Elocker Not Disengaging, Bench Test Confirms It's Working

[Stockwell45]

I'm about to throw this elocker off a cliff and go ARB, It's been more of a headache than useful. So the elocker will only engage, nothing when trying to disengage. I pulled the motor and did a bench test and confirmed that the motor is fine, it engages and disengages fine when hooked directly to 12 volts. Hooked the motor back up to the harness without installing back into the diff, engages great and stops after a second like it should, but then nothing when I try to disengage.

I've got a custom harness wired directly to my switch, no ECU. I've checked all my connections, they seem OK. All the connections behind the switch seem OK too, nothing has wiggled loose. Obviously I'm still getting power, maybe it's a ground issue but I doubt it if it's engaging fine. The only thing I can think of is a bad switch, but I can't really test this unless I have a new switch. Any ideas?

 

[the great him]

PM me your address, ill send you my switch, as i dont have an elocker, but i have the switch in my dash... if its the switch then you keep it and send me back your old broken switch so i can fill the hole or if its not the switch send me back one of the two -im gonna be gone for most of june anyways so not like i am gonna care if there is a small hole in my dash...

did you check all of your wires? you sure a wire doesnt have a brake in it or a bad connection in the wire itself -ie load test the wires with a ohms meter...?

 

[Stockwell45]

PM me your address, ill send you my switch, as i dont have an elocker, but i have the switch in my dash... if its the switch then you keep it and send me back your old broken switch so i can fill the hole or if its not the switch send me back one of the two -im gonna be gone for most of june anyways so not like i am gonna care if there is a small hole in my dash...

did you check all of your wires? you sure a wire doesnt have a brake in it or a bad connection in the wire itself -ie load test the wires with a ohms meter...?

That would be awesome, thanks! I'll send you a PM. Unfortunately my parents took the ohms meter with them when they moved to Utah, so I'll have to track one down here. I'm pretty confident the wiring is good though, but it wouldn't hurt to test it out

 

[the great him]

id still try to track down an ohms meter, cause there is no guarantee that my switch is good, as i dont have the locker and no way of knowing if mine works or not

 

[Dous]

Have you tested the E-locker hooked up to your wiring but not bolted on?

Maybe the motor isn't supplying the torque or something along those lines. If it is a motor issue let me know I can probably score you a good used one

 

[JWaldz]

I had a similar problem a while back.. I think it's time you take that had boy apart and give it a good cleaning. That's what I had to do. Go see if you can rent a meter from your hardware store. Will take you two seconds to test the switch.

 

[Stockwell45]

Yes I did test the motor on the harness without it bolted up, still the same result. And for the heck of it I did tear the motor apart, and it looks pretty dang clean in there. No corrosion of any sort and the factory grease even looks new. I guess my job tomorrow is to find a meter.
[MENTION=58830]ARKRWLR[/MENTION], when I test the switch, I'm guessing I just hook up to the top 2 terminals?

 

[Singtoe]

When you say custom wiring harness, what is it really?

Are you using a factory switch?

Who made the harness?

If you are not using the factory switch, what are you using.

Too me, it sounds like a bad switch or if you are using relays, a bad relay.



But diagnosis is impossible unless we know your wiring set up.

 

[KidVermicious]

You can get a servicable meter from Harbor Freight for $5. Without a meter all you can do is isolate components and see when the trouble goes away. Try pulling the switch from the dash and using it to give the locker power on the bench. If that works, then you know your switch is good and can focus on the wiring.

 

[JWaldz]

Matt, what kind of switch are you using. To my understanding it's an 8 pole dpdt momentary switch.

Like this?

 

[Stockwell45]

It's the factory elocker plugs, which I cut off the factory harness and wired up to some 14 gauge all the way back to the switch. I'm just gonna go buy a really nice meter today so I have one for future problems.

Yes, I've got the 8 pole dpdt switch. Same exact switch you have Waldo.

 

[4x4mike]

I can't seem to find it in a google search but not disengaging happens and a fix is documented. I used all factory parts on my e locker retrofit so I can use Toyota wiring diagrams to trouble shoot potential problems.

There are limit switches and a engage and disengage leads to the locker. Isolate whatever you have and go from there. If the collar is hanging up on something or the limit stops aren't in the correct position you will have engage/disengage problems.

Can you hear the actuator when pushing the button on or off? Have you tried the screwdriver trick?

Read this: E-locker Fix - TTORA Forum

 

[JWaldz]

Yes, I've got the 8 pole dpdt switch. Same exact switch you have Waldo.

Does the light come on when you engage it and when you manually disengage it does the light go off?

 

[Stockwell45]

Does the light come on when you engage it and when you manually disengage it does the light go off?

Correct, at least that part of the switch works correctly.

 

[JWaldz]

Ok, good. That's a start. I can't remember which poles to meter so I'm having one of my buddies look into it. He has to find the wiring diagram for the motor first. BTW, I know OTRATTW doesn't carry the momentary DPDT switch body anymore. So if it is the switch, the only place I've been able to find them is on eBay. Just search "Carling momentary DPDT" and it will pull up a few different contura series to choose from.

 

[Stockwell45]

Well I found an ancient ohms meter in one of our shop drawers, and it did the trick. I found out my only problem was 2 wires to the switch got mixed around, after putting them back in their correct positions everything works great. I must have got some things mixed up when I wired in my RR DIFF LOCK dash light. Thanks for everyones input.

Thanks for letting me know about the switch ARKRWLR, I guess I'll be buying from Ebay when it comes to my front locker switch.

 

[JWaldz]

Haha nice one.. Glad it was a simple fix.

 

[the great him]

Glad I checked this thread before I shipped off my switch... Glad you got it all figured out