okay, so i know for a fact that this is a pretty easy thing to do, but the two places i called in raleigh want some ridiculous money to install power lock actuators (2 5-wire and 2 2-wire), a keyless entry system (with alarm), and a power trunk relay...anyone on here feel comfortable doing it on a 2002 saturn sl1? i have all the hardware and it's my understanding that they're pretty easy to install (but since i know nothing about it, "easy" doesn't convince me to do it myself)

9/12/2005 2:58:50 PM

zxappeal

9/12/2005 3:38:44 PM

He's contacted me, and I told him I can do it, but I gotta study on it a bit, as I have never done actuators on a stock car (my Datsun does not count; I know way too much about them and not enough about others).

9/12/2005 3:57:21 PM

I'll do it for $150

9/12/2005 4:43:36 PM

is there a switch for the power locks that needs to be mounted inside? and why are there 2 5 wire and 2 2 wire actuators?

9/12/2005 5:07:21 PM

normally the 5 wires go in the front and the 2 wires in the back. a 5 wire actuator can tell the other actuators if it has been locked or unlocked manually, and thus the others will all follow.

for instance. 5 wire on the front driver door. when you unlock the door with the key, all the doors will unlock. actually, anytime that door is unlocked, all the doors will unlock.

9/12/2005 5:51:02 PM

let scrager do it. He knows all about door locks.

9/12/2005 6:05:29 PM

scrager - how long would it take to do it, you think? and that's the price for the installation of everything (power locks, keyless, power trunk relay)? i asked the guy the same thing about the 5- and 2-wire actuators, and that's what he told me...does that affect the keyless thing? i know on my mustang you hit the unlock once for the driver door and twice for both...if the kit i have says it supports something like that, will it work despite having two 5-wire and 2 2-wire actuators?

9/12/2005 6:06:01 PM

why dont you just buy this car and swap the shit in yourself. like I said before, if you have a problem with an aftermarket actuator its going to be tough to find a new one. i dont know how long you are planning to keep this car though- although if not for long converting to power locks isnt very cost effective. or whatever

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/pts/96938317.html

9/12/2005 6:29:30 PM

only thing it affects on the install is that you will have to run 5 wires into the driver and passenger doors instead of 2. and thats just not fun. I was just curious.

9/12/2005 7:43:52 PM

with 5 and 2 wire actuators, whatever a 5 wire door does, all doors do. unless you don't hook up all the wires, which is also a possiblity, but i would only do that if the instructions were clear and told me what wires did what cause i'm not going to wasted my time trying to figure the pinouts of those actuators.

i would hook it up so unlock will unlock the drivers door, which would really unlock all the doors.

if you have a two function keyless (press to unlock driver, hold to unlock all, and lock for lock) then the second function (hold) would operate the trunk.

if you have a three function keyless (press, hold, trunk, and lock) then i would hook the trunk to the trunk and the hold would just be unused.

this all depends on the instructions that came with the kit(s) that you bought. if the instructions tell which of the 5 wires are extra (the ones that tell the other actuators what to do) then i could possibly leave then disconnected so that all doors will act independantly. then you could hook up the press, hold, and trunk if you have a three function keyless. i wouldn't suggest doing this unless your kit came with lock/unlock buttons although it is up to you. after the keyless is installed, all the locks can still function manually, so even if you can't unlock a back door for a passenger, they still can with the manual lock on the door.

installation would take a good portion of a day. possibly more than one, but if it does take more than one, you can have your car back for the night or leave it with me. that's up to you. i would prefer to start fairly early in the morning (8-9am) and i'll probably stop working around dark wether i am done or not.

I think i underestimated myself at $150 though, but i'll honor it if you want me to install it. it would have to be this weekend or next as I am leaving the state for good at the end of the month. I'd prefer this weekend as my GF will be out of town anyway, so she won't get mad that i'm working on another car for the second weekend in a row

oh, and about the running 5 wires thing...usually a kit comes with a wire harness which will have each door bundled, so although it is 5 individual wires, you run them all at once just like one larger wire.

[Edited on September 12, 2005 at 11:53 PM. Reason : .]

9/12/2005 11:48:13 PM