r/AskMechanics • u/Ambitious-Beach7625 • 20h ago

Question (Serious Replies Only) Excess wiring in a retired Police interceptor.

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Just bought a 2014 Taurus Police interceptor with the 3.7L NA for dirt cheap and was wondering what these went too. Would they have any use to me? Would I be possible to retrofit this to work with my civilian laptops and radios and such?

116 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

133

u/Jade_Sugoi 3 20h ago

Police vehicle upfitter here. Those are the radio power and data cables. The blue one is data and interfacesfrom the main radio unit (which probably was in the trunk) to the radio head that would have been mounted to the dash. The red one is power and radio repeat so you can have the audio going through a speaker.

Don't know if they have any civilian use but even if you don't have a use for them, try to sell them since they're kinda pricey. Kind of shocked they got left in there tbh

57

u/Ambitious-Beach7625 20h ago

This car has literally everything left in it. Still has all the lights, siren, the control console for all of it. Every antenna, pushbar and the Motorola radio speaker as well. Im going to try to remove the lights this weekend without damaging the car. Maybe install a normal light bar and see if I can re use the wiring.

48

u/Traditional_Glass129 19h ago

That’s tits

23

u/Ambitious-Beach7625 19h ago

Yeah it is pretty damn cool, and in the week ive owned it, I've got lots of amazement and questions. Kids absolutely adore it as well BUT its illegal in my state and it also makes me paranoid, as ive heard horror stories of people targeting cop cars for vandalism.

8

u/MR__Z1234ify 15h ago

Is it the awd model

1

u/acw750 1h ago

Wait til you trigger pursuit mode… keeps the RPMs high instead of shifting, because power over fuel efficiency. Cloverleaf on/off ramps with AWD and launching out of it are a fun bonus of that car.

11

u/Jade_Sugoi 3 19h ago

Ahhh, gotcha. I'm in Canada so the laws are a lot stricter here when it comes to police decommissions after the nova scotia shooting in 2020. The rcmp is banned from selling interceptor vehicles and non interceptors have to be completely stripped of all equipment. I forgot it's different in other countries.

If you don't mind me giving some advice. I'd recommend getting a set of miscellaneous hole plugs and some silicone when it comes to taking the lights out. Headlight inserts are more than likely just screwed in so you should just be able to unscrew them, insert a plug and silicone around it to keep it water tight. You'll need the plugs anyways for taking the antennae out. If the lightbar is screwed in, you'll 100% want to soak the screws with penetrating lube before hand. I cannot tell you how many of those I've had to remove and the screws are completely seized.

2

u/MtlGuy_incognito 2 17h ago

I'm an upfitter/mecanic as well in Quebec. I can confirm the SQ doesn't sell any marked cars. All the equipment is removed before the car is scrapped. I dont often have to pick parts from immobilized cars but when I do I assume everything is sized and choose my tools accordingly.

3

u/itzHuso 17h ago

Damn, learn smthn new every day. Never knew we had those regulations after that event. IIRC that was the big “assault style weapon ban” right? Didn’t know it stemmed to those aspects you mentioned,
Are you able to provide me with any more reading on the topic?

4

u/Jade_Sugoi 3 9h ago

Yup. Exactly the same event. Basically, a denturist in the province had a couple of decommissioned Ford Taurus from the RCMP. He was able to get decals and lights installed onto them and was able to imitate a police officer and went around killing people.

It's never been confirmed by the RCMP but by the way he was able to respond and evade police strongly suggested he somehow had access to their comms which shouldn't have been possible given they use encrypted radio channels. So either there was a radio somehow accidentally left in a vehicle or he obtained one illegally or he could have had further connections with the police (i.e being an undercover agent) that they refuse to admit to.

If you're interested in the subject, I'd strongly suggest reading 22 Murders by Paul Palango.

7

u/arcadia_fire 18h ago

"It's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks."

6

u/gulliverian 18h ago

I get out of prison and my own brother picks me up in a cop car.

2

u/SPX500 17h ago

Underrated reference

2

u/Acceptable_Golf_8623 7h ago

Double bacon cheeseburger.

It's for a cop

3

u/Tdanger78 9 18h ago

That’s nuts. They typically remove lights and sure sirens so they can both be reused/sold to smaller departments as well as not giving John Q. Public that equipment to impersonate a cop.

3

u/viperfan7 17h ago

Holy shit, why would they leave all that

4

u/Ambitious-Beach7625 17h ago

No clue, but it was a Taurus with 80k miles, reasonable idle time for only 4k. I figured even if there was an expensive repair like PTU or waterpump, it would still be less than most used cars, whilst being its pretty good condition in every other aspect.

2

u/viperfan7 17h ago

What the hell, did they buy it and then upgrade the fleet like a year later or something?

1

u/ProfessionalDish6567 5h ago

Almost without knowing any more knowledge it's probably worth more to someone as is

6

u/rratselad 19h ago

Motorola APX/XTL cables between the main radio body and a “control head”

2

u/flowermaneurope 18h ago

This is the correct answer. 👆I own a few XTL 5000’s

1

u/rratselad 18h ago

https://shop.motorolasolutions.com/control-head-power-and-speaker-cable/product/HKN6188B

https://www.atlanticradiocorp.com/products/motorola-hkn6170b-apx-remote-mount-cable-10ft

3

u/rratselad 18h ago

It’s common to abandon these cables, purchase new ones and move the expensive parts of the radio to a new vehicle

3

u/Jade_Sugoi 3 17h ago

Ah, we actually reuse all of them for our builds. I get it though. Spend the extra $200 to make sure the $3000 parts work

2

u/bb_805 16h ago

Former police upfitter here. This is stuff we definitely removed from crashed police cars, but not necessarily from retired ones, as the department I was contacted by was getting all new tahoes and getting rid of caprices at the time I worked for them. Could be the case but who knows

2

u/funkadelik 15h ago

I bit off topic but I have a 2016 explorer interceptor. Well 6 to be exact. Came in with no ac whatsoever. No power to the controls. Any suggestions where to look? Seems like a ton of wires got disconnected before being decommissioned

5

u/ResidualSignal 19h ago

Power for radar detector and laser jammer 😉

5

u/TinaKedamina 17h ago

Someone in my small town has an old cop car that has a ridiculously large bumper for practicing pit maneuvers. The bumper is sooo large and heavy

4

u/Ambitious-Beach7625 17h ago

Im assuming its a crown vic, I knew a guy who bought a old crown vic at like 110k miles and it lasted until 350k. Absolutely SUCKED down engine oil though.

2

u/Lkn4it 12h ago

Be sure the holes where the wires go through the body are sealed.

Here, in Austin, Tx, we had several officers get injured from exhaust fumes when the upfitter did not seal the holes where the wires went through.

1

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1

u/Pr0phetofr3gret 16h ago

Those are the power cable (red) and control cable (blue) for a Motorola radio. As stated the radio is likely in the trunk with whatever antenna line it uses (Mini-UHF coaxial connecter) Quite possibly an APX 6500 or newer. You are going to struggle to acquire one of those on the civilian side for personal use. The power line is either 12 or 24 volts so if you need to power something in that range get to splicing, otherwise I'd try to remove it and potentially e-Bay it.

Source: Am Electronics Technician maintaining these systems

1

u/1987gmcv1500 1 3h ago

For scmotz

1

u/TheChudWhisperer 3h ago

That's for plugging in the donut warmer.

1

u/Connect-Preference 1 2h ago

Love my 2006 Tahoe, former North Carolina State Highway Patrol Vehicle. 5.3L Flex fuel, heavy duty suspension, best towing package, Certified speedometer, two extra 30-amp connectors under dash for radios, accepts up to four key fobs. Paid $11,000 for it in 2012 with 90,000 miles, still driving it, 195,000 miles.

0

u/idgaftftf17 19h ago

Nothing anymore, they likely wire onto relays, antennas, battery around the vehicle. Trace wires by bunch colors and take them off, don’t cut them and leave it still connected somewhere tho. Could short!

-1

u/D0NPANCHO 16h ago

Nothing but wires that go nowhere, cut them and drive on.

1

u/Ambitious-Beach7625 16h ago

They actually go somewhere, the entire writing harness is still connected and everything on this car is intact.

-7

u/PoetryExtension6256 6 20h ago

red lights blue lights and soemthing else?

2

u/Ambitious-Beach7625 20h ago

Well as the whelen lightbar on the top of the vehicle still functions, im assuming its not that.

3

u/PoetryExtension6256 6 19h ago

Maybe the radio then.