1993 Ford Escort Electrical system Problems

“1993 Ford Escort station wagon. Sharp metal edge at wiring harness entrance to station wagon hatch, caused abrasion of wiring leading to short circuit and vehicle fire.”

“The battery cable broke off and the consumer was unable to start the vehicle unless she taped the cable in place. The vehicle was taken to Ford and the consumer was told that the part was no longer available. The consumer was driving the vehicle when the engine shut off. There was a special grounding wire from the computer to the cable post wire. The consumer was concerned with the fact that the grounding wire was not connected to the frame instead of the battery and suggested that without this bracket harness wire, the vehicle would not start.”

“1993 Ford Escort wagon - rear window defrost - electrical wiring shorted at hatchback door. Wire harness was cracked at bend point for rear door to open. All most all wires going to hatchback door had been exposed down to the core wire! When rear defrost was turned on a smell of burnt plastic was detected, then smoke was seen coming from driver side dash. Defrost at hatchback door had shorted with tail light wiring, melting wiring back into fuse box. Fire was prevented by shutting off defrost. But rear brake and tail lights did not work.”

“I was driving when my car suddenly accelerated. I was able to regain control without an accident. This happened several times on my way home. The next day when I attempted to take the car for inspection it was dead. The repair shop advised me that the problem was that the heater core was leaking and since the heater core was located over the ecu it caused it to malfunction.”

“The fuse for room burnt up repeatedly (and when it did, the radio stopped working.) my son found that smoke came out of the ignition lock bar when I put in a new fuse for room two days ago. My guess is that the ignition lock bar has a design defect; that smoke has always been the reason why the room fuse had never lasted very long. This remind me of another problem that came up two years ago, when white smoke came out from under the steering wheel after the car stay under the sun for hours. …”