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can anybody help befor they take me away to the funny farm.
has anybody managed to mary up marlins loom to a pre 96 rover 220 also using the engine and management loom from a 820 vitess. any help would see me forever grateful.
I have tried using haynes for all 3 cars and the rover electrical diagrams. nothing seems to match uo with the exi loom.
tony, I can help with the engine management wiring, i can fax you some good easy to understand wiring diagrams for it if you e.mail me your fax number.
i have not used the marlin wiring harness opting for my rover 25 donor loom, it works. is there no info with the new loom then, i'm baffled that there is no information, i am an auto electrician and would expect some info. every component is designated with a specific wiring code i.e. 30 bat positive, 15 ignition switched supply etc, are none of the wires marked up with these numbers?. i can fax you a full list or you can probably find it on the net. some manufacturers mark there components with the relevant code but not all. hope this helps. Brian
I have some hand instructions from Marlin which they photocopied for me... Let me know if you want me to email them to anyone?
Brian, would you mind faxing me the instructions you have? I'm still in major need of help to sort out the wires... (Believe me computers are far easier to understand than car electrics!)
Over the past 2 weekends my mate Steve has been playing with his circuit tester and has managed to virtually complete the marriage of the pre-95 rover 400 / Marlin Loom.
I have just watched in amazement as one by one this guy has made a car come to life. Yesterday he finished by connecting the ignition switch, I am now 'turn key' start.
Best of all he made up a small book for me showing every connection so that if I have a problem at a later date I can refer to that.
If you are still having problems, let me know and I will check my book.
yes still have probs. spent 3 hours + down with simon at marlin, cracked most things except engine management. the loom from the 820 vittess ecu managemet does not match either the haynes or rover workshop manual. so trying to match up with exi loom is a challenge.
Hi Tony,
I have mine wired up and it was a bit tricky, mainly because the information I had didn't show wire colours and the relay plug numbers weren't shown from which viewpoint. I eventually worked it out and will be able to help you. It would probably be bettter if you can ring me at home where I can run through what I have on mine. I'll mail you my contact number. Brian.
I'm just finishing off the engine clean-up etc ready to bolt it all in...but then i thought i'll just open up this ere marlin wiring pack to see what that's all about...
lots of wires, no labels or instructions...yikes!
I am in similar position to tony-g i think...i have a '95 420 gsi turbo loom + ecu to somehow match and install with the marlin loom...
Tomboy, your mate steve's book could prove useful...any plans to scan it on to the net? I could put it on my web-site for all to see as i'm sure it would be extremely useful???
I have yet to try to match up the loom, but I reckon this task will slow me up lots
Brian, Iam interested in your choiceof using the R25 existing loom. I too have a R25 (1.8vvc GTI) as the donor, which I will start stripping in a couple of weeks.
I picked up Modules one and two from Marlin a couple of weeks ago, but they were and are short of the loom.
Since reading that you have kept the original loom I hope you don't mind if I pick your brain on a few points:
The R25 is front engined and the Marlin is Mid engined, how did you cope with the engine being in the wrong location for the loom?
For items not used on the 5exi such as electric mirrors, windows, AC etc did you just cut these off the loom or did you inpick the entire loom and basically start from scratch?
Have you retained the imobiliser and if so what do you do with all teh in cabin sensors etc?
Any other info you could impart would be most useful and highly appreciated.
Hi Mike, The donor you are using makes your situation a little different to mine. I have used the donor loom and then interfaced the engine management system from another vehicle (800 vitesse turbo). I think yours will be slightly easier, with carefull planning. The loom that Marlin supply does not include immobiliser or engine management system wiring anyway so that job would still have to be done regardless. I f you think about the rest of the wiring on the car all you need is lights, dash, heater,horn,wipers etc. The donor you have will probably require the removal of many items not required. It is your decision what you chop out and what you leave. When I stripped my donor loom out of the car I meticulously labelled what every plug went to so I could deal with it when needed. It took about 4-6 hours work stripping back all the harness tape and following unwanted wiring back to it's source and removing. If you concentrate on everything except the engine management system most of the components that are in the donor are in the same place on the kit (front lights,rear lights, column switches, dash, heater etc). The odd item that needs modifying are fuel tank electrics and engine wiring. It is a painstaking job sorting out the donor loom but for say 6 hours work a saving of £160, and there will be less connections due to manufacturer plugs staying on. The immobiliser on your model must be left in place or it will never go. Where the engine management loom interfaces with the cars wiring loom is what will need extending (probably only 4/5 wires at most). hth. Brian.
Brian thanks for that information, that makes things a lot clearer. I will definately utilise my loom and get a credit note from Marlin. I think it will be a lot easier than trying it intergrate Marlins loom.
However I do have Just a couple of more questions if you don't mind.
1). What do you do with the fuse boxes. My car has got one in the engine compartment and one in the car interior itself (drivers side under steering wheel). Just seems to be an awful lot of wires going everywhere.
2). I assume that when you removed all the wires from the loom that you didn't need, that you taped the loom back up. What did you use? Black electricians tape or a proprietry product?
You will see from the above that electrics is not exactly my strong point. I am sure that it will be a lot easier once I have stripped the loom out.
Hi Mike, It sounds like your loom is very similar to mine, the 2 fuse boxes sound the same, the one in the engine compartment is rectangular shaped with the corner cut off, and the main one is mounted to the right of the steering column. I have mounted the engine fuse box just in front of the brake servo between fuel tank and radiator. I have not fitted Marlins own side panels and if you intend to fit these you may have to alter its position. The main fuse box mounts in the same place as the donor, I have temporarily bungeed it up there. If you have any bare wires just use electicians tape to insulate. The engine compartment fuse box is open to weather underneath so it would be advisable to seal it, I have used a piece of pond liner material and silicone. The other advantage of using donor loom by the way is standard wiring diagrams and fuse locations from donor will apply. If I have time I will try and take some pictures of my installation. The two main colours in the harness to remember by the way, blacks are earths, browns are live. Good luck with it Mike. Brian.
