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While trying to get the 900 to start after doing some engine and transmission work on it, the ignition switch gave out! This would be the second time to replace it. I have the Bentley manual, but did not find what I was looking for in it. I also searched the forum here, and found two links where people asked about ignition switch, but did not find what I was looking for there either. Can someone help?
The ignition switch has 6 wires on it, and I want to find out what wires get connected at the different positions of the key in the lock. Mostly, I want to find out for Drive and for Start.
That is part of what I was looking for. The other part is what wires get connected at the different key settings.
At off, nothing is connected.
At Park: what is connected?
At Drive: what is connected?
At Start: what is connected?
For starters, at Start, the Gray is connected to the Gold/Red wire. Is anything else connected? Does the Green ground need to be connected somewhere too? Also, at Start, do you have everything connected from Drive also?
On my ignition switch top, I have six wires:
"1 2"
" 3 4 5"
"6"
With the color code of 1=Gray, 2=Yellow/Red (or Gold/Red) 3=Green
4=Red (2 wires) 5=Gray/White (2 wires) 6=Green/White (2 wires)
Does anyone have a picture of the ignition switch bottom side when it is unconnected? How does the switch work (what terminals get connected)?
OK, on the top of the switch each spade should be labeled with a number.
GR - 30 (Constant power feed)
RD - X (Radio, On when key is in park and drive)
GN/VT - 15 (Instruments, On when key is in drive)
GR/VT - 54 (More instruments, On when key is in drive)
GL/RD - 50 (Starter, only turns on when key is rotated to hard right)
GN - last terminal (Ground, always connected)
Hope that helps, the switch basically bridges connections between terminal 30 and the other terminals based on position of key.
That is helpful so that I can now try to see if my car will start, before deciding on what to do with the ignition switch replacement...or fix? What happened, is that it was stiff having not been used in awhile. So I put some lubrication in it thinking that the lock pins where rusty? It worked better, then it soon turned all the way without switching anything on. Think that the spring came off with the extra lubrication? It is a bit tedious to work on, as you usually remove the seats, and you need a special tool or a socket made to work.
Yeah, had the same happen to me. More than likely, it's the same exact thing that I dealt with. There are two small pins that protrude up from a sprocket that sits directly under the lock barrel. When you turn the lock barrel, it then turns these pins which turns the sprocket then another that turns the ignition switch (not to mention the reverse lockout mechanism, if it's a manual). Those pins sheared right off on mine after the switch corroded, rendering the whole device useless. If you're in a pinch for cash, what I did temporarily 'til I could afford a replacement was take the whole unit apart and grind a slot into the top of the sprocket that sits under the lock barrel. Then I reassembled it and left the barrel out and turned it all with a screw driver. That bought me a couple weeks 'til I could afford the parts. I think a new sprocket and switch ran me about $70(USD).
Okay, I can get the starter motor to crank, but now I have no spark. Before I was getting a spark with the key and the ignition switch...but then the ignition switch gave out. I connected the Gold/Red wire to the Gray wire. Am I missing something else to activate the coil?
You’ll need a 20-30 amp toggle switch for “off” and “run” and a 30 amp push button for “start”.
to one side of the toggle attach 30 and S+ (this is off)
to the other side of the toggle attach 30 + 15 + 54 + S+ (this is run) on your start button, run 30 to one side and 50 to the other.
The small green wire in the middle operates the Key Buzzer.
There's no Ground, or need for one, on an Ignition Switch.
Supply (grey) is 15
Switched Power is Grey/white (30?)
Starter circuit is 50
Green/white is Ignition (54?)
In the Accesory (Garage) position, the Grey/white should be live while the Green/white (Ignition) is not
All this is from memory, I haven't actually seen one, or a wiring diagram in 10 years.
On all Bosch Wiring systems, numbers ascend in order of importance/distance (electrically) from the Battery (#1) and are the same throughout the car; ie. 50 is Starter Signal at the Starter, A/C Time Delay Relay, and Cold Start system. Distance means how many connections or switches are in line. Example: Grey (15) is Positive, un-fused, supply from + distribution. That becomes 30 after going through a Switch. It's important to avoid running too many functions through the small contacts in the Ignition Switch. Ignition Switches rarely fail unless they've been wired wrong.
If anyone has a real SAAB Manual, all this is detailed and not subject to my fallible memory.
I looked in the Bentley Manual, on 371-91 and 371-132, and it looks like for the ignition that 30 (gray) connects to 15 (green/white) while for the starter motor that 30 (gray) connects to 50 (yellow/red). The supply becomes "30" after going through component 75 (distribution block on right wheel). I have connected the gray wire to the yellow/red, and that does make the starter motor go...but there is no spark.
Did I also need to connect the green/white (dual wire) to the gray at the same time?
The green/white seems to be instruments and also turns on instrument lighting on the dash panel.
Another question, does someone have pictures of where to drill a hole in the ignition switch housing to get the lock cylinder out? I have the key, but there does not seem to be any way to get it out using the method outlined in Bentley. Where do you drill the hole, and how large and how deep?
:x Someone took my camera, so I can not post pictures of the problem. but, I did get the ignition switch removed and there is no wiring on the bottom of it. There is just a movable lever that turns by two gears when you turn the key. Didn't want to go that far since it was more work. Had to take out the drivers seat, and make a custom tool. Had to ruin two cheap sockets that where from a throw away set, first tried 13mm and it was too fat but I made it work on one of the bolts, then tried 15/32 and that worked. :x Phillips screws on the bottom! Threaded them easy! Had to grind a flathead groove to get them out. Soft metal phillips screws are just no good! They did not match to the phillips head screw driver bits either. Would've preferred a nut so I could use a socket.
Found what I was trying to find out before when looking for something else, in the Bentley 900 on 371-7 fig 6. Would post a picture of it, but someone took my camera...maybe when they give it back! It shows the key position and what circuit is closed on the ignition switch.
The ignition switch does not have any wires connected to it on the bottom. It has a depress switch that connects +S that runs the driver boor buzzer (thanks Jim). Since I removed the ignition switch until I can figure out how to get the ignition lock out without a drill :nono; ruining it, I am manually turning the ignition switch. Actually learned something. But it took too many hours!
Has anyone posted pictures of where to drill the ignition housing to get the stuck ignition lock out?
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