Contents: Conductive mass - metal parts ↳ Systematic ordering - wires and… ↳ Interesting - Commonly encountered… ↳
Most current consumers in the Mondeo operate with double terminals. However, to the battery or to the generator, you can often find only one wire. The other ends SOMEWHERE "along the road" at the contact with the body ground, the engine, on the gearbox or, in most cases, on the other "tongue" of the connector. For amateurs, "currents" have a mysterious effect - they often "run" in a strange way.
Conductive mass - metal parts
Ford engineers used the following physical principle for the on-board electrical equipment of the Mondeo for their purposes: metals, which auto electricians call mass, conduct electric current. Based on this fact, Ford saves a lot - and quite legitimately - on long wires to consumers of voltage from the negative pole of the battery: in the Mondeo, as in all cars, this work is simply done by the body. Thus, if the consumer does not function, the reason for this often lies not in the supply wire, but in poor contact with the mass. The contact to the mass, however, chooses strange detours in order to ultimately reach the goal. The on-board electrics then become completely disordered: for example, it can lead to the fact that the turn signals and rear lights will "tactfully" smolder. And in the future, for amateurs, the "currents" will run in a strange way.
Systematic ordering - wires and terminals
Thanks to rational design, the Mondeo's wiring harnesses, laid out in series, would be about 12 km long. The apparent motley chaos is in fact well structured - the colors of the wires indicate the way. In addition, most of the terminals of the multi-pin connectors and relays are numbered. When choosing the wire colors as "Ford standards", generally accepted requirements were taken into account.
Interesting - Commonly encountered wire and terminal designations
Terminal 15: electric current is supplied only when the ignition is on from the ignition switch, and in addition to the ignition, current is supplied to those consumers of electrical energy to which current should be supplied only when the car is in operation. In most cases, a black sheath is applied to the wires going to terminals 15, sometimes even with additional colored stripes.
Terminal 30 receives current continuously from the positive terminal of the battery or generator when the engine is running. Careless handling of tools can cause a short circuit or a shower of sparks if the negative terminal of the battery has not been disconnected beforehand. These wires, which are always under voltage, have a red sheath in the Mondeo and are also "decorated" with additional colored stripes.
Terminal 49 is responsible for supplying current to the direction indicators and the hazard warning light system.
Terminal 53 supplies current to the windshield wiper. Its wires have a predominantly green sheath with additional colored (e.g. yellow) stripes.
Terminal 56: with yellow and black colors provides current to the low beam headlights through yellow and with white and black colors to the high beam headlights.
Terminal 58: supplies power to the parking lights (front), as well as to the rear lights and license plate lights. The main color of the wire sheath is gray, respectively with additional color stripes.
Terminal 31: a terminal for connection to the vehicle body (ground), by means of which the consumer of electrical energy must be connected to the vehicle ground. In the on-board electrical system, the corresponding ground wires usually have a brown sheath.