How to add keyless entry to a ZL/XF with central locking

[Unlucky8Ball 6]

This is my first how to - no guarantees, no liability, blah blah. Just wanted to share what I figured out.

 

NOTE: These instructions assume that your central locking system works - or at least, well enough that the DOOR LOCK/UNLOCK switch on the driver's door will lock/unlock all the doors.

 

The key switches in the doors are a common point of failure, and a bad key switch will prevent the whole central locking system from functioning. An easy workaround is to connect the green and white wires in the key-switch plug to each other, bypassing the key switch.

 

First, get a keyless entry kit. I got this el-cheapo kit for under $20 from eBay - you don't need one with actuators, since it will be spliced into the factory wiring.

 

(1) Remove the driver's door switch panel to make some modifications to the DOOR LOCK/UNLOCK switch:

 

( a ) Cut the two metal strips joining the window switches to the lock switch

( b ) Cut the metal strip joining the two corner pins of the lock switch.

( c ) Join the other (window switch side) ends of the two metal strips cut in step (a) with a wire or something.

 

( d ) Attach new wires to the two corner pins of the lock switch (these will go to the keyless module)

 

 

(2) Run a length of figure-eight wire from the driver's kick panel to the driver's door switch panel, and connect them to the new wires added in ( d ) using whatever connectors are handy. I used the speaker cable grommet holes to feed the wire through.

 

(3) For this kit, the wiring on the remote box side is done according to the instructions for a "Central Lock Motor (Two Wire)". Refer to the wiring colours in your keyless entry kit's instructions, as they may be different.

 

In my case, I connected the red, yellow/black and blue wires to a +12V source (the yellow wire behind the boot release switch) and the black, green and grey cables to ground.

 

The yellow and brown cables connect up to the two cores of the figure-eight wire added in (2). If the door locking and unlocking buttons on your remote do the wrong thing, swap the two wires around.

 

(4) The boot release feature on the remote box grounds the orange wire coming out of it. As the actual boot release switch on the car needs +12v fed into the purple wire, wire up a relay as follows, and splice it into the purple wire behind the boot release switch:

 

(5) Wire the two purple wires (+12v output for flashing indicator) to the indicator wires under the steering column - green and green/blue.

 

Then tuck everything in the kick panel and you're good to go!

[Outback Jack 6,352]

Handy write up mate, easy to understand and quite easy for people to follow and get done at home in an arvo.

Nice work.

 

Jack.