power locks project

power locks project

I've studied the electrical diagrams and such and I think I can install factory power locks into my base CE.

I know I can get the lock mechanisms for the doors and the integration relay from the parts desk at the dealership. That's easy.

I have two challenges, though...

One is the fact that my rear doors don't have the rubber tubing to run wiring through. The hole is there on the body, but not on the door. I'd have to drill a hole into it. Hopefully I'll be able to get a close look at one that has these so I can get an idea of the size and location... and hopefully I can get the rubber tubing and install it fairly easily.

The other is the wiring itself. Some wires need to be run through existing connectors, and I'm not sure how easy or hard it is to crimp wires into them or if any special equipment is needed to do that. Also, I don't have part numbers for anything, and I wonder if some of the wiring harnesses (especially the stuff behind the dash) can even be ordered.

This would be so much easier if I had access to a parts car at a junkyard.

Has anyone done anything similar? I brought it to a custom shop recently and they told me they couldn't put in power lock actuators because of the cable driven locks. So I decided I'd see if I could do it myself.

You can use aftermarket actuators with the cable type locks. You just run the rods that are included with the actuators to the plastic latch part of the locks themselves. Takes a bit of drilling and a fair amount of time. I have done all my doors as well as the trunk. For the rear you need to drill holes in the door to fit frommets. The factory wiring grommet for the rear doors takes a large hole. You can do it easier by drilling a smaller hole and a standard gromet, then use some usuall wire loom between the chassis and the door.

Its not hard to run the aftermarket actuators on our cars, I wish I would have taken pics though. My first attemt was to attach the rods from the actuators to inside of the cable in the door lock mechanism, I wraped the rod to the inner part of the lock cable and soldered it all together. It worked but I decided to go for a more elegant solution. I ran the rod from the actuator allong side the cable and into the plastic door lock mechanism. Running it from behind I drilled a small whole in the door lock switch (the button you push back and forth with your thumb). The whole is right beside the whole where the cable attaches but is larger. I then connected the rod from the actuator to this hole. When the actuator moves it pushes the lock from behind just as the cable does. It has been installed and used everday for close to a year. It works great and costs next to nothing. (~$50)

If you decide to use the factory actuators I would definetly make my own wiring harness as your car isn't wired for them (atleast mine wasn't). You will need a few relays, there are some wiring diagrams kicking around to show how to hook them up any actuators.

Scott

How did you hook up the trunk release? I have factory power locks but was wondering if it would be possible to hook up the Panic button on the remote to open the trunk. I hate having to use the key for the trunk all the time. How did you run wires to the trunk? I looked at the wiring diagram and found the remote receiver. There seems to be only 2 output/inputs. 1 called pgm and one called rdr or something like that. Wonder how this this translates to the two buttons on the remote.

I wired the trunk release to the second channel of the aftermarket alarm I have. I kind of doubt it will be that easy to tap into the panic circuit, as there is alot of internal logic that is triggered when you push the button. Maybe there would be a way to have the trunk pop if you press and hold the unlock button or something, it shouldn't be too hard to measure some voltages and see if any of the lines from the alarm module stay high as the button is pressed. It would take a bit of circuitry to do it though, not hard it would just take a bit more work.

Scott