Convertible wiring fun!

[Hijacker]

So this week I decided I was going to wire in a keyless entry remote unit to the vert. for those that don't know how the locks work on our cars, there's 2 wires leading from the inside lock knob on the driver's door. One is a ground and the other is a signal wire (orange/black).

When the knob is at the unlock position, it completes a circuit that tells the doorlock timer to unlock both door actuators for 1 second. When the knob is set to lock, it breaks the circuit, which the timer recognizes as the signal to lock both door actuators for 1 second.

Pretty simple, no?

In the 89-90 model 240s, the knobs had 3 wires. Ground, lock circuit (Or/B), and unlock circuit (Orange/Blue). This system worked by having the Or/B circuit complete to lock the doors, and the Or/L would unlock them.

So I grabbed my trusty service manual and pulled the glovebox and frame out of my car to get ready to tap into the wiring going to the door lock timer. Being a '92 model, I expected to see the one wire setup. However, I was greeted by both the Or/B and the Or/L wires. WTH? I figure, well I have the old style of system. No biggy, wire the unit up like you would to an '89. No dice on that. The car unlocks, but won't lock.

After I do some testing, it turns out that the Or/B wire acts like a single wire setup, but the Or/L unlocks the doors as well (it doesn't relock them if you sever it's circuit continuity, though).

My only guess is that since my car was produced in '91, Nissan decided to use the verts of that year as trash bags of old parts. It was a limited edition run, so why not get rid of all the old pignose era stuff? So the chassis harness must be out of an 89-90, but the locking system is the newer setup from the '91s. Thanks Nissan!

[BigMACKenzie]

what a lovely nugget of joy Nissan left you. so yours was born late 91 and it got 89-91 bits shoved in it? lovely 0.o

[Hijacker]

I think it rolled off production in early 91. May I think. It's number 1051 of convertible production according to the ASC door sticker.

It makes me wonder if this is a common occurance in all 240s, or if it's just a vetr only thing.

[BigMACKenzie]

where is this sticker located? mine got a Maaco 10/10 job about two years ago and was de-badged at the same time so I doubt if I have it still but it would be nice to know. ASC was the company in cali that turned our 240's into verts?

[Hijacker]

It's located on the driver's door usually near the bottom of the door jam.

ASC was American Sunroof Company, but they reorganized to American Specialy Cars a while ago. They're located in Michigan AFAIK.

[jamesblonde82]

this could very well explain why after i had my alarm installed, that 3 sec after you unlock the car with the remote, it automatically locks itself. i have to be careful not to lock my keys in the car. they didn't seem to know how to make it NOT do that. it's a 93', which is weird because i had a different system on my 92' and i didn't do that. so maybe it's just the system.... i dont know, but your problem may have just opened a door to figuring out mine.

[Hijacker]

I have a feeling it's your system. My keyless unit has a switched voltage wire that has an option of locking the doors X seconds after I turn the car on. If that's tapped into a 12v constant, instead of an ignition switched voltage, I could see that being your issue.

Being a '93, I would HOPE that they weren't still using the older chassis harnesses by that point.