Hiding the Cables

The central lock mechanism for the two front doors works great! Except that until yesterday I had all the cables spread either on the dashboard or in the foot area. Which did not look very appealing nor was it safe to have those cables near the foot pedals, where they could get stuck or my feet could get entangled.

During this week, I did make several attempts to affix these cables somehow beneath the dashboard. I was able to find a place where I could screw on the control box, though with one screw only. I tried then to affix the cables with isolating tape. However, the tape did not stick anywhere on the dashboard plastic. I got black Duck Tape. The extra strong version. But neither this tape was able to get attached anywhere! It appears that Peugeot has coated every plastic surface with a kind of Teflon anti-stick coating, so that no dirt would get stuck. I was not able to find any place where the tape would hold. So the only choice for affixing anything would have to be mechanical. Fortunately I found a few holes and loops under the dashboard where I could wind the sticky tape through - and then I was able to wrap it around the central locking cables and let them hang from these fixtures. I did this along the underside of the dashboard from right to left, and so the cables for the central locking system are now hidden.

The final challenge was to get somewhere an access to a +12V connection from the battery. The obvious option was the cigarette lighter, which I had used temporarily with a plug until now. In contrast to many other vehicles, this lighter is powered even if the ignition is off. I tried to pull the lighter out, but it was affixed in a very non-obvious way - I was not able to get it out from the dashboard. So I had to look for other choices. The fuse box behind the glove compartment would be an option to get some electric power, but there appeared no usable slot nor any +12V cable that I could easily use. All is tightly packed, with sealed cable trees and snug sitting plugs. Another possibility would be the radio. I took it out and was able to connect a cable to the +12V "memory" input line, which was constantly powered even when the ignition was off. Now I had to find a way to get the cable from the radio down to the central locking control box. This was again quite difficult: the whole dashboard appears to be very tightly packed. No free space behind it. And the panels cannot be dismantled in any obvious way: I saw a few screws here and there, but when I unscrewed them, then there were a few more hidden screws which kept everything still together. A real nightmare! And I was not willing to dismantle all the parts of the dashboard just for getting one single cable through. Finally I found a duct at the left side of the radio. I pushed the cable through, and indeed it arrived below in the passenger foot area. Now just attaching the final connection, and the central locking is now functioning, with all the cabling hidden.

Passenger Door now also Lockable

After installing the central locking mechanism at the driver side door, the next step was to install the same at the passenger side door. Some problems: the door panel was very hard to remove. There are a total of 5 screws, but a number of additional hidden fasteners which keep the panel attached to the door frame. What were the technical designers at Peugeot thinking when they mare this? I kept working, with the panel still partially attached - had to bend it so that I could use the screw driver. Finally managed to affix the motor and the rods - works fine. Now two doors have central locking.

Next step is to hide the cabling and the control box.

Finally - the Car Can Be Locked!

A very important milestone today: I mounted the first of the central locking motors into the driver's door, and now I can at least lock one of the 4 doors from the outside, by remote control. It was not a very easy job: first I had to get a set of new tools, because the door panel screws had this strange hexagonal head. Then once the panel was (partially) removed (I was not able to remove the panel completely, it appeared to be stuck at one screw), the difficulty arose where to place the motor.

It should be placed so that the vertical motion would be in parallel to the door closing knob. And it should not block the sliding door window. Finally I spotted a suitable place, very close to the top. Affixed the metal holding bar, then attached the motor to it. Then bent the brass rod so that it would align properly with the door knob, and then attached the rod to the closing mechanism. A short test with the electrics - and it worked! Next was to manage the cables - a set of 5 cables needs to go from the motor to the central processing unit. I first wanted to use the protected duct between the car and the door, but I was not able to reach it: removed one of the panels in the driver foot area, but still did not get access to this duct. It appeared that there would be a special set of plugs needed. So instead of using this, I left the cables just dangling by themselves. Attached them with tape inside the door, so that they would not move about. For a temporary solution, I used the +12V from the cigarette lighter to power the box. It got dark towards the evening, and I had no time anymore to fiddle with finding the proper +12V lead for connecting it properly to the car fuse box. In any case, it needs power also when the ignition is off.

The next tasks will be: properly attaching the control box, hiding the cables, and installing the 2nd motor at the passenger door.

And now, since the car is finally properly locked all the time, I can actually make this blog public - no danger of anyone abusing the knowledge of my up to now always partially locked car.