JussiG7

Thanks about the best solution! That kind of crane seems to cost at least 235 euros, if bought to private use. Maybe it is possible to lend the crane somewhere, we´ll see. In my youth I used only this kind of chain hoists. But in that time there were usually more spacious engine rooms in cars than nowadays. In Felicia 1.3 there is otherwise space enough, but the problems do exist only with the whole engine, clutch or gearbox. But the most important information is, that the whole system has to be lowered at first, and the gearbox must be taken out in that position. And only then it is possible to lift up the engine. So, we´ll see how it goes. Now, the switch engine seller has promised to sell an engine (with mileage of 160 000 km) with the price of 150€, and this price the engine removed from the spare part car. And now it is still on its place in that car. So, let us see, how he manages to remove the engine. Maybe I shall learn about his experiences.

Thanks! We have got two lifting hoists, one to lift the engine and one to help it turn to a right position with gear box. No photos available, yet.

Good Morning from Finland Could it be possible to get step-by-step- advises to remove old 1.3mpi engine and install a new one from above, please ? Haynes book tells to do it from below, and I don't have a possibility to get the car so high, that I could do it that way. With humble greetings, JussiG from Finland.

Thanks! It is now very much easier to work and think in temperature +20C as it was in +30C

Hi again! I spent two weeks in Lapland hiking there on mountains, and came back as a new man, full of energy and with clear brains, I hope. And dear Green Beast made more than 2000 km using only 5,5L/100km (95E) ! But it was about the time to give the tailgate a proper cover against rust, and the same time to check all the wirings in the tailgate and leading to the tailgate. And I have to admit, that Ricardo was right about the colours and the meanings of the wires all the time. So, I corrected my own photos and shall send here also a new photo about the wiper motor connector. Hope, it might help somebody

Hi again! Today is supposed the be the last day here in Finland to go over +30C So, maybe the next car issues shall be easier, as my brain reaches more comfortable circumstances and: This is the way I see these two arguments: Ricardo thinks, the oil is not supposed to stay inside the gaiter, because it may damage the rubber. And also the oil might cause dust, sand etc. to gather round the axle. Papez thinks, the hole is there to avoid a vacuum-effect so that it would not pull oil from gearbox. And 4 years ago R_U_AFA thought: "Fitting the gaiter I noticed that it had a hole in it, presumably to let the air out when it's compressed. So I've put the hole facing the underbody,to keep out road dirt." So, I assume that he presumed the gaiter being so tight that it would not let the air out, which is a relative to the vacuum-theory. I think that all the 3 theories are good and acceptable. But the question remains the same: Must the hole be directed up or down? Or, as a compromise, to the left/right? The crucial thing is, however, to keep the hole open, I suppose! The gearbox works now perfectly, I have used this oil also before. In the winter I have not found obvious differences between 75W90 and 80W90. It may be because of the climate change and motor heaters, but nowadays the oil problems have gone upside down concerning gear or engine oils. In the year 1998 I, for example, did use 75W90 fully synthetic gear oil and 5W40 fully synthetic motor oil in my dear Lada car, and had many cold starts, in which the good viscosity in winter was vital. But now I have become more careful. In Felicia gearbox the API-4 classification seems to be more important than the SAE-class. Many people say that an oil with API-5 class may destroy Felicia gear box, I don´t know about that. And some people say that also 5W40 engine oil may cause problems, so I rather use 10W40 oils. Just because I nowadays have to do cold starts not so often in winter. And with the gear box it is about the same. But I must say, I live almost in the shoreline of the Baltic Sea (it is very seldom to freeze nowadays). If I would live in Lapland, I would use as thin oils as possible. Regards, JussiG7

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Good Morning! That may be the reason for a connector edge to melt, I mean a tiny scratch inside the rubber boot leading to the tailgate. But I bought this Felicia in March 2016, and the problems with the main lights began almost immediately (the reason was the 2 robber joints made by car importer two install the seat warming system, still grateful about the help I got from you and others). What I´m trying to say is: Already then the corner BA/2 had melted away and afterwards I found out that there was no black wire at all. Its head was not visible, suppose it was somewhere in the cable going to the left A-pillar. So, maybe the reason of the fault in connector was as you described, but somebody had removed at least 1m black wire and done nothing to solve the problem. The previous owner lived 500 km north from me, almost in Lapland. So, the heater in rear screen should have been very important during the winter 2015-2016. But nowadays, as we have, not only motor heaters but also cabin heaters in almost all cars, it is possible to "start from a heated pole and go to work, where there is another heated pole". In that sense the rear screen heater is not so important nowadays. But generally speaking, I think that every Felicia/Favorit owner should check the wires inside the rubber boot leading to tailgate. In cars, the age of +18 years, that place is usually worn out somehow. Thanks about the PM ! There is a lot of material to search during the next black winter JussiG7

Hi Ricardo! Thanks about the corrections and new illustrations! It is now too hot even to open the tailgate panel to see the wires going there, but I believe that you are right in that ! I´ll check them later. Just now it is enough for me that all the parts of the system: license plate lights, extra brake light, rear screen heater, rear screen wiper and also the luggage compartment lamp work perfectly. I shall wait for cooler days to check the wires, but I suppose you are right. That means: The wires are the same as they came from factory. I only wonder, what had burned the BA- connector, because in my eyes it seemed to be burnt, not cracked (shaken, not stirred). Any other signs of a short or a fire are not visible, so I suppose the wiring generally is original (except the wires to rear and front fog light switches that I shall fix). By the way, you seem to be a kind of (inter)national treasure with all possible information from not only your own car but also the other Felicia models I would like to ask: " Where do you have got the access to Felicia LX make2 all electric diagrams, or is it possible for car electrics mechanics only?" Sincerely, JussiG7

Hi guys! Finally I got the replacing of the old axle seal and the installing of the new gaiter done! It has been so extraordinary hot in Finland almost a month, that it has been difficult for a Finnish Iceman to do anything in this infernal heat (every day the temperature between +27C -- +32C and a lot of sun). I just put one big photo here as a comic strip here to show how NOT to do this job. Naturally I also changed the gear oils (API-4 and semi-synthetic 80W-90 oil), but as the very honored member R_U_A_F_A has made a complete manual to this job, I just describe the seal and gaiter job. And because in Continent it seems rather difficult to get new OEM- parts, I thus share the links of the parts here directly. Both parts are for Favorit Skodas, but I believe that they today work better as the Felicia ones: https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/115222290-seal-14x24-30x15-cz-11334.html for the seal and https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/115292800-shift-stick-cuff-cz-1156.html for the gaiter. May your days be merry and bright...

Thanks about the illustration ! The biggest difference with my LX-Felicia wires is the lack of alarming system, which leaves the pins 2 and 7 empty in my 8-pin connector. Neither do I have even CL in my tailgate. It is good to know that I can get inside my car even if the CL-system stops working in -35C degrees The pin1 in my car goes to license plate lights, pin2 is empty, pin3 gives +12V to rear screen heater, pin4 goes to the pin1 in wiper motor, pin5 goes to extra brake lamp, pin6 is a general ground wire, pin7 is empty and finally pin8 goes to pin3 in wiper motor connector. Good night, JussiG7

Thanks about the diagram and the illustration! I had seen that illustration before, because it is in this thread, but the diagram was new to me. Actually I sent my message as a "problem solved after some stupid mistakes", but now I found out that from your POV it was not solved at all I mean, that I had made a shortcut beside that 8-pin connector T8l/3. Well, it is possible that I shall fix it to go thru that connector. So it would be easier for the next owner to repair the problems occurring inside that circuit. But I am strongly of that opinion, that this dear Feli shall remain with me as long as it is able to pass the MOT and the winter These are the main challenges for this car !!! As I have said before, I like cars with timing chains, and also cars with as little amount of electricity as possible. So, this green beast from east shall be in my possession and use as long as possible. Thanks about the diagram, it is very useful. I used it also as a background to my JPG- images to show, how the circuit and contactor seems to work in my car. Any correction is welcome Best Regards, JussiG7

Hi guys! Now that we have had a real, warm summer in Scandinavia, too, I have been able to do some fixings with my dear Felicia, fixings that are not urgent, but important to do when the weather is good enough. One of these little problems, that I have now solved was the rear screen demister or the rear window heater, as we call it here in Finland, because it is mainly used against the cold, not so much against fog. So, I noticed the problem of the current not coming to the heater in autumn 2016, and as the winter then came rather early, I could not repair the whole circuit, but ended up to a very unprofessional, but a safe solution taking current straight from the battery (via external fuse box, though) and leading it to a LED switch that showed when the current was on or off. And it worked ok during the two winters . No problems. But as it has been a very long and hot summer in Finland, too, I´ve been able to check that problem again. And now I can say, the problem is really solved. In my case it was a question of two or three things: 1. To find out what is the basic reason for the lack of the current (it was a damaged connector BA in the fuse box) 2. To find the same kind of unbroken connector (my only solution was my 96-Feli) 3. To find out, if the circuit was broken also in other places than from the BA- connector (I did not find the black wire at all under the dashboard, so I had to rewire the whole circuit from fuse box to the rear window) The rest should have been impossible to fail... But I managed to do it !!! So in the year 2016 I messed the system and had to build quite a new source for the current to go to the rear window. Only a few days ago I noticed my error, as I was checking the circuits of the rear and front fog lamps. I made a diary for myself in November 2016 that I now translated in English.It is in JPG-format. I hope it is possible to load in a resolution big enough. And I hope, too, that it might help someone other struggling with rear window problems. Kind Regards from the land of the midnight sun

Hi Ricardo, nice to hear about you It really seems, that at lest in this case the old seal is better as the new one.

Hi! I´ve been driving with Skoda Felicias about 5 years, and by now I had absolutely no problems with gear box leaks. Until this summer. First I had a 96-Felicia spi in which there was that older type oil seal and gaiter, and it worked well in this sense, no leaks. It is now at countryside being a spare part car for my 98-mpi-Felicia that has now begun to leak. At least in Finland it seems quite impossible to get that kind of old and little parts to a twenty-year-old Felicia. I was in dark despair as I found out that that kind of parts were sold only in eastern Europe countries as: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey etc. And only the Czech company Skoda-Parts.com had sites in English. But they wanted 33,88 euros about the shipment to Finland, as the parts did cost 3,88 euros But finally I could get that transportation with only 10 euros, so today I ordered two pieces of part 002 301 227 and one piece of part 115 292 800 So, now I am waiting for the parts to come from the deep south to this faraway polar area. But I mus say, that I personally believe that the older system was better. The gaiter in my old Fellow protected that axle against stones, salt and so on, so it never began to leak, I suppose. Would anybody have anything to comment about those parts or the work that has to be done while removing the old seal and oils and then replacing the new parts and new oils? Any comment is welcome Best greetings from the rain forest climate in Finland (28 degrees Celcius and humidy about 80%), JussiG7

Thanks about advice ! Now that the annual check of the car is rather near (last day 01.11.2016) , I shall concentrate in it. It takes some money in any case, so the anti-theft alarm system (ATAS) purchase shall happen in the beginning of the next year, if the car passes the test and if it proves to be a reliable car also in winter. In my opinion, it seems that that huge amount of the broken micro-switch cases in VW:s is partly because all the functions (CL + ATAS and electric windows in one compact and plastic part with miserable joints) are put together. So, as I now have that CL with remote control, I shall install that ATAS separately from the CL, so if something fails, it does not have an effect to any other functions. I did have a Citroen with el. windows, remote CL, ATAS end even a sunroof electrically opened. It worked well in summer but had many problems in winter with temperature -30C Best Regards, JussiG7

Aha! So, it means that the SteelMate is positively directed and Felicia CL-system is negatively directed, as they say here in Finland. But as the whole system seems to work with that weird setup, I do not have anything to complain It seems that many people have installed some kind of anti-theft alarm system afterwards, and it can be installed to give proper signals to CLU. Or, in some cases the original CLU can be replaced with the central unit of that alarm system. If this car works well over one year, I might buy some kind of alarm system, but the cheap ones do usually more harm than advantage. So, maybe the red blinking led is enough for me Good Night, case closed, I hope :clap:

OK. Here are some pics almost without annotations, only a title added. It was at midnight as I took those photos, but I assume they are clear enough. So first the blue and green wires to Felicia´s CLU. No electrics to joint the wires, but some drops of a Loctite glue instead. And then a pic of that SMU almost without annotations, only a title added: And because I doubt that Google Translator shall give almost impossible translations from Finnish to English, I have a screenshot of the essential info given by JiiTeeÄssä at Alfa Romeo forum. The info given about SMU was useful, but the directions about the B- points in AlfaRomeo were in vain, of course: And finally that link to the Finnish AlfaRomeo- site: http://www.alfabbs.fi/viewtopic.php?t=20218 the comments of JiiTeeÄssä are there almost on the bottom of the page, date being 26.02.2012 Hope that the SMU goes on working well in the future, but once again: A lot of thanks to you lucky guy living in ideal climate conditions, from my point of view !!! JussiG7

Should be sleeping, but a short report: Tonight I finally got that SteelMate installed in my car. The only delay was due to the wire colors. I tried at first with those brown and white, but they did not work. Then I tried those blue and green as a AlfaRomeo- guy had told in a Finnish AR-site, and they worked. So I isolated those brown and white ones. Some day you may tell me why´s that ? Shortly some pics, the first is about the SMU installed beside the glove box: And then just the live feed from connector C as RobinSLXi had taught year 2010: And one pic more, as the fuel gauge astonishingly woke up (it´s rare nowadays). Should find out the real fault, but seems impossible to me...No connection to SMU Now i close this PC and start to sleep at 05.25 a.m. Recuerdos de Finlandia, JussiG7

My dear red one shall serve still many years as an organ donor, I hope

Hi again! I´ve been so extraordinary busy the whole week, that the only thing I could do was to take that older locking cylinder and install it to this 98-Fellow. And to clean and oil that locking system that was the original in this newer one. Since that I havn´t had any kind of difficulties with the Central Locking Now it´s gonna rain on Sunday all the time, so maybe on Monday I´ll have time and weather good enough to start that SM- remote job. Thanks about many advices concerning the wire colors and the location of that SMU. Only one correction: There is no violet wire anywhere, those you mean are blue and green, but I´m gonna isolate them, however. And one thing more: I myself supposed, that there might be a micro switch that could be bypassed with this remote system. It was because I had read about a huge number of CL- problems in VW- cars (especially Jetta/Golf- cars) being about the same age as my Felicia (1997 - 2001). And mostly the fault had been in micro switches, or actually in cold joints or broken circuit boards. But, however, I assumed that there are some kind of separate devices also in Felicia. Thank God, there are not !!! But I must ask: Are there any kind of micro switches in the locking motors, or how does the car know, when it is locked or unlocked? Just came home from a guitar gig, very tired. Sorry, if there are wrong words etc. I´ll be back on Monday, I suppose Good night! JussiG7

Today, it means on Tuesday, I was finally able to begin the investigations and repairing jobs as the rain paused at 16.00 But I did not do it as you told me to. As I have mentioned before, I do have an older Felicia 1996 on countryside as a spare part car. And because of some kind of hurry caused by the autumn (everybody seems to need help with all kind of things concerning the next winter and also the harvest time) I decided to try the simplest thing at first. I drove to my older Felicia and opened its upholstery and tried to find out, why its lock works so well and this newer not... I found out that the basic problem was and had been the key and the lock core device itself (I don´t know the exact word for it). But, however, in my old Felicia the the basic part was ok, and in this newer not. So, I removed the key lock from my old fellow and installed it in the new one. Here´s a pic, if I happen to use wrong words: t Then I tried to install the other parts (without CL-motor) from my old car to this newer one, but had some difficulties. I thought: "OK, let´s clean and lubricate these newer parts and try to reinstall them to their original places". So, I managed to reinstall them (no visible faults in the parts), and suddenly everything began to work perfectly also in the left front door with or without the central locking (using a different key, of course) ! But the sun went down, so I had no time to measure the ohms from that 5-pin connector. Upholstery quickly back to its place a quick test: Everything seems to work well My diagnosis: The basic problem was the broken locking cylinder and the momentary problem may have been caused by dirt or something else that made the knob jump up. And right now the only problem that is left is mentioned in the title of this topic: "How-to-connect-sm-remote-unit-to-original-cl-in-Felicia-11-1998" In your words: "The installation of SteelMate will be a bonus." But, how to install that bonus, is still a mystery to me ??? With Best Regards, JussiG7, almost asleep :zzz:

Yes, the point 1.3 was clear enough But the firewood job was bigger than I expected, and now it´s gonna rain at least two days all the time, so the investigations and all the other jobs shall be postponed at least to Wednesday. This summer the weather forecasts have been especially unreliable :(

Thanks about that accurate and detailed advice, and the sharp photo, too ! Just came home from the Baltic Sea and shall spend the next two days at my brother´s summer cottage, where there is enough room and peace to do all those things that you mentioned. The main job there is to cut and split a lot of firewood for the next winter, but I suppose I have also time to disassemble and clean and lubricate all the parts of that front left door. So, I shall be back on Monday or at least on Tuesday to report about the results of that job. Now it´s two o´clock on Saturday night and time to go to bed.

Hi Ricardo! I disabled the central locking by removing fuse 16. And then I checked all the doors and their behavior manually. And the result was: The right front door works perfectly with the key from outside and with the locking knob from inside. No problems with locking or unlocking the door. It is like a new one. The rear doors also work well, but naturally they can be locked or unlocked only with the locking knobs. No problems with them either. The left front door is the one that has the problems. I must say that earlier this day I did some testing with the basic locking system: It means, I extended and shortened the short stick that leads from the lock casing to the actual lock device . Though I had not touched it before, I thought that a little change might help to the symptoms (knob bumping up, or the locked door sliding open when the handle is raised for the seventh time, as a thief might do). Well, I did not have a clear success. The length of that stick seemed to be as optional as possible. And now, in the evening the situation without the central locking system seemed to be about the same: 1. If the door happens to stay in the locked position, it can be unlocked with the key, but never locked again, no matter how many times I try to do it with a key. Nothing happens. 2. The left front door can be locked from the left rear door by pushing the knob down, but at least, as I try to open the door for the seventh time from the outside - raising the handle, not using the key - the knob jumps up and the door opens. 3. As I sit inside of the car and push the locking knob down, it cannot be opened from the inside handle even with the 10th attempt. That was the result of this test. In my 96-Felicia I never had any problems with the locking though it was older and had more miles swallowed (and it had no central locking at all). I admit that every time man should at first do a lot of investigations to make a good diagnosis. And after that go shopping if necessary And usually the local Felicia- owners have not had so much difficulties with their Skodas as for example VW Passat, - Golf and Polo people have. Talking about those VW- cars from 1990 to 2000 the locking systems seem to be some kind of problem to almost everybody. And many of them have ended up to purchase a remote locking system being fed up with the key problems in winter. And so did I Best Regards, JussiG7