Turn Signal Relay Buzzing?

[acbrock]

Thanks for the notes.   I will get into it and report back! 

Many of these things have been very tedious but I am honestly loving the education.  I am hoping in the end I will understand and be able to keep this car running on my own.... Then grow the collection!

[acbrock]

Ok so just played around with the Multimeter.  Just checking if I am doing this right...
So I took back off the Plug for the Control Arm.  I put the Multimeter Ground on the #12 Ground then touch all 11 other plugs.  I got the continuity "Beep" on all of them except..3 (Blinker Relay), 5 (Fuse 1) 10 (Turn Signal left) ** But on the Female side there is no plug for 10 so no chance for it there.  Should there be something there?


How would I go about sending Power from this Female plug to all the things this arm should control?  If I have the Plug unplugged.   I have tested both the Washer Pump and Wiper Motor at there location by just adding power to the terminals.

Trying figure out how to send power thru this plug to see if the problem is the Arm side of this plug or Between this Side of the plug and the device...

I have tried a few things but don't seem to understand how this works.
If anyone can explain how to do just one of them I sure I can figure the rest out.
Washer Pump, my brain says add power to Pin #1 but that does not do anything or do I need to connect Pin6(Fuse2).  Or should just connecting Pin1 work and there is an issue with the Harness side of my electrical?

[BobH]

Hello, in the tech manual "steeringcolumnswitch" there is a table of the 12 way connector pins "Testing Individual Switches within the Column Switch"

https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Electrical/SteeringColumnSwitch

With the battery disconnected, put your ohmeter on the pins shown, and operate the relevant switch on and off, ie pin 1 and pin 6, and push the washer switch, the meter should read 00.0 for as long as the switch is pushed, and then read OL when the switch is released

You only need to do this for all of the set of pins associated with the column switch, pins 11 and 12 are for the horn, not the column switch

If you get the correct readings then, with the battery and ignition on, if you then bridge across these same pins with a short wire, the associated function should operate until you remove the wire, probably a job for two people.  Don't bridge across random pins, just short the pins shown on the table, 1 to 6, 3 to 9 etc etc

If you don't get the correct reading, then don't try bridging with wires, as there may be an incorrect connection somewhere, so investigate before going any further

Be careful to get the correct pins, as some of them have a live +ve on them

See how you get on

[Leester]

BobH got me through figuring hot how my WW park function. If you follow his instructions you will be doing it correctly.

That said, to answer your question, I will tell you how I did it - which I think is a more dangerous way meaning you have to VERY CAREFUL.

Pull up the chart in BobH's post (you will have to scroll down a long way to get to it).

You are speaking of the female connector (on the right just above the chart) so I will assume you unfastened the multi-function switch connector (which is the male connector).   

Yes, you should have a female pin in the 10 position.

F Pin 5 goes to fuse 1 which is always live regardless of ignition switch position. If you want to activate the WW washer (F pin 1) you can run a wire from F Pin 5 to F pin 1. Be sure your fuse 1 in the fuse box is not blown and that you have good contact there. I believe that will (should) activate the WW Washer. On mine, I do not yet have the WW washer working so I can't be 100% sure on this, however, you said you tested the washer directly and it work.

So I think you could jumper female pin 5 to any other pin (except F pin 6, 8 or 12) and the user item should get 12v. Note that 12 is a ground so if you connect pin 5 to pin 12, it should blow the fuse.

At some point you should also test the switch (using its male pins) and for that I use the ohm function on the multimeter.

I am concerned that you have no female pin in the 10 position. That suggests that the wires inside the female connector have been messed with so you may have to sort that out.

Attached is a chart that I built when I was working in this area. It may or may not help you.

Keep in mind that you are now messing around with live voltage (think fire) which is why BonH's approach is better. I'm just not a good enough electrician to do it that way.

[acbrock]

Thanks guys! OMG I have looked at the picture of the pins right above the section "Testing Individual Switches within the Column Switch".  I cannot believe I did not scroll down!  I will give all these things a go today (time permitting Mothers Day) or tomorrow!  Fingers crossed I will figure this all out!

[acbrock]

Yes I agree having no 10 Pin is very ODD!  I am assuming that would mean my blinkers would not work correctly.  I honestly don't remember having any issues with the blinkers.  Maybe it worked on the dash and I never realize one side was not blinking out of the car.  Seems odd I would not notice but don't know how it would work otherwise.   I will dig around and see if I see the cable clipped/hiding or more likely in the wrong position....
Aaron

[acbrock]

Oye.  So i am going to go out and try all these again and see if I get the same numbers.  (boy I hope not!)

But putting my Multimeter on 200 and going probe to probe mine reads 1 not OL.
But my readings are all out of whack.  This was done with the battery disconnected...

Could it be that these are all mixed up in the connector? And I still don't see anything for 10!

[BobH]

Confused by your readings, perhaps i'm not understanding what you're saying

On the ohms scale, with a probe in each hand, this is open circuit or open loop (OL) no continuity, same as if a wire is broken or a switch is open

When the probes are touched together, this is a short circuit, full continuity, no resistance (00) or perhaps 1, if the probes are not making good contact or the wire you're testing is long

When you test across the pins in the table, OL is when no switch is operated and 00 is when the switch is operated

When you say pin 10 is missing, is it physically not there in the connector?  if not where is the black/white wire, is it loose or connected to another pin?

Have a look and reply, before we look any further as it's all a  bit confusing at the moment

[acbrock]

I will go look for that wire.   But on my Multimeter when I put it to OHM with the probes not touching each other it read "1" when I touch them together it drops to "0".

So for the first one Right Turn Signal.  I put 1 Probe on Pin3 and the other Probe on Pin9.  It read "1" then when I activated the turn Signal it dropped to 0.3.  Then back to 1 when I released the turn Signal.  Then I did the rest the same way.

[acbrock]

Wow.  Ok.  So I found the Black white Wire on the Female Side of the connector.  It was in the 12 hole.  Which is scary too.  Because now there is no Ground!  I think I am going to take all the pins out and make sure they are all correct.  I think I will try and tackle that tomorrow unless I get a 2nd wind.  Then I will test all these wires again.  From my last post am I testing them correctly? 
Thanks!

[Leester]

Yep, someone has definately jacked with the wiring. Hopefully, just at that connector.

[acbrock]

Ok so just checked the wires.    The male side seems good.  Only wire 5 I could not find red but the other 11 are good so I just probably can’t see it.

Now the female side.    Should these wires be the same color as the male side?  Because they are not.  They are very different.

Lots of blue.  1-9 are all different.  But not like reorganized like totally different colors.  Only 2 that match are 9 and 10 (now that I moved the black white from 12 to 10).  So now now 12.  But there is a brown going to 7.  And 11 has 3 wires connected to it. ?

[BobH]

Oh dear, looks like quite a challenge, it's turning into more of a job for a professional or an experienced owner, perhaps Cees could take a look if you take him up on his kind offer

All wire colours should match, so you're going to need to trace each wire from the plug to it's destination, using the wiring schematic in the tech manual, i'm assuming either new wires have been spliced in to the old loom, or a new loom has been installed at some time.  It's doable, but not easy and could be time consuming, first thing you need is a new meter, as that one is definitely giving incorrect readings, open circuit should read OL, not 1

You'll need to trace continuity by placing one lead on the plug end and the other lead on the destination point, and if it's not where it should be, keep moving the meter lead until you find it, not easy if some are the same or wrong colour

If you're not confident, perhaps time to ask for help, as the consequences of getting it wrong could be disastrous

[Leester]

The colors of the wires in the female connector do not match the colors in the male connector. The male connector is part of the VDO multifunction switch and VDO did not try to match colors to the MB scheme.

CORRECTION: I just checked and on my 1970 280SL the wire colors on both the male and female connectors for the multifunction (turn signal) DO match up.

[acbrock]

That is good for the colors not matching. Is there anywhere that shows what the MB colors should be?  I will get a new meter and try and trace a few and see if it is possible with my limited knowledge.

[acbrock]

Think I found the info in the wiring section.  Going to go grab a wire tracer probe.  My multimeter instructions does say it reads “1” not “OL” but I will get another one and test to see if I get the same numbers.

[Leester]

Wire colors are on the wiring diagram here:

https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Restricted/ColorWiringDiagrams?action=download&upname=230sl_2.jpg

Key for components is here:

https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Electrical/WiringDiagram 

The multi-function (turn signal) switch itself is not shown. #29 is the female connector that the multie-function switch plugs into.

[acbrock]

So grabbed a Tracer.  Not very helpful yet but hopefully I will help with some of the wires.   So I popped all the wires out (pic attached). That is the order they were in the connector too.  First thought was if I turn on the power 3 of these should have 12v going thru them (Correct?). 5 6 and 8.  Figured if I could figure those out first that would start to knock them out.

So I got Power on 3 of them.  From the connector numbering it would be 1,2 &9.  Also the colors are not matching the Wiring Diagram so I assume this is someone handy work.
I am going to work on getting a camera up to the back the fuse box to see if I can see what wires are attached to 1,2 and 10.

The one on the top right is White/Violet which should be Slot 8 for Fuse 10 and High Beam.  Bonkers.

[acbrock]

Just took a ton of pictures of the fuse panel.  I will see if I can figure out the wires.  But looking at it.... If I just take the screws out of the front will this just drop down so I could get a close look at it?  or is connect to a bunch of things that will stop it from dropping down easily?  Going to give that a try after lunch....

Also this is the Box.  Is this normal the big rats nest of wires or is this probably where all my problems started?  99% the 2 red wires taped go to Fog Lights on the Bumper.  Lose reds near the box or for modern radio that was in the car when I bought it.

[BobH]

So grabbed a Tracer.  Not very helpful yet but hopefully I will help with some of the wires.   So I popped all the wires out (pic attached). That is the order they were in the connector too.  First thought was if I turn on the power 3 of these should have 12v going thru them (Correct?). 5 6 and 8.  Figured if I could figure those out first that would start to knock them out.

So I got Power on 3 of them.  From the connector numbering it would be 1,2 &9.  Also the colors are not matching the Wiring Diagram so I assume this is someone handy work.
I am going to work on getting a camera up to the back the fuse box to see if I can see what wires are attached to 1,2 and 10.

The one on the top right is White/Violet which should be Slot 8 for Fuse 10 and High Beam.  Bonkers.

Not sure you should have +ve on 3 pins, yes on pins 5 & 6, but i can't see why you'd have +ve on pin 8?  From what i can make out, pin 8 will only have +ve when the flasher switch is operated, which would switch +ve from fuse 1 to fuse 10 onto the high beams.  Are you sure you have power on pin 8 permanently?

I am getting more and more concerned, turning power on with loose wires, and not knowing where wires terminate, could end in tears.  I would strongly recommend you only use the tester with power off until you've sussed this out

[acbrock]

Yes sorry.  I got power to 8 when I turned on the lights.   When the power is on I had some electrical tape between everything so I don’t burn it down and kill all work I have done.   

I will make my next report once I get the fuse box lowered.   
A

[Leester]

"If I just take the screws out of the front will this just drop down"    Yes, remove the two screws in the engine compartment and the fuse box should come free.

I don't recognize those color wires at all. Thats a lot of blue that for sure is not original.

Agree with everything BobH added.

[acbrock]

Boy o Boy.  Ok so I dropped the Fuse box.  Then to make life harder on myself I decided to take it out and clean it.  My thought was I could disconnect all the wires then I could easily trace each wire from the plug to the Fuse Box or at least the 3 that go there.  Figured Continuity would make it easy.  But I seem to get continuity on lots of the wire.  I guess because they go thru so many relays and or something.   But that was no go.  Then the Tracer.  That is worthless.  I thought  it would be wire specific but you get the prob near all the wires and it starts singing.

Anyone have a good way I can figure out these wires. Hope was to connect something to Fuse 1 on the Box and then somehow see which wire it activates in the plug.  Or should I go around and unplug everything all the relays and connectors and try the continuity again? 

Also side question.  I know I would have no Blinkers.  But is it ok to drive the car with this specific connector not connected?  No wipers no blinkers?  Maybe I will consider unwrapping as much of this specific cable I can and see if I can find where they spliced together so I can see what color is on the other end of all these blue wires.

[acbrock]

My other thought is this....  Wracking my brain with all the things that have gone on here.  From the very beginning Cees had this pegged as a bad ground somewhere.  What I have realized now for 99% Certain is the the Blinker female plug was in 12 and when I move that to 11 There is not ground!  So maybe I put it back together how it was... Putting the blink to 11 and adding in a Ground.  Maybe that will solve it all?  If not I start unwrapping....

[BobH]

My other thought is this....  Wracking my brain with all the things that have gone on here.  From the very beginning Cees had this pegged as a bad ground somewhere.  What I have realized now for 99% Certain is the the Blinker female plug was in 12 and when I move that to 11 There is not ground!  So maybe I put it back together how it was... Putting the blink to 11 and adding in a Ground.  Maybe that will solve it all?  If not I start unwrapping....

The ground on pin 12 is for the horn, are the horns working?  You can test with your ohmmeter if there is ground on that wire, obviously should be a brown wire.  Checked on line, and some meters do read "1" when open circuit, never come across that before, may be a US thing, so your meter looks like it may be working ok

I would still use your ohmmeter, with the car battery disconnected, from the female socket pins, one at a time, to the destination of that wire, according to the schematic.  It should read 0.00 or a few ohms at most.  If you get a correct reading you can tick that off and move on.  It obviously makes it difficult if you have several wires of the same colour, so perhaps test and rule out the coloured wires first.  Make a list and post it on here for us to see