As there seems to be little activity in the first central locking retrofit thread, and pictures have disappeared, I thought I might start a second as I am just starting the process of installing the official Skoda Central locking kit. This will be useful for those with cars without central locking such as the early Classic trim model and the pimped up Classic trim models such as the Blackline.

The part number is BFC 400 101 and the price is currently £127. This is quite pricey compared with the cheap generic kits around, but the brackets and wiring are all pre-made and designed for the Fabia, leaving you to worry about removing panels etc instead of fiddling and bending bits of metal for ages. You will also more than likely need some door trim clips part number 5J0867276, these should be the revised ones with inbuilt rubber part. I think there is about 26 of these in all the doors.

Sadly the instructions are rather badly translated to English from Czech, and refer to the original Skoda service manuals (these may be found by Googling for mediafire briskoda service). I will try and give some tips here, but also hope that I will be able to answer any questions people attempting the job themselves may have (if I manage to do it myself ). Just to note I am not a qualified mechanic or auto-electrician, I am just a DIYer. Any info I give is given in good faith, but if uncertain about anything please seek further help, and I can't be held responsible if you destroy your car etc etc. This is quite a labour intensive job and takes quite some time to complete.

MY2005 onwards needs the carriers removing

First thing to note is the instructions state for MY2005 onwards you have to remove the door carriers by drilling out some rivets and riveting in a rivnut and rivetting the carriers back in. For models prior to this you don't. This would necessarily complicate the process a great deal, and I would have thrown in the towel if this needed doing. In fact I am not sure if any models after 2005 exist without central locking, but that would make Skoda including rivets and revised instructions in the kit pointless. While the instructions say to remove the carriers I have my suspicions you could simply drill the relevant rivets out, and rivet in the new ones - perhaps Skoda only include that step in order to allow you to paint the exposed metal.

Casualties :'(

Trim clips

Rear passenger side door speaker grille (still holds)

Lower B pillar trim passenger side broken - was seriously surprised to hear it costs £8.75 new from a Skoda dealers after Skospares asked for £11.75 for a used part excluding delivery

Lower B pillar trim driver's side (not so bad decided to reuse)

Oddments holder in door handle driver's side (still holds)

XP1 purple tab (will still hold, but not supposed to pull out fully)

So really only one major.

The rear doors

I found even with trying 2 different trim removal tools that I could not shift the door trim clips (even though I got the tool around the clips). I decided to just go for it and pull the panels off, approx half the clips broke, it is definitely worth getting some spares (part number above). To remove the speaker grille in the rear passenger door, it needs to be unclipped at the part to the rear of the car, otherwise you will break the clips on the grille like I did. I followed these instructions for getting access to inside the door panel and I found that it's possible to install the motors without fully removing the panel as described in the video in the following link.

To tighten the bolts back in you need a thin-walled 10mm socket (my good quality thick Halfords one wouldn't fit). To make sure you don't over-tighten I would recommend one of these http://www.screwfix.com/prods/29953/Hand-Tools/Spanners-Wrenches/Wrenches/Laser-Percision-Torque-Wrench Particularly when the door carriers are prone to leaking, you don't want to cause a leak unintentionally by over-tightening or under-tightening. It is probably a good idea to use a degreaser (white spirits/meths) to clean up any remains of the blank cover you pull off to put the wiring through. I am leaving the door panels loose as shown in the video as I don't often carry passengers in the rear, so when I get to installing the wiring I can still adjust anything if needed.

When hooking the mechanism up to the lock ensure you use the correct part in the kit as they appear to be handed, when I installed one this lead to the mechanism being skewiff and the lock mechanism being particularly stiff to operate, until I swapped it for the other. Just to clarify, as I am going along I am adding the plugs and putting these where they will eventually be, even though there is no socket for them until the wiring loom is installed in the vehicle. In the case of the rear doors, it will become obvious that you need to push the black pillar boxes in with the rear door closed and the front one open.

Pics of rear door installation

The front doors

Like the rear doors the door handle front part needs unclipping, and the rear bit sliding forwards to remove which reveals 3 large phillips screws to remove. There is also 3 torx 15 screws at the bottom of the door, then the trim around the mirror adjuster needs to be removed revealing a screw (only remove the one to the rear of the car, leave the screw holding the adjuster on). Then you have 3 trim clips at the front of the car and 3 at the rear to undo, I found none broke using the pull and pray method on the one side I have done so far. Haynes manual says to lift the card at the lock pin end, I found this impossible to do and found it easier to do it from the front. Unclipping the door handle cable sounds somewhat scary, but it's quite obvious how it's done once you have the card off and you have plenty of room to play with.

When fitting the motor, instructions say to use the existing holders for wires. I opted to cable tie the new wires to those instead, and clipped it to the obvious empty wire clip. I also put the 4 wires in heat shrink hoping this would reduce the risk of annoying rattles behind the doors. I used 6.4mm heat shrink which you can just about push all 4 wires through. This is the cheapest place I found for heat shrink http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electrical/Cable+Management/Heat+Shrink+75m+x+64mm/d190/sd2460/p94652 Silicone spray oil may be useful to help push the wires through the old rubber boot, (cheapest source for this is Lidl if they have any left in stock at about 99p).

Pic of front door installation

Wiring loom and control box installation

The amount of trim that needs to be removed makes this a difficult job. Glove box very easy to remove, open glove box, pull off cover by door, undo torx screws and the assembly lifts out. I found I needed to cut a cable tie holding the wire loom from the fusebox in order to have enough room to plug in the driver's side CL socket.

I found I had most difficulty with the lower B pillar trims. Skoda's service manuals say to use a long screwdriver to push behind it in order to put behind the trim clip holders and pull them out. Despite having this inside knowledge I ended up breaking both (the last one not so bad decided to use again). IMO the best way is to start from the front top trim clip as that involves the least bending of the plastic which is what destroys them, then move on to the rear top clip etc. Having had a second look at the broken one, I would suggest first trying to pull out the top 2 clips and then pull upwards instead of trying to remove the bottom clips. This would leave the bottom trim clips in the bodywork but they should easily come out.

To get the loom from driver's side to passenger side I pulled out the centre vents and hazard warning switch assembly (the switch unclips from the surround) and fed the wires across through there. Was quite fiddly but got there in the end. There is no existing loom on the passenger side so just cable tied the wires to the lower circular holes keeping the wires underneath. Up the B pillars I used glass repair tape to hold the wires so they do not foul the seat belt mechanism.

Wiring loom installation pictures

When removing trim often you will be left with one of these clips left in the bodywork like so

You can generally get them out with a trim clip remover, or if that fails mole grips then bend them back into shape for re-use

Opening purple tab on XP1 connector, do not fully remove. Once unclicked pull out with care until it stops then insert appropriate part of loom with red wire.

Fitting into power feed (clip on cover removed). I couldn't get it to torque up to 20nm as shown in the instructions, it just seems to keep on turning. It seems tight enough anyway and i doubt it will loosen or cause electrical issues. To get the wire up here I pushed another wire back down where the red wires go, pulled it through then tied it to the loop and pulled it back through.

Ignore the instructions, fit the relay holder here or you'll never get the big tall fat relay to plug in without difficulty. I think there was only 2 or 3 relays in total fitted to my 1.4mpi and most banks were empty.

Have now finished and got to say I don't fancy doing it again, lol.

Edited 18 August, 201015 yr by anewman

BTW does anyone have a clue what the XP1/6 connector does that the instructions tell you to connect the spur off the live feed (fuse)? The Skoda wiring diagrams show that this connector is connected to the boot release motor fuse. The only purpose I can see is that it would generate error messages in VAG-COM if the fuse blows. I hoped it would have some more practical use like turning the lights on when you unlock the doors, as I'm sure it's obvious when the CL fuse has blown .

I have found after fitting that the locks are a bit stiff, if you turn the key slowly then the lock does not lift fully meaning the other locks do not unlock. I'm going to try getting the lube out and see if I can get it to go any better. I hope to fit a remote lock/unlock in the near future anyway.

Edited 16 August, 201015 yr by anewman

Having read and understood the wiring diagrams further, I suspect the XP1/6 connector is simply to provide power for the boot release (which it seems Skoda had intended to also sell as an optional extra but didn't). It is therefore possible that adding 2 wires to the BCU could be all that's needed to connect up a boot release motor, I will investigate this later if I have time.

I have noticed an oddity after installing. Occasionally, only when the engine is running and just after, that the rear nearside door pin is not possible to push down after unlocking, but still locks again with central locking. As I rarely have passengers and it otherwise locks on front door pins it's not really an issue, but will investigate and try to sort it out if I can.

Edited 20 October, 201015 yr by anewman

Regards the last post, I found putting two washers under the top mounting point of the actuator and using the alternative supplied bolts stopped this happening, so now I have perfectly functioning central locking

Note for anyone wanting to add remote central locking/an alarm system. The aftermarket system sold by Skoda is completely different to the factory fitted system. It uses a cut = unlock, ground = lock system. Also known as a single-wire system. Subsequently this needs wiring in differently to the factory fit system. This completely flummoxed me for a while but hopefully after some soldering tomorrow it will be sorted.

If you use a generic kit that will obviously be a different system again (probably a 5-wire switched negative system with a lock and unlock wire).

Note for anyone wanting to add remote central locking/an alarm system. The aftermarket system sold by Skoda is completely different to the factory fitted system. It uses a cut = unlock, ground = lock system. Also known as a single-wire system. Subsequently this needs wiring in differently to the factory fit system. This completely flummoxed me for a while but hopefully after some soldering tomorrow it will be sorted.

If you use a generic kit that will obviously be a different system again (probably a 5-wire switched negative system with a lock and unlock wire).

Hi guys. New guy here so forgive me for silly (maybe) questions, from time to time.

Just got myself a Fabia 2002 as a first car. It does have a central remote locking operated from the key but there is no alarm.

Wanted to upgrade for something what will be approved to lower the insurance.

You guys, seems to be more acknowledgeable than me so "is there a way to ad on an alarm to the existing central locking system so I can use only original key fob, not the additional for the alarm?"

Any reply, answers, tips are appreciated.

Regards

Edited 19 December, 201114 yr by kriskrk

As there seems to be little activity in the first central locking retrofit thread, and pictures have disappeared, I thought I might start a second as I am just starting the process of installing the official Skoda Central locking kit. This will be useful for those with cars without central locking such as the early Classic trim model and the pimped up Classic trim models such as the Blackline.

The part number is BFC 400 101 and the price is currently £127. This is quite pricey compared with the cheap generic kits around, but the brackets and wiring are all pre-made and designed for the Fabia, leaving you to worry about removing panels etc instead of fiddling and bending bits of metal for ages. You will also more than likely need some door trim clips part number 5J0867276, these should be the revised ones with inbuilt rubber part. I think there is about 26 of these in all the doors.

Sadly the instructions are rather badly translated to English from Czech, and refer to the original Skoda service manuals (these may be found by Googling for mediafire briskoda service). I will try and give some tips here, but also hope that I will be able to answer any questions people attempting the job themselves may have (if I manage to do it myself ). Just to note I am not a qualified mechanic or auto-electrician, I am just a DIYer. Any info I give is given in good faith, but if uncertain about anything please seek further help, and I can't be held responsible if you destroy your car etc etc. This is quite a labour intensive job and takes quite some time to complete.

MY2005 onwards needs the carriers removing

First thing to note is the instructions state for MY2005 onwards you have to remove the door carriers by drilling out some rivets and riveting in a rivnut and rivetting the carriers back in. For models prior to this you don't. This would necessarily complicate the process a great deal, and I would have thrown in the towel if this needed doing. In fact I am not sure if any models after 2005 exist without central locking, but that would make Skoda including rivets and revised instructions in the kit pointless. While the instructions say to remove the carriers I have my suspicions you could simply drill the relevant rivets out, and rivet in the new ones - perhaps Skoda only include that step in order to allow you to paint the exposed metal.

Casualties :'(

Trim clips

Rear passenger side door speaker grille (still holds)

Lower B pillar trim passenger side broken - was seriously surprised to hear it costs £8.75 new from a Skoda dealers after Skospares asked for £11.75 for a used part excluding delivery

Lower B pillar trim driver's side (not so bad decided to reuse)

Oddments holder in door handle driver's side (still holds)

XP1 purple tab (will still hold, but not supposed to pull out fully)

So really only one major.

The rear doors

I found even with trying 2 different trim removal tools that I could not shift the door trim clips (even though I got the tool around the clips). I decided to just go for it and pull the panels off, approx half the clips broke, it is definitely worth getting some spares (part number above). To remove the speaker grille in the rear passenger door, it needs to be unclipped at the part to the rear of the car, otherwise you will break the clips on the grille like I did. I followed these instructions for getting access to inside the door panel and I found that it's possible to install the motors without fully removing the panel as described in the video in the following link.

To tighten the bolts back in you need a thin-walled 10mm socket (my good quality thick Halfords one wouldn't fit). To make sure you don't over-tighten I would recommend one of these http://www.screwfix.com/prods/29953/Hand-Tools/Spanners-Wrenches/Wrenches/Laser-Percision-Torque-Wrench Particularly when the door carriers are prone to leaking, you don't want to cause a leak unintentionally by over-tightening or under-tightening. It is probably a good idea to use a degreaser (white spirits/meths) to clean up any remains of the blank cover you pull off to put the wiring through. I am leaving the door panels loose as shown in the video as I don't often carry passengers in the rear, so when I get to installing the wiring I can still adjust anything if needed.

When hooking the mechanism up to the lock ensure you use the correct part in the kit as they appear to be handed, when I installed one this lead to the mechanism being skewiff and the lock mechanism being particularly stiff to operate, until I swapped it for the other. Just to clarify, as I am going along I am adding the plugs and putting these where they will eventually be, even though there is no socket for them until the wiring loom is installed in the vehicle. In the case of the rear doors, it will become obvious that you need to push the black pillar boxes in with the rear door closed and the front one open.

Pics of rear door installation

The front doors

Like the rear doors the door handle front part needs unclipping, and the rear bit sliding forwards to remove which reveals 3 large phillips screws to remove. There is also 3 torx 15 screws at the bottom of the door, then the trim around the mirror adjuster needs to be removed revealing a screw (only remove the one to the rear of the car, leave the screw holding the adjuster on). Then you have 3 trim clips at the front of the car and 3 at the rear to undo, I found none broke using the pull and pray method on the one side I have done so far. Haynes manual says to lift the card at the lock pin end, I found this impossible to do and found it easier to do it from the front. Unclipping the door handle cable sounds somewhat scary, but it's quite obvious how it's done once you have the card off and you have plenty of room to play with.

When fitting the motor, instructions say to use the existing holders for wires. I opted to cable tie the new wires to those instead, and clipped it to the obvious empty wire clip. I also put the 4 wires in heat shrink hoping this would reduce the risk of annoying rattles behind the doors. I used 6.4mm heat shrink which you can just about push all 4 wires through. This is the cheapest place I found for heat shrink http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electrical/Cable+Management/Heat+Shrink+75m+x+64mm/d190/sd2460/p94652 Silicone spray oil may be useful to help push the wires through the old rubber boot, (cheapest source for this is Lidl if they have any left in stock at about 99p).

Pic of front door installation

Wiring loom and control box installation

The amount of trim that needs to be removed makes this a difficult job. Glove box very easy to remove, open glove box, pull off cover by door, undo torx screws and the assembly lifts out. I found I needed to cut a cable tie holding the wire loom from the fusebox in order to have enough room to plug in the driver's side CL socket.

I found I had most difficulty with the lower B pillar trims. Skoda's service manuals say to use a long screwdriver to push behind it in order to put behind the trim clip holders and pull them out. Despite having this inside knowledge I ended up breaking both (the last one not so bad decided to use again). IMO the best way is to start from the front top trim clip as that involves the least bending of the plastic which is what destroys them, then move on to the rear top clip etc. Having had a second look at the broken one, I would suggest first trying to pull out the top 2 clips and then pull upwards instead of trying to remove the bottom clips. This would leave the bottom trim clips in the bodywork but they should easily come out.

To get the loom from driver's side to passenger side I pulled out the centre vents and hazard warning switch assembly (the switch unclips from the surround) and fed the wires across through there. Was quite fiddly but got there in the end. There is no existing loom on the passenger side so just cable tied the wires to the lower circular holes keeping the wires underneath. Up the B pillars I used glass repair tape to hold the wires so they do not foul the seat belt mechanism.

Wiring loom installation pictures

When removing trim often you will be left with one of these clips left in the bodywork like so

You can generally get them out with a trim clip remover, or if that fails mole grips then bend them back into shape for re-use

Opening purple tab on XP1 connector, do not fully remove. Once unclicked pull out with care until it stops then insert appropriate part of loom with red wire.

Fitting into power feed (clip on cover removed). I couldn't get it to torque up to 20nm as shown in the instructions, it just seems to keep on turning. It seems tight enough anyway and i doubt it will loosen or cause electrical issues. To get the wire up here I pushed another wire back down where the red wires go, pulled it through then tied it to the loop and pulled it back through.

Ignore the instructions, fit the relay holder here or you'll never get the big tall fat relay to plug in without difficulty. I think there was only 2 or 3 relays in total fitted to my 1.4mpi and most banks were empty.

Have now finished and got to say I don't fancy doing it again, lol.

I am still looking for a clearer picture for the electrical conecction, but thank you for sending me those other pictures

hi, can anyone help me. i have installed all the central locking but i can not seem to connect the hazard lights.

i opened the hazard light button and tried to connect it there but it does not seem to work.

any help or advise is very much appreciated.

thanks

Hi, if you installed the Skoda original central locking kit referred to, there is no easy way of wiring it up to the hazards. It would flash whenever the doors are locked and unlocked, including inside the car. If you lock with the key, you know your doors are locked anyway, which is the main purpose of the hazards. Best way of getting it to flash them would be to install an alarm which can control the central locking, such as a Viper 1002, and you would then also have remote central locking. Installing an alarm is a very involved process though - lots of wires.

There might be a simple remote kit you can buy which would feed the hazards, and provide remote central locking.

MY2005 onwards needs the carriers removing

so just so im sure before i go ahead with this, ill need to drill out some rivets on my 2006 fabia classic

if this is true most probs will put me off

thanks for the reply. it a system i got from ebay. and i ended up connecting it to the full beam lights. after i burnt out many fuses. i tried to connect it to the hazard light switch as that worked on a golf i did. any other suggestions would be welcome.

used this to fit to my car over the last couple of days. It's all been good, though I couldnt manage to fit to lights either as I burnt out fuses.

Thanks for this read.

Has anyone tried to connect the central locking to an rclick system and if so what wires do i connect from the rclick to the central locking thanks

Thanks for the comprehensive guide. I just managed to finish getting it all wired up.

 

The only problem I have is that the drivers door does not work correctly, this may just be my finger trouble, but the wiring loom has five wires for the drivers door but the motor only 4 wires.

 

Does anyone else remember how many wires the motors had in their kits ?