Got a little bit of a rat's nest behind the stereo from the previous owner. Apparantly, he needed four constant hot leads, all with separate inline fuses. I'm getting sick of chasing them down, and I was wondering if anyone out there has a wiring diagram they could share so I can get it back to factory wiring. I count four wires from the factory harness that are just chopped off, and I have a feeling that these are the wires that I'm looking for. Can anyone help me out? 82 300d. Thanks in advance

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1982 300d -Adolf- Got it for 500 bucks from a guy that thought he knew how to make biodiesel. Even the best diesels won't run on burnt french fry ends! 318,000 and counting
1982 300cd -Erwin- 107,000 miles! The most fun you can have in a diesel. Wrecked by an idiot, massive insurance payout for me. Tough to see you go, my friend.
1983 300d -Katrina- Another five hundred bucks. Straight outta New Orleans, by way of Maryland. Work in progress. 291,000 and counting

This should probably be in Audio and Multimedia, but not a big deal. There are some good threads there, some misinformation too. Use a voltmeter to check wires and don't forget your dashlights connect to this circuit.

There are plenty of threads on the W123 wiring, and if it was hacked you've probably got troubles.

If you have four wires coming out of a thin black tube/shrink wrap you may be lucky.

I think the thin red wire is steady +12V via fuse 2. The fat red wire is switched +12V via the cigarette lighter connection from fuse 4. If there's a gray/violet striped wire that's the variable voltage from the rheostat for the radio lights (fuse 1?) and then brown for ground.

Don't forget you've also got a factory power antenna "trigger" wire (usually black, sometimes blue, sometimes striped) maybe with an exposed female spade connector. And your speaker wires: rd/bk + bk, gn/bk + bk. I think red is left, green right; but I could be wrong.

Some discussions

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=284681
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=288772
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=154476

thank you much. I'll see what I can find out by digging. I do recall a cluster of three or four wires, all coming out of a factory-looking harness. Every one of them was cut off, without even a wire nut or electrical tape to cover them. After looking back there, it's a miracle I don't have more electrical issues. I'll let you know how it all works out.

__________________
1982 300d -Adolf- Got it for 500 bucks from a guy that thought he knew how to make biodiesel. Even the best diesels won't run on burnt french fry ends! 318,000 and counting
1982 300cd -Erwin- 107,000 miles! The most fun you can have in a diesel. Wrecked by an idiot, massive insurance payout for me. Tough to see you go, my friend.
1983 300d -Katrina- Another five hundred bucks. Straight outta New Orleans, by way of Maryland. Work in progress. 291,000 and counting

well, I've got it mostly figured out. Seems to be some wires missing, but i've got power where I need it. Thanks for your help. Your wire colors are dead on by the way, I checked tem with my volt meter. Spend a lot of time digging around in there? thanks again

__________________
1982 300d -Adolf- Got it for 500 bucks from a guy that thought he knew how to make biodiesel. Even the best diesels won't run on burnt french fry ends! 318,000 and counting
1982 300cd -Erwin- 107,000 miles! The most fun you can have in a diesel. Wrecked by an idiot, massive insurance payout for me. Tough to see you go, my friend.
1983 300d -Katrina- Another five hundred bucks. Straight outta New Orleans, by way of Maryland. Work in progress. 291,000 and counting

If you're looking for the antenna wire, it may be easiest to start at the switch and work down. You can carefully pry/lever the switch out. A random black wire with a female spade is the most likely candidate, or cut off since you're replacing an aftermarket install.

Other than the speaker wires that should cover the radio. I did just post a radio wiring diagram. It may be legible. Check the media forum.

Other odd black "wires" in that area are really fiber optic cables for light to the switches. If you see a disconnected wire with a blunt metal fitting and no obvious metal core, that provides light to a switch. If you pop the antenna switch you'll see what I mean.