so i decide my car needed remote central locking, now that the wet season is coming, the less time i spend unlocking the car in the rain the better.
after doing some research, i didn't actually find out much about these kind of aftermarket kits. especially the cheap ones on ebay that claim to fit any car. but being under £20 for a full set i decided to take the leap.
tools you will need:
masking tape
pen/pencil
drill and drill bits
junior hacksaw/hacksaw
cable ties/electrical tape
screwdrivers
clear nail polish (yes really)
multimeter
some electrical connectors
cup(s) of tea/coffee
i will do a step by step guide for anyone else who may look to do this in the future (although it is covered quite well by might car mods).
first step is to see what type of locking mechanism you have on your car. most cars use a rod system but some older cars use a cable. i believe most kits are designed for a rod system but you can buy adapters for cable systems.
next you will need to remove your door card but reattach the window winder/switches. to give you some thing like this
next you need to mark up how your rods move behind the door to lock/unlock you car and transfer this do the outer skin on the door. this is where the masking tape and pen come in handy. cover the area of the door where the lock is with masking tape and roughly draw out the locking rod.
the actuators that come in the kit move in a straight line, in and out, and you need this movement to be parallel to the locking rod. my locking rod comes out of the latch at an angle and only straightens out at the few CM.
you can see the layout of my locking rod, its rather short and angled almost its entire lenght, the short bit of vertical rod at the ends isnt long enough to attach the rod coming off the actuator. (the hole is so i could tighten the screws up on the connector for the two rods and i tidied it up after)
to solve the problem of my rod not being straight (oh matron), i put a bend on the actuator rod that matched the angle of the locking rod. i also trimmed the end off to stop it hitting on the top of door skin.
when you're happy where the actuator attaches and happy it attaches properly, you need to take it off again, fit the rod through the actuator and then refit it to the locking rod. this gives you a rough postion of where you actuator will be.
before you go any further, wind down your windows. there would be nothing worse than doing all this prep and fitting the actuator to find out it obstructs the windows coming down.
once your sure your actuator clears the windows, you can drill holes that hold it in place. I'm quite lucky with my doors in that the ends have grill design to them. i and could easily see the actuator and measure the first hole. same technique was used with the masking tape to mark up.
once the first hole was drilled,i used one of the other actuators as a template to drill the second hole.
(i should of been a hand model)
once both holes have been drilled you can use the self taping screws and holding bar supplied in the kit to secure the actuator in place
now we all know rust kills cars, and bare metal is where rust usually starts. drilling holes into your door has now created some areas for oxidation to form. instead of masking up the area, covering your window to prevent over spray which can take ages, i just dab a load of clear nail varnish over the hole. this should protect the metal. if you havent got any nail varnish to hand, just ask to use some of the misses's, just don't use her good stuff (trust me, it never ends well)
with every thing now in secured in place don't, i repeat don't, put the door card back on. instead plumb in all the electronics. i should point out now that there on no instructions on how to do this, just a very basic diagram. but all you need to make it work is very basic understand of electrics and to not be colour blind (sorry if you are, just ask a mate to help
)
the drivers actuator (main actuator) has 5 cables coming off it, the receiver unit has 5 matching cables that come. these already have connectors on them so they are just plug and play. its the same for all other actuators, except they only have 2 cables coming off, they are all colour matched.
the receiver needs a constant live and an earth to work. i ran a spare cable, i which i had laying around, from the battery, through the car too the receiver, but you could use something like the hazard switch live feed. any thing is only live when the ignition is on is no use. you can check different components by leaving the ignition off and probing them with a multimeter.
once you have found your power source all you need is an earth, my car had no earthing points near the receiver so i wired it into brake light's earth (yes i did check that my brake lights worked after). once the receiver is plumbed in, you're ready to test the system. (i may have got a bit carried away testing the system, simple minds and what not). if the system doesn't work, it there is either a problem with your power feed or earth. if you change these multiple times and it still doesn't work, take the battery out of the car and hold the cables directly on to the battery. if it works now, you no the fault is with your wiring, if it doesn't work, the unit it broken.
now you can put your door card back on. once you've done one, the rest are exactly the same. i did my two door car in an afternoon.
glad luck and enjoy this fun, easy mod. i know i am
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