My (slow) RKE conversion

pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
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Elderton, Pa
Dug into the wiring & found out a few things from the manual & powering things up with test leads again. One thing is the light green wire thay will run to the PRNOD21 switch in a W-body only needs power if the trunk relase is being tied in. It's ment to only allow power to the trunk release when the switch is in the park position. The pink/black wire is part of the lighted entry/exit feature to ground out the feature when the key is in the run position. This will be useful if I can figure out how to work the feature with the blue wire. Then with how the tan wire is shown it would need to replace the tan one in the stock harness for the divers side with it only being left connected to the passenger side. For this I'll unpin & insulate the terminal & run a new wire in it's place. If it wasn't for the odd reason for an easy way to reverse this I'd just make a new wire but this may change with if I come to my senses.
 
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pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
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Elderton, Pa
Dug some more, the delay dimming won't be happening unless I decide to work in the W-body headlight switch. What is needed to make that work is built into the switch. Now I'm guessing the pink key on power feed is only there to disrupt it to when the key is on. I'll be removing them from the harness plug when I start making the harness to fit the car.

So the run down on this with the wires that'll be used is now as the following:
Pin A, tan 694, replaces tan 294 on the drivers door lock motor
Pin B, white 194, taps into black 194 in the OE harness
Pin E, orange 1540, taps into any orange 40 wire
Pin F, light green 275, only needed to tap into any orange 40 wire if using the trunk/tailgate release feature
Pin G, gray 382, only needed to tap into the black 142 feed to the trunk/tailgate release motor
Pin H, black/white 56, only needed if replacing the black 142 circiut, not really needed unless you want the extra work, release feature works with or with out
Pin L, black/white 1455, the lead neede to ground the system to allow fobs to be programmed to match the module
Pin N, black 750, ground
Pin R, light blue 195, taps into the light blue 195 in the OE harness

What can be discarded or taped of are the following:
Pin J, pink 39
Pin S, dark blue 49

Now there could be another option to source a RKE module from but I'm not sure if it'll have any quality issues like what was brought up in the MonteCarloSS.com with the older modules. The shop manual I got covers the Cutlass Supreme & it has all the same circuits but uses a different (older?) module & uses the older rectangle fob. They are also mounted in the same spot as a Monte Carlo/Lumina.
 
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pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
9,127
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Elderton, Pa
Found some more possible info on how things could be tapped into the original harness from just looking for other wire colors used for the truck release switch to latch release solenoid curcuit. Looking at a '91-'92 F-body diagram, it shows on a manual car the light green 275 running to a juction with the parking brake switch but that might only allow the trunk release when the car has the key in the run position with the parking brake set (dash light on). Still would be something that would need more research to see how it would work but I'll still be tapping it into a always hot curcuit.
Then I came across something with the dark blue 49 wire. Looking over the diagrams cause of the light green 275 wire I think I might have a idea on getting the delay feature with the RKE. It has a note at a junction the says "Door Ajar Input", so I'm going to put together guess that if I tap into the white 156/900 curcuit that goes to the headlight switch (or a easier to use junction) it may work. Then the pink/black 39 will also need to be used to power that curcuit.
Also looked more into a good spot to put the module & looked at how it would sit in the kick panel that held the CCC computer. It'll fit with ease with more than enough space for it & to route the harness. Just have the worry of someone kicks the panel & if it could affect operations. I'm still thinking of just mounting it in the trunk under the rear shelf. Still need to get the body to the house to see where & how to mount & route everything.
 
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JAMCAR223

Royal Smart Person
Jun 6, 2014
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I was hoping for a way to get courtesy light dimmer to work, but W body headlight switch is not an option for me. It looks like I will just be using door lock/unlock & trunk unlock functions, and the ABO1502T key fob with no extras. I plan on mounting the control unit in the pass side kick area, as to keep the wiring to a minimum. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with as far as mounting, harness, and functions.
 
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pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
9,127
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Elderton, Pa
I was hoping for a way to get courtesy light dimmer to work, but W body headlight switch is not an option for me
I'll be making a jumper harness to try my headlight switch & some light sockets to test this theory to make sure the switches in our cars could work. Might be next weekend's project.
 
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JAMCAR223

Royal Smart Person
Jun 6, 2014
1,853
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Houston, TX.
That would be awesome! I hope you can figure something out. Since my car is totally apart, I am of no assistance.🙁
 

pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
9,127
15,257
113
Elderton, Pa
Tested my theory on tying the dark blue 49 wire into a mocked white 156/900 curcuit & it failed. Looked at the headlight switches between the '97 W diagrams & the '81 A diagrams to get a better idea on the tie in set up. The '97 switch has a solid state that has both curcuits tied in with black 150 ground & pink 39 circuit also tied in. Then the door switches don't use the 156/900 but the 49 straight to the headlight switch along with it coming off the RKE module then the 156/900 comes out to feed the courtesy lights. It works the door lights with the 49 circuit like how our cars uses the 156/900 circuit. I'm thinking I might need a relay to replace the solid state part of the switch. Might even get on the dissect to see how it works. Either way, back to the drawing board.
 
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pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
9,127
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113
Elderton, Pa
Well, after doing some extended research it looks like the only way to get the light delay will work seems to be needing to use the matching light switch from a W-body Lumina/Monte Carlo. No matter what I've tried I couldn't make it work. I'm still thinking I'm not putting enough voltage or amps into my cobbled set up is not fully powering up everything. But until I can find a better power source (as I have stated before) I'll have to keep plugging at it with what I have.
 
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pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
9,127
15,257
113
Elderton, Pa
Christmas is over so back to a new theory & back to project. Might of came up with a way to may the RKE delay work & it'll have to be tied into the factory light delay dimmer. This comes off a guess that the solid state part of the Chevy W-body headlight switch is a integral delay dimmer module. It uses circuit #'s 39 &156 but uses Circuit 2 inplace of 40 & this is where Circuit 49 (the blue wire) goes to fron the RKE module & door switches. Now here's how the theory going. With out replacing the white 156/900 wires I plan to tie the blue 49 wire to the 15/900 section that's currently dead headed since it's not used with factory delay dimmers but in non-delay dimmer cars. This should tie in the RKE delay so the feature should work when using the remote. One thing still haven't figured out is what the job of the circuit 39 wire to the RKE module is for as it is not included with module in the interior lighting diagrams.
 
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