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240 1992 240 Central Locking Key Wires

Maximum Turtles

Maximum Turtles

New member
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
I opened up my driver door to take a look at the wiring on the central locking, for the key was not operating the locks as I only recently discovered it was supposed to. I can operate all of the locks from inside the car by moving the lock pin up and down, but this occasionally does not work. I had also been experiencing a rapid clicking coming from the relays a few times while driving over bumps.

So I opened up the door and found that the three wires that go to the key switch in the diagram the Haynes manual had were hanging loose, and when connected would create the clicking noise:

IMG_20140705_155654.jpg



The wires are supposed to be connected to F in the diagram.
IMG_20140705_161237.jpg


It seems like these are supposed to be attached to the key mechanism, but I can't see where. Does anyone know where these are supposed to go, and have any advice on how to properly reattach them?

Thanks in advance, Pete.
 
Damn, that's brutalized. I've gone through two of those so I can offer insight.

Those brass fittings sit inside of a plastic ring that goes over your lock. When you turn your key left or right, it slides a metal contact along those, completing a circuit and either actuates your lock up or down (yellow/blue, respectively, with black being ground). You don't need to know which yellow or blue does what, since all cars use the same color codes as far as I know. Just match the new ring's wires with yours and you're golden.

As far as rings go, I'd recommend getting another ring from a yard and splicing into the old wires. What you'll want to do is clean up the ring, strip off the degraded wire sheaths (after marking which wire is which), then re-seal the wires with a few layers of heat shrink (basically acting as the wire's new insulation) to ensure they remain in good condition.
 
Awesome reply, thanks Xovaan!

I dug around in my door and found the plastic ring you spoke of in the bottom of the door. I spent pretty much the rest of the day trying to put the whole thing back together and get it on the key switch, but I eventually called it quits. The metal tabs that hold each of the brass fittings in place have pretty much all fallen off, which means it will try to fall apart any chance it gets.

Here's what the ring looks like for reader's reference:
IMG_20140705_174751.jpg


Last time I went to the pick and pull there were only 2 240s, both from the 70s and probably without power locking. Does anyone know if any other cars (700s?) have this same mechanism or if they are available anywhere online?
 
So after not finding anything for a long time, I gave up on this lost cause and installed keyless entry. Thanks to this f***ed up old wiring, I didn't have to dig out the lock/unlock relays. So much better this way.
 
I have had the same problem in multiple cars.
I usually hunt for a good one at the yard but they are thinning out there these days.
I rebuilt one one time cutting the wire close to the ends and crimping a new wire on. I slipped some heat shrink on before crimping.
Worked like a charm.
 
Yeah, its totally rebuildable, provided too many parts aren't already broken. The little metal tabs on each of the contacts had broken off, so they weren't staying in place, and the outer plastic housing had damaged clips that made sure that it wouldn't go together right. In the end keyless entry wound up being just about as much work, but with far nicer results.
 
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