Dealer temporary inventory alarm is T-tapped into my truck's wiring harness? WTF?

Droid · Nov 19, 2019

So my dealer adds a temporary alarm to all vehicles it sells. I was informed that it just plugs in and there are no cut wires whatsoever and it can be completely removed without any adverse effect. I asked very specifically about this.

Turns out not to be true. They tapped into the wiring harness with several T-taps. Concerned this will certainly eventually fail in a Raptor when used as intended. Removing it won't solve the problem, the wires have been cut into by the T-taps and may be compromised.

Similar device caused my 2011 to no-start. That was a different dealer, who never even told me it was left in there.

There's a part of me that thinks the only way to properly fix this is to replace the whole !@#!@ harness.

COBRA90GT · Nov 19, 2019

Well that certainly sucks. Utilizing these types of connections (t-tap/vampire/scotchlock) on critical circuitry (read: ECM / fueling, etc) should be against the law. LOL

Do you know if these dealers were doing this for GPS/repo-tracking purposes under the guise of an "alarm" system?

If you are a lottery winner (LOL), replacing the entire harness would be ideal in a perfect world. HOWEVER, repairing the damaged section of wiring via quality soldering with heat shrink / wrap should suffice.

My .02

smurfslayer · Nov 19, 2019

t-taps and similar pinch connectors on 12, 14, maybe 16 gauge multi-strand wiring can easily be done by even non skilled humans. 18 or smaller gauge wire makes things really easy to compromise the strands and dramatically increase resistance which could possibly lead to a raft of unpredictable faults.

I’d be concerned about that picture too.

Droid · Nov 20, 2019

Thanks for info both of you. Ugh. Horrified. Who would do this to an innocent Raptor?

Think all the tapping is into this (far from 100% certain on that though): https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-wire-harness-kl3z14401at/?c=YT1mb3Jk

Guessing the expensive bit of that is probably complete dash removal, which I assume is required.

1BAD454SSv2 · Nov 20, 2019

That is a bunch of crap i found similar in one of my trucks , 2006 srt10 ,i cut the wires respliced with solder and heat shrink tubing . a good solder splice is as good a a uncut wire.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Soldering-Tutorial-Inline-Splicing/

A good stereo shop may be able to help you or take back to dealer and have them fix it correctly.

smurfslayer · Nov 20, 2019

Droid said:
Thanks for info both of you. Ugh. Horrified. Who would do this to an innocent Raptor?

Think all the tapping is into this (far from 100% certain on that though): https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-wire-harness-kl3z14401at/?c=YT1mb3Jk

Guessing the expensive bit of that is probably complete dash removal, which I assume is required.

#Notyourproblem
#Yourstealershipsproblem

“Dear Ford customer service,
Upon a post sale inspection of my new F150 Raptor, I discovered that elements of my wiring harness under the dash had been tampered with, noting several “T” type wire splices. This vehicle appears to not conform to “new” standards and I paid for a new vehicle. Nothing in any of my paperwork indicates modifications from stock. I would like these defects corrected immediately”

I expect that wouldn’t be the end of the discussion but I expect the stealership will eventually relent and replace the affected harness(es).

EricM · Nov 20, 2019

That wiring will get the green death and be an issue at some point. Morons.

Probably need to yank the dash to replace the whole harness. I'd ask for the wires that were tapped to be properly replaced individually all the way from one connector to the other. You can remove a wire from a connector and replace it.

WraptorBoy · Nov 20, 2019

Droid said:
So my dealer adds a temporary alarm to all vehicles it sells. I was informed that it just plugs in and there are no cut wires whatsoever and it can be completely removed without any adverse effect. I asked very specifically about this.

Turns out not to be true. They tapped into the wiring harness with several T-taps. Concerned this will certainly eventually fail in a Raptor when used as intended. Removing it won't solve the problem, the wires have been cut into by the T-taps and may be compromised.

Similar device caused my 2011 to no-start. That was a different dealer, who never even told me it was left in there.

There's a part of me that thinks the only way to properly fix this is to replace the whole !@#!@ harness.

View attachment 132769

Yup. You should definitely call Ford directly and let them know this dealer is doing this and then have Ford verify you get this hacked wiring harness replaced with a new one, if you trust the dealer to not wreck the truck while doing it.

Cutting into something as critical as a wiring harness is absolutely unacceptable. And you'd be held fully responsible and warranty denied if YOU did this and the dealer discovered it.

A dealer doing this is as arrogant as when they put their badges on the rear of the vehicle for free advertising.

Knobbie · Nov 20, 2019

I'd be more concerned about the dealership removing and replacing the dash if you go for a whole new harness, as long as the existing harness could be returned to a dependable state as a previous poster suggested. JMO

goblues38 · Nov 20, 2019

seriously...you are way over thinking this.

It is fine. It wont "fail".

Remove the clips, you will never know it was ever there.

Dealer temporary inventory alarm is T-tapped into my truck's wiring harness? WTF?

Droid

kglesq's Brother

COBRA90GT

Full Access Member

smurfslayer

Be vewwy, vewwy quiet. We’re hunting sasquatch77

Droid

kglesq's Brother

1BAD454SSv2

FRF Addict

smurfslayer

Be vewwy, vewwy quiet. We’re hunting sasquatch77

EricM

FRF Addict

WraptorBoy

Active Member

Knobbie

Member

goblues38

FRF Addict

Similar threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Latest posts