Question
As you can tell from the age of the controller box, the sprinkler system for the house I purchased last year is a little old.  This past week-end I used a valve finder to find all the buried valves and put valve boxes around them.  So, I disconnected the wires for all 12 stations from their terminals, tagged each wire with its' corresponding station so that I could re-attach once the olympic event of locating all the valves was accomplished.   The valves were located, wires for each station were re-attached to their corresponding terminals.  Now, here's the rub -- (1) the "Manual Start" button does not work anymore, (2) the system does not start automatically running as programmed, and (3) when I select "manual" for any station -- the station that actually starts is the first station in line that is in NOT in the OFF position.  For example, if I select "manual for Station 1 -- Station 1 starts watering just fine.  If, however, I select Station 7 or 8 or 9 or (well, you get the point) -- Station 1 comes on instead.  Now, if I turn Station 1 OFF (Note:  Station 2 is NOT off) and I select "manual" to turn on Station 10 (or any other station)-- Station 2 will come on.  Ergo -- the first station (starting with 1 and going to 12) not in an OFF position will come on, regardless of which station I actually select.  I do want to be sure to note that the station the controller shows is watering is "correct" -- for example, if the red light is glowing next to station 2 -- then I can go outside and see that station 2 is actually watering -- however, this is not to be confused with the fact that I had actually selected station 7 to run (but station 2 turned on since it was the first station in sequence not in the OFF position).  Is the controller bad, or is there some way to reset it, or ????? It was working fine before.

Answer
Pat,
Sorry for my late response. Irrigation biz has been busy lately.
It's been about 18 years since I worked with a Toro EL series controller. Unfortunately I can't find an instruction manual to refresh my memory either. As I recall, the EL's had a duel common system. One for shrubs, one for lawn. Is it possible these were hooked to the opposite terminal?  It shouldn't make a difference, but the EL's were touchy. I would really pay close attention to the commons, that might cause a unusual controller.
My only other thought would be to disconnect each wire one at a time and run the system. Maybe one of the valves are wired strange and it is affecting the controller.
I wish I could be more help. I just can't recall all of the "special needs" of the EL controllers.

Matt