vintagegarage

I just finished installing the Kurt wiring kit in my 2013 Transit Connect.. It is clearly not plug and play. I have no large grommet in the right turn signal, and if there is one in the left, it is unusable.. if it is there, I can't reach it, and would never be able to get it back in place. I never could find it anyway. I did the install using the tips in Shrott's post in this topic. Just change every right side reference in Shrott's method to the left side, and vice versa. The green wire is clearly marked as the right turn signal and it is. Likewise, the Kurt electronic module goes into the left rear taillight, not the right side. It just lays in the bottom of the rear taillight body cavity and it is not in the way when you put the taillight assembly back into place. I ran the power wire up the left frame rail. I also put black corrugated plastic tube around all the wires, so that it would look like a factory installation and match the rest of the wiring on the vehicle. I would give the Kurt kit a one star rating out of five.. the wires in the kit are the same quality that have been used on trailer wiring for 50 years.. the kind that gets brittle in about 8-10 years. They should be using more modern insulation on the wires by now, similar to modern automotive quality.. Installation of the wiring kit took me four hours, working by myself. Bottom line is that kit does work, but you have to cut all the Kurt wires and then re-join them, as the chassis holes you end up using are too small to fit the plug ends through. On the plus side, at least you don't have to cut into or splice into any of the vehicle factory wiring. I also don't think there is a better option than using the Kurt kit. I would have given the kit a four star rating, if the sales pitch on the package had been accurate.. loosing one star for the wire insulation quality. If you Google or Bing the Kurt wiring kit, you get hundreds of matches, most of them repeating the same marketing pitch that the kit is plug and play and quick to install and so on. Same for the reviews. All the ones that quickly come up say how great the kit is.. In my mind, that means shills have been writing the reviews.. Even if your Transit Connect has both large grommets in the tail light body cavities, you can't install the kit neatly in the advertised time.

I got the modified wiring harness figured out.. see: http://fordtransitconnectforum.com/index.php?/topic/1885-need-help-with-modified-wiring-option/

Found the ends of the two pass through wires under the hood.. taped to the wiring harness, pretty much as described in the documentation.. once I found the five wires behind the dashboard in the ODB harness, it became easier to find the two ends under the hood.. see photos.. the pencil is pointing to the two pass through wires taped on top of the harness. I was looking for wire colors, but as you can see, neither of the wires are exposed.. they are hidden under the tape.

I had my Ford sales rep research this, and he came back with the same info.. i.e. taped to the harness to the headlight switch. Since I had already looked there, I poked around some more in that area and finally found the wires. Unlike the harness to the headlight switch, the harness that goes to the OBD reader plug doesn't have a corrugated plastic tube around it. Rather, the harness that runs to the OBD reader is wrapped with that same shiny black thin electrical tape that is used all over the place. When I unwrapped the electrical tape holding the wires to the OBD plug in a bundle, I found the blunt cut wires for the modified wiring option inside that wrapping. Now that I know better what to look for, I will look again under the hood. I expect now that the under-the-hood two pass through wires ends will also be in one of the bundles near the fuse/relay box in the engine bay, rather than taped to the harness.

All I know about it is what I read in the sales brochure: Modified Vehicle Wiring includes 2 engine compartment blunt-cut wires, B+ wire, ignition/run wire, interior lamps wire and 2 instrument panel blunt-cut wires I think this means that the new three fused circuits are meant to be used by a user application that needs a hot wire, or a wire that is on when the ignition is on, or one when the interior lamps are on. The other two wires are not fused, and they simply provide a way to connect a user switch inside the vehicle to some sort of accessory under the hood. For example, if you wanted to run a 12V refrigeration unit in the back and you wanted a circuit for it, you could use the new B+ circuit and chassis ground. If you wanted to run a TV set in the back, you might want to use one of the circuits.. same if you were putting a wheelchair lift on the back. The implication is that the two unfused blunt cut wires behind the instrument panel would be connected to user switches to control something under the hood, or up front, perhaps like a hidden radar detector, using the corresponding blunt cut pass through wires that are under the hood.

103west43rd.. your prompt reply is much appreciated. I looked around the BJB and you are right.. it is tough to see under there, so I decided instead to look around the lighting switch for the other ends, figuring once I saw how they were taped, I could get a better feeling for what might be under the BJB. The lighting switch came out easily just as you say, but I couldn't find any blunt cut wires taped to anything. At that end, I'm expecting to find a bundle of 5 blunt cut wires taped off. At the BJB end, just two. I did look at the fuse box below the light switch, and see that the vehicle came with fuses installed in positions 155, 144, and 149, so that is maybe a hopeful sign. I guess I still need help.

I just bought a 2013 Transit Connect and it came with the modified wiring option. Unfortunately, I can't find anything in the owners manual or online that explains where to find the end of the wires for the option. The best clue I can find is on page 11 in the Body Builders Layout Book, see: https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/2013/2013_Transit_Connect_v1-0.pdf If I read that diagram correctly, the under the hood pass through wires are taped to the wiring harness near s113. My guess is S113 is switch 113. Also, the other end of the pass through wires plus the three fused wires are in the interior of the vehicle taped to the harness near C205. My guess is that C205, is connector 205. The problem is I can't find anything that says where S113 and C205 are located on the vehicle. Does anyone on the forum have a factory wiring manual for a 2013 Transit Connect, (or just as good, I bet, would be a 2012 wiring manual) and can look up the names and locations of S113 and C205 and post what they are?.. any help would be much appreciated.

I'm also looking for help with the modified wiring harness option on my 2013 Transit Connect. I have the option, but I can't find any details about it.. where are the wire ends and where do the wires run? Can't find anything with google or bing.. can't find anything about it in the index to the owners manual either.