I've got a 2008 Ranger Sport, 4L with extended cab. It has 230,000 kilometers on it.

I've been having trouble with the power windows not working and discovered some broken wires in the harness, right inside the rubber boot between the cab and the door. I guess all that pivoting open/close over the years has worn out the wires. One wire is snapped in half (for raising the window) and many others have open cracks. I checked both doors and conditions are the same.

I couldn't find a replacement wiring harness online, which seems odd. Is the only option to repair?

If so, I'm guessing disconnecting the harness behind the kick panel, and then removing the door entirely would make the process a fair bit easier on account of better access to the wiring, what do you think? Is removing the door a pain?

 

Hi first off let me say I am sorry, I somehow missed helping you with your questions.

I did see your post, yet I did not have time to read it or help with it until now due to my many subscribed threads on multiple forums.

If you are willing to pay up the likely expensive amount of money Ford will charge, you should be able to source a replacement harness from Ford.

I say this because your truck is still new enough where Ford normally offers replacement parts for it.

I think after ten years they are no longer required to supply parts for it.

I do not know how much of the harness you would need to buy to get the sections you need.

I have repaired a few vehicles with the same problem you are having, and as you can see it will not be fun.

If the rubber boot is worn or damaged you will want to find a replacement somehow. this boot may or may not come with a replacement harness.

A replacement harness will be a much better option than trying to repair it.

If you try and repair the harness it should be removed from the truck and stretched out and pinned to a board.

Once you have it pinned in place trace the harness with a sharpie on to the board. and take pictures of what the harness section looks like before any repairs have been made.

Then strip back any wire looms and electrical tape section by section until the entire harness is exposed.

While stripping the harness try and keep the harness stretched and pinned to the board.

Eventually you will have the stripped harness with multiple connections laid out in such a way that you should be able to identify any factory splices if there are any.

I like to make my splices whenever possible at a factory splice.

Or even better take the wire out of the circuit and replace the entire wire from connector to connector.

Replacing the entire wire will require much more work than you may be willing or have time to do.

The replacement wire sections need to be of the same gauge and thickness wire and if your willing the same color would also be recommended.

You probably will not find the same color wire with color coded strips to match.

Make sure write down what changes to made to the harness and attach the changes to your owner manual.

Example

Speaker wire circuit drivers door orange with blue strip now replaced in Drivers door and kick panel with a Orange wire.

If you refer to the Ford Wiring diagram you could include where this new wire is installed meaning include connection numbers or factory splice locations etc.

This will prove very important if you have any troubleshooting to do after the repairs or a later date.

The last thing you want to do is change any part of the harness into the same color.

Your splices need to be soldered with heat shrink tubing to protect the splices.

Each splice should be staggered to avoid making any one part of the harness too bulky and no splices should be done inside the rubber boot.

The main thing you want to accomplish is to replace or splice any wire that looks or feels even questionable.

You may get lucky and only have to do a few wires per door.

The less wires you have to mess with the better your chances of keeping the harness from getting deformed.

A deformed harness may not go back in properly and makes the risk of chafing pinching and failure a real possibility.

Your repaired harness with new electrical tape and the old wire loom back in place should match your pictures exactly.


You can remove the door but I wouldn't think it would be necessary, it is not worth the risk of damaging the paint or having to deal with the alignment afterwords.

 

Finished the repair last night. It was quite a bit more simple than I expected. I did not need to remove the door or the door panels.

I disconnected the harness behind the kick panel, next to the fuse panel. It was very easy to fish the harness out of the cab at that point.

I pulled the rubber accordion boot out of the door and out of the way and discovered I had six wires that needed repair. I was happy to discover there was a few inches of slack wire inside the door, so I could pull the harness out of the door far enough to access the damaged wiring.

One wire was completely severed (raising the window) and five had cracked insulation. I cut out the cracked areas, soldered new wire into place and covered with heat shrink. Assembled in reverse. Now my window is back to normal. Thanks!

 

I am glad you had the extra slack in the door harness to repair it in place.