expand...



To answer your first question: The computer is a HP Touchsmart. We bought it for our disabled son, who has severe fine motor skill delays. He's unable to manipulate a mouse very well, but HP's Touchsmart touch-screen computers have enabled him to be almost completely independent on the computer. The extended warranty kicked in after the standard one-year manufacturer warranty. It paid for itself (in my opinion) when the wireless network capability (which was built into the motherboard rather than being a separate card:banghead:) failed after about a year and a half and we sent it in to HP to have the motherboard replaced for free.



As for the overall quality of this HP product, I'd say it's been pretty good, especially given the purpose for which we bought this machine. My son can be a little rough with it at times, and it's held up pretty well. That's probably why the DVD drive is failing now after four years, because he's not the most gentle young fellow when inserting/removing discs. Other than that and the wireless issue, it's been a great computer, and wouldn't hesitate to buy another one. In fact, we're looking to buy a laptop version of the HP Touchsmart probably in the next year or so.



I just recently upgraded from 2GB to 4GB of RAM, and the performance improvement has been quite noticeable. Once I upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, that should give us a few more good years of life for this machine.
 
Update: Torrie at FordPartsFast.com saves the day. Should have the cable in my hands next week.



My thanks to the guys who put this site together and keep it running...very helpful!!!



:)
 
My thanks to the guys who put this site together and keep it running...very helpful!!!



:)
Click to expand...



:bwahaha::bwahaha::bwahaha::bwahaha::rofl::rofl::bwahaha:
 

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