EEC Relay Fusible link burned up 1988 F-150

[rep...@workshop.com]

1988 Ford F-150. Straight 6 cyl. 300 engine, manual tranny, with 4WD.

It was running fine. I parked it, got in it later and it ran for a
couple seconds and quit. I tried to start it again, and smoke came out
from under the hood. I opened the hood and found the fuseible link on
the red wire coming from the EEC relay was burned in half.

At first I suspected the fuel pumps. I hot wired them directly to the
battery and they both run.

There are two red wires after the fusible link that burned. One goes to
the fuel pump relay. That one is fine. The other one goes into the
wiring harness and from a few schematics I found online, it appears that
wire goes to the EEC module, all the fuel injectors, and several
solenoids. That wire has a dead short to ground (zero ohms using my
multimeter).

Could the EEC module have fried?

Or is it more likely one of those solenoids or an injector(s)?

Unfortunately, I'm not real versed on what all those solenoids look like
or their location. I've worked on cars for years, but most were the
older carburated ones. I'm not even sure where the wires enter to go to
the injectors.

Is there a common thing that may have shorted (location and appearance)?

Does anyone have a weblink for something that shows the names of these
parts and their location on a photo of the engine? I found schematics
but not an identify the part type of photo.

I unplugged every plug that has a red wire along the driver side of the
engine near the top (on intake manifold). I still had a dead short.

All help appreciated.

Thanks

This really has me puzzled.

(as long as that shorted wire is not connected, the fuel pumps do run,
but the engine wont start)

[Geoff Welsh]

rep...@workshop.com wrote:
> 1988 Ford F-150. Straight 6 cyl. 300 engine, manual tranny, with 4WD.
>
> It was running fine. I parked it, got in it later and it ran for a
> couple seconds and quit. I tried to start it again, and smoke came out
> from under the hood. I opened the hood and found the fuseible link on
> the red wire coming from the EEC relay was burned in half.
>
> At first I suspected the fuel pumps. I hot wired them directly to the
> battery and they both run.
>
> There are two red wires after the fusible link that burned. One goes to
> the fuel pump relay. That one is fine. The other one goes into the
> wiring harness and from a few schematics I found online, it appears that
> wire goes to the EEC module, all the fuel injectors, and several
> solenoids. That wire has a dead short to ground (zero ohms using my
> multimeter).
>
> Could the EEC module have fried?
>

> Or is it more likely one of those solenoids or an injector(s)?....

No. Zero ohms is going to be a wiring harness problem, IME. Start
pulling off the tape.
GW