Now you tell me.
What I did, was melt some solder on the 3 spade pins coming out of the
voltage regulator.  Not a lot of solder, but enough to give the pins
*body mass.*  Then I put on the female plug, which wouldn't fit on all
the way.

So like I said I was going to do, I got a screwdriver and a
sledgehammer.  No joke.  I put the handle of the screwdriver over the
connector, and whacked the blade of the screwdriver with the sledge to
*set* the connector.

Voila.  You can't move that thing if your life depends on it ;-\  It
is fully seated, and is held in place with solder that extruded in and
around the female metal contacts in the plug.

I started the engine, and yanked and pulled and pushed on the
connectors and wires all which ways, and it isn't moving, and my
voltage is rock steady from the alternator.  NOW I trust it to give to
the wife.  Before this moment of truce, no.  Now, yes, I deem the
vehicle fit for road service.

I still get back to the same conclusion.  sh.t parts.  What other
explanation is there?  Ford is trying to save 3 pennies on one of the
most important connectors under the hood?  If they are cheaping out
the vehicle there, what else don't I know about yet?

I will look for this DeoxIT next time I visit radio trash, but my
experience with *contact cleaners* is they are short lived, especially
in harsh environmental conditions.  I think this metal extrusion
process helped along by a sledge hammer is probably going to last for
the long haul.

Lg

Which means, essentially, my wiring diagrams are worse than useless.
As I have found out from first hand experience.

As a side note:
There are sensitive microelectronic components in a modern vehicle
which will not take *kindly* to a superimposed radio frequency tracing
signal.  In retrospect, using an RF fox/hound to trace wiring under
the hood of a modern car is a recipe for disaster.

I did some experiments, but the net conclusion I have to come to is
that RF will kill your engine computer components in a heartbeat.  But
I used to have a low voltage LOGIC PROBE, which consisted of a low
voltage signal injector and detector.  This is what I need to use, but
then you have to go point to point on every freaking connection, and
if there is a short, you don't get any signal at all.

Take an example.  I put a low voltage *pulse* ( call it a square wave
) on a wire.  I can't pick it up anywhere.  Is it because the logic
circuits won't let it through or is it because there is a short
somewhere.   Nobody knows.  Ergo, useless idea.

Logic probe, no good.
RF signal tracer, no good.
Final solution, bang your head against the wall and use a DVM.
Outside of special expensive test equipment available only to Dealers
( because of the cost if not the proprietary nature of the things ),
there is little left for the folks at Larry's Car Barn to use for
diagnosing electrical problems.

Lacking the *proper* expensive test equipment, and a set of accurate
wiring diagrams for _my_ vehicle, it is something that is turning my
hair gray.  Too many computers under the hood, programming that I know
nothing about...I am left at the *sensor level* and once a wire enters
a wiring harness to join up with 600 more wires that look just the
same, it's gone.  Lost in the crowd.

There is nothing about a *modern* vehicle that is simple.  Nothing at
all.  Which is why I have taken an interest in the subject.  Math used
to amuse me, but for lack of practical applications, I lost interest.
At least vehicle repair and maintenance has some social and moral
redeeming vale.

Lg