DC5 Central Locking FIX!

[MrThanh]

so I finally got around to fixing my central locking which died about a year ago. here's my guide (with pics!) to how I did it. Most if not all central locking kits will come with instructions on how to connect it to your existing locking rods that are inside the door, and if you look inside the DC5 door.. they're all hidden away.

lets get started.. you will need
* Central locking kit/solenoids
* Pliers
* Philips head screwdriver
* small flat head screw driver
* electrical tape or heatshrink and your preferred method of connecting wires whether it be soldering or crimping.

i got a central locking kit from supercheap auto which ended up costing me about $43.


start off by taking off the door trim... remove the 2 screws under the armrest


remove the small plastic cover behind the door latch with the small flathead screwdriver to expose two more screws and remove those screws.. dont push the screwdriver against the latch handle because it may scratch.. so pull out the latch with one hand whilst you undo the screw with the other.



pull the latch out and disconnect the central locking switch, the door release cable and the last screw that holds the door trim against the frame.


now you're going to have to pry the trim off the door. do NOT force a screwdriver under the trim because you WILL scratch the paint.. instead, put your hand behind the trim where the door hinge is. you should be able to get a bit of your fingers behind it... then pull. don't be a pussy... do it with some force. once that side is out, work your way around the bottom until all of the clips are out. once the clips are out. lift the trim UP and then slide it towards the REAR of the car and it should come right out.


remove the power window connection from the door trim. make sure that the window is winded up before you remove the connection to give you a bit more room to work with, and so that you dont accidently break the glass or scratch your tint.

[MrThanh]

now to fit the new actuators.. there arent too many pics here as I had almost finished doing both sides before I decided to take pics of the process.

if you stick your head into the hole in the door and look to where the OEM actuator is, you should see a white plastic bit with a ring on it. if you push this ring backwards and forwards you will notice that the door locks and unlocks. omg! if you're working on the drivers side door push the locking mechanism/door release thingo on the side of the door in (the drivers side door wont lock if its open).

start by creating a hook at one end of the metal rods that comes with your central locking kit. this will hook onto the ring that you saw inside the door/OEM actuator.

you will then need to test fit your actuator to see how much of the rod you will need.. possibly even bend it so that it pulls straight backwards and forwards. you will get what im going on about when you start playing around with it. I ended up using a coat hanger instead because I only had one set of pliers with me and could not bend the rods that came with the kit.

mine ended up looking like this...


and this is what it looks like connected to the new actuator...


you will need to hook it onto the ring inside the door first because theres not much room to move around in there, so dont mount the actuator until you've done this.


you can then go on to mounting the new actuator to your door. here's how/where I have mine.

as you can see, I unhooked the wires from the two holes that were there, and that's where I mounted my new actuators. You will probably need to put washers there so that the screws dont just go through the hole.

[MrThanh]

pull out the smaller plug of the two that are connected to your oem actuators. it looks like this.

and test the polarity of lock/unlock by plugging the wires into the sockets. make sure that you twist the cable neatly so that theres no short between the cables. on the drivers side, the correct connection for me was
green --> yellow w/ green stripe
blue --> yellow w/ black stripe
you will notice that the actuator needs to push up/extend to lock the door, and pull back/retract to unlock.


I found that you cannot just leave it in the plug how it is, as the doors dont want to lock themselves if the small plug is not plugged into the OEM actuators, so you will need to splice into those cables that you have just identified. You can strip it back a bit or cut them, but note if you cut them (like i did) you cant stuff up because the cables are short already and have almost no slack. I would have stripped the cable back a bit and tapped in and soldered the connections but I could not find any solder at home. I ended up crimping...


once you've done that, make sure that you tape it all up, including the wires that are now left without a home/clip because of the location of the actuators. i just taped mine all together. you need to tidy it up because you dont want the window to catch one of the wires on its way down.


you should be good to go now. wind the windows DOWN so that you can put the top of the door trim back on the door first. put the door trim back on in reverse order. before doing so, make sure that you remove any clips that are stuck in the door that came off the door trim and put them back on the trim before banging it all into place.

now run away and play with your remote to your heart's content.
It took me about 40-60 mins to do both sides. I must say, It's so good to have it back... not having to put the key in when i get to the car... not having to reach over and open the lock on the other side.. no more standing in the rain fumbling around with keys!

[M a i k e r u]

nice write up!

[Jingers]

good post thanh.

[felixR]

rep points for you!

[noodleman]

nice one thanh

[tofu]

excellent job!