Retro Fitting Cemtral Locking Kit - Is This Possible?!

[greyngone]

I've recently purchased a 1997 Galaxy 2.8 Ghia X

 

I have no central locking whatsever, boot, drivers and passenger door locks do not operate the c/l. No flashing from the drivers door led, no response from the buttons on the key, except from the led.

I've repaired all the broken wires in all the doors inc. boot. Also repaired the previous owners 'repairs' to the wiring.... The CCM is bone-dry. Fuses all checked.

 

As its a £500 car, a £40+ punt on another CCM doesn't seem logical to me.

 

Looking at the intergrated drivers door lock, I'd guess retrofitting an ebay-sourced central locking kit is out of the question?

 

Any answer's would be hugely appreciatd please!

Paul.

 

 

[BrianH]

Have a check of the wiring round the join in the front passengers footwell if you haven't already. Its not unknown for it to fail there due to corrosion from the leaking rear washer pipe.

 

 

I can't see a reason this wouldn't work http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL-REMOTE-KEYLESS-CENTRAL-DOOR-LOCKING-KIT-KEYLESS-ENTRY-2-OR-4-DOOR-/191000591692?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c7885bd4cunless you can't mate it to the door handle connection of course. But since that listing gives a uk number it may be worth contacting them to ask anyway?

 

I'd be inclined to try a scan of the central locking with vcds though first if you have access to a lead - for two reasons, the first it may tell you that theres a fixable fault present that is causing the problem, the second is if you get no response then its a good chance its the locking ecu at fault (either its not receiving any power, or its dead?)

Edited July 15, 2015 by BrianH

[greyngone]

BrianH - thanks for your help.  I've  actually ordered a similar kit off ebay. Mating the motor's to the actual door handle connection hadn't occurred to me -I reckon you're on to something there - I could quite easily fashion something up. Will update the post, with pics if I can. 

I pulled the CCM apart this evening - plastic casing was marked, looks as if the previous owner had prized it open at some point. I will deffo look at the wiring though in the footwell - interior light's and door courtesy lamps aren't working so I may cure this. The car is in good nick, but despite the previous owner claiming to be a 'mechanic', its a mass of scotchblocks...   its a wonder any of the electrics are working.

Thank you again,

Paul.

[BrianH]

Been thinking about this - the other way you might be able to approach it is to splice the existing kit into the door lock motors on the existing door lock instead (using the kit to control the existing locks rather than the ones its supplied with). Would take some working out to see what way is best to tackle it, but probabbly end up more reliable than trying to attach to the door handle cables (as they also allow you to open the door I can see this might be more problematic than it first appears).

[greyngone]

Thought I should give some details on how I solved this....

Threw my CCM in the bin after repairing various wires in door jambs and rear hatch, buying a 20 quid kit on ebay and two pairs of cable converter brackets at £8 a pair.

 

FRONT DOORS :  I found the gap where the motor's needed to be installed was too wide for the brackets provided. I ended up using two brackets on each of the front doors,so picked up some metal strip from a hardware shop fro the rear doors, though this wasn't needed in the end - read on!! Cable converter brackets were easy to install anwork well. The motor mounting brackets look a little heath robinson ( see photo's attached ) - but the motors are securely fitted.

 

REAR DOORS :  Fitting the motors in the required area, parellel to the door lock cable meant the glass would catch the motor when the lecky windows were operated.  I'd read somewhere that a VW Golf owner had attached his c/l motors to the actual door lock mechanism. I removed the mech and cut away the plastic body with tin snips, exposing the actual locking part of the mech. Cutting the plastic doesn't affect the operation of the lock. See pics.

 

The gap between the mech and the door skin was obviously tight, so I lobbed the rods supplied with the c/l kit and cut up a wire coathanger ( a quid for 6 from Wilko's ). The coathanger was thinner and easier to shape. I made a loop around the actual catch that operates the lock ( SEE CLOSE UP PIC  OF OSR DOOR MECH ), reinstalling the mechanism in the door.

 

Fitting the motor in the bottom edge of the door meant that it was well away from the glass. Trail fitting the coathanger wire was straightforward, checking that the wire wasn't fitted too tight and checked by hand ( motor not connected ) that the motor could travel its full extent. I then cut down the coathanger, looping it around the motor. connected the motor and ensured it travelled sufficiently to operate the lock.  Both worked perfectly 1st time - all locks operating perfectly 4 weeks on!

 

I'm sure the same method applied to the front door lock mechs -  on hindsight I wish I hadn't bothered shelling out 16 quid for the cable converters. As one pair are now sat in the shed unused. The coathanger method worked really well and was easy to install.

 

PHOTO'S : 1st two are of OSF door, rest are of the OSR door / lock.

 

Can't see why this method can't be used on a mark 2 Galaxy.  when installing the motor to OSR door, I took a feed off the wiring, insulating the ends and have tucked it under the os boot panel for the time being. I was intending to run this through to the fuel flap lock. The motor looks like a standard c/lock motor,  however it differs to the motors in my locking kit and isn't a negative trigger lock.  I've ordered two motor's from ebay for 4 quid a go. One for the fuel flap, the other for the boot lock.

My remote fobs also have a boot release button, so I'll be sorting this out before the weather goes belly-up.

 

Will add photo's and info on here or elsewhere on the forum.

Edited October 1, 2015 by greyngone

[greyngone]

Just to add the obvious - before proceeding with ANY work involving the removal of any of the door cards - order a handful of yellow door trim clips off ebay first! 

Edited October 1, 2015 by greyngone

[BrianH]

Good to hear you got it working, maybe it will help someone else in the future!

[Gerty Gal]

I fitted a cheap similar kit off ebay.  I  went for the tail gate lock easy to get at, I found the two wires on the door lock and added into these all works great I even tapped into the fog lights to show it comes on and put the flashing On light against the back window .Hope this helps others . A quick ten pound fix with two remotes.