Transmission Destroyed By Python 871xp

Congrats on your hard work -- looks like you'll have the last laugh now, and that must be very gratifying after dealing with the incompetant morons at this particular Circuit City.  I hope your website gets as MUCH publicity as possible and forces CC to reevaluate their automotive staff/installers.

Best of luck on the details of the final resolution, thanks for the updates.

The ending isn’t written yet. And as I mentioned on an earlier post, the comments on this forum are being watched by some people at Circuit City. Of course they aren’t paying attention to try to resolve the problem but using the information to plan their strategies and to try to cover their butts. These turkeys have dug in, which is all the better for a turkey shoot!

FYI: I’m not suggesting any particular information-monger(s); I have a pretty good idea who isn’t passing along information. But in all fairness I’m only commenting on what I can as I can to all who have been following this little drama . . . don’t choke on popcorn as the suspense builds.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, USA! (“Oh, Canada,” a belated happy birthday to you too, eh.)

I can stand keeping you in suspense, but I can’t stand the feeling that I may be withholding information that could prevent a potential problem for other installers. So, even though this is likely to cost me money (i.e., I’m providing too much information to Circuit City which helps them prepare their defense), following is the apparent source of the problem.

The Ford E-series vans have more than one WHITE/ pink wire in the wire bundle. I’m not sure how common this is, but mine is a 2000 Ford E150 and I’ve read about a similar situation on a 2006 Ford E350 (I’ve posted a ‘warning’ directly on the other thread.). The Circuit City installer used a WHITE/ pink wire that does NOT show increased voltage with increasing engine RPM. The independent “expert installer” reconnected my alarm/remote-start system to the WHITE/ pink wire that does show increased voltage with increasing RPM. The moral of the story: there may be more than one WHITE/ pink wire on some Ford vehicles, so check your voltages properly. I won’t elaborate on how this caused a malfunction in the vehicle’s PCM that produced the severe transmission damage. I have already given up too much information to help Circuit City prepare their counter arguments, so I have to save some twists and turns for the court date. But be very careful when hooking up a remote starter on the E-series Fords and do check for the proper voltage changes when identifying the correct tach line.

(OK, I feel better now even if this does cost me money.)

Perhaps Circuit City should sue DEI for providing inadequate wiring information (but then the installer should have checked for proper voltage changes)? Perhaps DEI should sue Ford for duplicate color coding of different wires (but then Ford doesn’t produce their vehicles with aftermarket product installation in mind)? I don’t know. What I do know is that I didn’t do this and I’m the one left out in the cold with the $3,000 transmission repair bill.

^^^ If that is the case, DEI is in no way at fault, that is 100% installer error.  It is up to the installer to verify all wiring before making any connections, as it is very common to have multiple wires of the same color in the same vehicle.

Now I would be very interested to know what this 'wrong' wire went to, and how it could cause damage (as we've discussed it is most likely a high impedence input). 

How's the van running now?  Everything back to 'normal'?

I agree Kpierson.  I'm wondering how this caused damage.  The remote start probably would of kept on cranking if you have the wrong tach.  The tach wire on the r/s is an input.  Still curious to learn how it actually damaged it other then someone posting that maybe the tach wire was pinched and hitting ground somehow, therefore feeding ground to the tach wire.  Again, im not saying that I dont think it damaged it but would like to learn how it did.