1981 DL 1800 wiring help

[el_freddo]

Awesome @6 Star - you pics demonstrate that all those plugs I was talking about earlier are LHD specific. I don’t have any of those in that location on my RHD loom. I wonder what they’re for... 

I don’t know what those two black things are in the last pic, I know I don’t have any of those on my brumby. I also don’t know what that black box with the blue plug mounted on the strut tower near the coil is. Same for the black box mounted on the coil.

@OldieSubie - don’t forget to check out the manuals for other models of the same year as many will be the same in the wiring department - or at least the same enough to work it out  Many free online manuals available.

Cheers 

Bennie

[6 Star]

@el_freddo the "two black things" behind the RH Strut Tower are Vacuum related, can see the Vac lines leaving them from underneath. Cannot recall off hand what they are for...

The Black Box with the Blue Plug, labeled Mitsuba, or something like that, is 3rd Eye Related.

The Black Box on top of the Coil is supposedly an Ignitor, however it has an additional Loom that connects to the Distributor. This is NOT typical on any of my Subaru's here that I have seen. The only thing I can compare it to is the "SUPER Coil" that I have seen in Accessory Parts Catalogues in the "Awesome Older Gen Photo Thread".
I think what it does is read the position of the Advance in the Distributor and (recurves?) the Ignition Timing for the Load/Throttle Position, etc. at hand.

[moosens]

Hang on , plenty of us folks have the actual factory service manuals. They can be had fairly cheap if you hunt around a little. 

Mine are boxed up but I am in the process of creating a library so they’ll be out sometime over the summer. 
 

And an 83 isn’t much different so the wiring will be the same. As long as they aren’t both Brats , then an 83 is different from an 81 for sure. 

[OldieSubie]

I've read over the service manual that I downloaded for an 83, and there are some differences between what I have and the 83. If there is a digital 81 service manual out there, I haven't found it yet. And a really large portion of the 83 manual I have is missing in regards to the electrical chapter. I did note and list the wires going to the relay and to the loom at the gray connector. I will boat it later today when I have the chance....although I don't know what these wires originally went to still.

[OldieSubie]

Ok, the gray/white plug that goes to the mysterious relay has wires as such:

White: 12V Hot

White/Red Stripe: 12V Switched

Black/White: 12V Switched

Blue/Yellow Stripe: ?

Yellow: ?

White/Black Stripe: ?

Black/Tan Stripe: ?

 

The Relay side is as such:

White goes to Blue

White/Black Stripe goes to Yellow

*Blue(Blue/Yellow Stripe pin) joins with White/Red Stripe

*Yellow joins Black/Tan Stripe

Black/Yellow Stripe (Black/White Stripe pin) goes to nothing.

White Relay wire is Ground

*= These four wires join to one Black wire and feed into relay point 85

Relay Diagram:

85: Black wire

86: White wire (Ground)

87: Blue wire

87a: N/A

30: Yellow wire

[el_freddo]

Sounds like they’re trying to use that relay as an ignition switch replacement.

By one wire “joining” another, do you mean two wires into one or the coloured wire listed then turns into the next listed colour, remaining as one wire in the system (like a piece of wire added to lengthen the factory wiring)?

Time to bust out a multi meter and find out which of those unknown wires are earths. If no earth wires are in there it’s time to put power to each wire individually to see what that wire operates - you might have to go and flick switches in the car to find out. There could be multiple items on one wire. Draw a diagram to keep reference  

Some of those wires sound like main power or main switches power wires for accessories. This is partly concerning as the load on that relay is most likely too great for it to properly handle, plus there’s a question around how these wires are fused between the battery and the relay.

You might also find some of these wires (or all!) are the main switches power wires to the fuse box under the dashboard.

After you’ve done all of the above, it’s time to work out what they cut out, why, and what they were intending to achieve. Then reverse their work back to the factory setup or to something that’s safer and more serviceable for you to work with.

Sorry for the essay! I feel like you’re close to having this one sorted with a bit of work involved!

Cheers 

Bennie

[OldieSubie]

On 8/3/2021 at 2:00 AM, el_freddo said:

By one wire “joining” another, do you mean two wires into one or the coloured wire listed then turns into the next listed colour, remaining as one wire in the system (like a piece of wire added to lengthen the factory wiring?

Hey Bennie,

Yes, that's exactly what had happened. The previous owner took four wire from the relay side, joined them together and added a black wire to feed into the relay. 

[moosens]

Haven’t found a good manual for you yet. 

[OldieSubie]

Moosens,

Thanks for looking into it. I'm still trying to scour the internet and find any glimpse of a DL with my wiring set up (factory wise).

[el_freddo]

16 hours ago, OldieSubie said:

Hey Bennie,

Yes, that's exactly what had happened. The previous owner took four wire from the relay side, joined them together and added a black wire to feed into the relay. 

That’s a huge facepalm! What were they thinking?! 

Cheers 

Bennie

[moosens]

Not sure this helps but I have a 1982 parts catalog and I can see that the DL 4WD wagon does have some particular part numbers. 
 

Might need a rest first but I’ll post what I can for pics of components and whatever related harness , etc that I can. 

[moosens]

[moosens]

[moosens]

[moosens]

[moosens]

[OldieSubie]

Moosens,

Thank you so much for looking! I won't be able to get into you pictures for at least a day, but this will help me figure out what should be there instead of this janky mess.

[OldieSubie]

On 8/10/2021 at 5:58 AM, moosens said:

After a few minutes of looking< I need part 46 and 47.

Does anyone have a picture of those two parts on their vehicle? I just want to see the wires going into the box and what the inside of that box looks like.

I can make  a DIY box, just the wiring, fusing and relay wiring is what I need guidance with.

Edit:

Parts 34 and 35 (Fusible Links) are still available through subaru parts online!

Edited August 18, 2021 by OldieSubie
Fusible Link

[el_freddo]

The brown box here in my pics are what your chasing in parts 45&46  

On 7/28/2021 at 10:52 PM, el_freddo said:

 

 

I hope that gives you a bit of an idea of what you’re chasing. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[OldieSubie]

Hey Bennie,

Thank you for the pictures! What model is yours? I am asking because I feel like I'm the only one with two 7-pin connectors in the engine bay ( a blue one and a white one) I see yours is a blue-to-white connector, but what leads to the fusible box and relay is just normal wiring.....what am I missing or what is unique about what I have? This is slightly irritating.

[el_freddo]

Mine is a 1990 model - and remember it’s a RHD model. 

I didn’t think there would be any difference between the LHD and RHD models but I could be very wrong on that. 

I haven’t looked into what wires go to/from the brown fusible link box. I know there’s one main wire from the positive of the battery to the brown box to supply 12v to the fusible links. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[DaveT]

There are wiring differences between 1990 and 1987..   when you go back further, the differences get more significant the further back you go.

[Silverbull3t]

Something that hasn't been mentioned in here yet, 1981 model most likely did not have the black/grey fusible link box as has been shown in a few of these pics. I have a 1981 wagon and the original loom did not have it, the fusible links were literally two pieces of cloth covered wire coming directly from the battery + terminal. My 1984 ute has/had the fuse link box, I'm not sure when they brought it in. Before you ask, there's no point in me posting a pic of the wiring in my wagon since I've completely re-wired it.

I've got a March 1981 factory service manual in my possession, I'll look through it to see if there is any helpful diagrams for OldieSubie. A question from me; what does the fuse box under your dash look like? Does it have blade fuses or glass tube fuses? 
 

[Silverbull3t]

My guess is the previous owner has added that relay to bypass the ignition switch (they do get crusty and stop working at this age or have big voltage drop) 
I've found a couple of pages that might help, if the detail comes across in the pictures (2MB size limit means it's difficult to get high detail images across) 

The first one shows how the power should flow to the electrical equipment, all of the things you said weren't working at the start all come from the same line from the ACC switch. 
Second pic shows the overall wiring diagram in the battery area (this is an Australian/RHD model, might be different to yours) Dunno if this helps or not, I can't find that round connector (that the relay piggy backs onto) of yours in the wiring diagram I have here.  

Edited August 29, 2021 by Silverbull3t

[OldieSubie]

Thank you everybody for your help! I have been pretty busy for the last week or so, I'm trying to stay on top of this post and the car, and a apologize for not being very active on here. I will look over the electrical schematics and see if I can make it mirror in my car.