Finally, I have made a guide! For full photographic guide, download the attached PDF.

It would seem after much research and many painful hours with my head under the dashboard, I’ve finally managed to retro-fit remote locking into a Fabia with only generic central locking.

As there are no guides, I promised I’d make one. So here’s how I did it:

PLEASE NOTE: THIS GUIDE IS FOR 1999> MK1 FABIA. THIS DOESN’T APPLY TO NEW MODEL’S/VRS ETC.

The kit used in this guide was KE60 from rclick.co.uk. I decided to use this kit as it provides 2x folding keys which house the transponder from the existing key. If requested, I will make a separate guide for key transferral.

Here is the relevant electrical diagram (see PDF)

The first thing to do is to disassemble a few elements of the interior. You need to remove various elements of the dash in order to get to some of the electrical areas.

First, pull the upper trim of the wheel towards you.

This will reveal a screw to the right. Remove it with a Torx 25 screwdriver. Under the dash are a further 4 torx screws. Remove. Pop off the cover to the fuse box (on the right hand side of the dash), to reveal the last screw. Remove.

Gently lower the lower panel, making sure you don’t pull any cables. Before entire removal, you must open the small storage area and pull out where you will reveal a diagnostic socket. Push this out. Also, you need to remove the aircon hose from this storage area, and release the headlight cables. The trim is now free for you to put to one side.

Central locking in a Fabia is Negative Type 6. This means that the system relies on a single wire opening and closing mechanism, taking voltage from a grounded source. There are 8/9 cables from the provided loom that you have to connect. The easiest ones are the earth/live cables. The large black cable needs to be earthed to the chassis, the best point I found is by the fuse box (see PDF)

You will need to splice two further cables into the earth (directly from the loom) to provide grounded voltage to the OPEN/CLOSE cables. (Yellow & Yellow/Black).

Next, wire in the live cable. This is just above the ECU, and you need to just remove a faceplate hiding the wires. I borrowed an image from DanGB, so thanks!

Next you need to splice the indicator lights into the loom coming off the ECU. Under the dash look for XS6.

Typically, as with many VW based cars, pin 10 is Black/White and pin 12 is Black/Green, splice one brown into each of these.

Finally, you need to wire into the existing door.

With your door open pull this hosing free (see below)

At the bottom you will see a white plug. This is where you need to wire the white/black and white cables. First you must solder on a 180ohm resistor on the black and white cable. Then join (after the resistor) the black and white cables together.

I soldered them onto a single white wire and fed it through the chassis out of a small hole (as per the diagram above) and wired it into Pin 5 at the plug. The Yellow and Blue cable.

Put it all back together and you’re done! Easy!

FURTHER NOTES

· During my first attempt, there were a few small errors I made preventing the system from working. The provided splicers didn’t seem to splice well enough on my first crimp. Make sure they are pulled together with pliers and check there’s a +12V output from the yellow / yellow/black once you have spliced them into the black.

· Make sure you wire into PIN 5 in the existing central locking. Yellow and Blue not Blue and Yellow where Blue is predominant.

I hope this is of some use. Please ask if you have any questions.

Jon

ADDED INFO! Window AutoClose - Just wire the green wire into the white wire at the beginning of the loom! That's it did it today and works a treat - thanks GamezBond

KE60 Fabia 1999 Guide.pdf

Also, if anyone could tell me where I need to attach a wire to the negative electric window output, I would be extremely greatful.

Thanks

Jon

Looking at doing exactly this. Because I'm too lazy to follow the link, could you give an approx total cost?

Thanks for your efforts! It doesn't look like it was too hard - 2 hour job?

Rob

2 hour job? Hahahahaha....

Actually yes - about that. Took me about 2 weeks though, (on and off)! I'm going to do my Mum's Octavia and it won't take long this time around.

The total cost from http://www.rclick.co.uk/remote-keyless-entry-central-lock-ke60w-p-243.html?osCsid=aa1994abcfdeb5625ecdee3f07fe82fd

£34.45 (that includes postage). Better than my £600 quotation from a Skoda Stealership.

If you need any help along the way, just ask. I recommend using a multimeter along the way to ensure good connections. If you manage to find where to put the auto-close for the electric windows cable, please let me know!

Jon

Oops double posted - not sure how to delete this one so edited it instead

Im a complete novice at this sort of thing, is it recommended that i do it my self or get someone else to do it for me?

£35 or £600. I know which I prefer.

I am also a novice, as far as cars go I know very little.

Only do it if you're happy with the terms, live/earth, 12V and if you don't mind removing some of the trim from your car. When you have the trim off half the battle's done. The most difficult bit is feeding a cable through the footwell to the drivers door and getting it into the white plug.

But - I think it's easy.

If you have any probs, let me know!

Jon

even if i buy a third party one likr the right click one, it could still cost 600 notes? I was thinking of buying the £35 one and seeing how much it would cost to get a pro to fix it

No I doubt it would cost that much - that was for the official Skoda kit + Labour.

I would guess 3 hours + kit price - somewhere around £250. Personally, I'd rather take my car apart, learn about it and reassemble as it could be useful in the future.

How easy is it to rectify a mistake though? Im a bit cack handed when it comes to car stuff, give me a PC to upgrade and ill do it with my eyes closed, but expect me to solder anything or do something that could potentially make things in my car not work...

Well to be honest mate, I'm an ex pc tech, and it's sort of similar! sort of!!

the only mistakes you can make are damaging the trim, or wiring up something wrong/badly. As long as you stick to the instructions you will be okay.

As it's your first time, here's my suggestion:

Spend a nice Saturday afternoon, learning how to remove all of the trim around the wheel (as in the left hand trim bits), and how to reinstate it. The first time I did it, it took me about 2 hours to get all the trim off...now it takes about 10-15 mins. When it's all off (second time around), all you have to do is connect:

2 brown wires - VERY EASY

1 red - EASY (a little tricky getting into the area to remove the nut, but easy)

1 black - VERY EASY

2 whites - MODERATE

8 wires - how hard can it be? And you don't even have to do the browns if you don't want to. There's also 1 green if you can find where to put it. This sends a 20 second negative output to the windows (if you have electric). Unforutnately for me I haven't worked out where to put this one yet...but I will :-D

*Jon hopes someone else on this site can help him here*

Anywho, hope it helps!

Yes you have helped a great deal. Just remembered my partners brother in law used to be a mechanic so he might be able to offer up a little on site support if things go horribly wrong. But it does sound easy

Thank you

Can you post the guide for transferring the chip please If m gonna do this i think it would be cool to have all the info in one place

thank you in advance

Yea no problem, I can't do it right this minute because I'm at work. I will try and get it done this evening. This is the hardest bit I think because you really have to destroy your old key to get to the transponder!

Anyway, I'll post it asap

thank you

and when you say old key i guess you mean the spare rather then the the one with the light in it, cos the one with the light seems to be the easiest choice, but then again its the master key isnt it, so prolly best to not start destroying it.

Right, buying the kit tonight, so we'll see!

Did you get the remote window close working? Also, is it KE60w or KE60B? Finally, have you got the blank key cut, or are you not bothering?

Thanks,

Rob

Ooooh good questions, I would like to know the answers to those too please

Is this for those models with central locking , or those with nought?(And sorry this idea is for Furby owners only)

For those with a classic , might i suggest ( subject to a check for compatibility with door space ) the Maplin kit ---- approx 22 quid .Adds central locking. Then , a Keylock 3 channel kit, remote control , one channel lock, one channel unlock, third channel hatch release (Again about 36 quid )

Just some ideas for those who don't want to see Skoda profits escalating.

That's a good point well made. Luckily though, mine is a Comfort and has remote locking already so the kit talked about already will be fine for me. But it was something I hadn't considered.

Arcalius: Actually, I destroyed both keys, master and spare! You have to be careful when removing the transponder chip because it's enclosed in a glass tube. I destroyed my spare first and made sure it worked properly, so at least if I broke the master, I'd still be okay. As it happens - both are fine.

Jacko203: I haven't got the remote window closing working yet unfortunately, I have been far too busy. Also, I only get time during the weekend for playing around with my car. I will post it as soon as I find out however, because it's a v.cool feature.

As for the blank key, I actually tried two methods. During the removal of the transponder, you end up with a left over blade. However you need to reshape the base of the blade and add a groove for screws. I reshaped one of my originals, however (probably due to my crap dremel use), it's a tiny bit wobbly in the keyfob. I had my local key cutters cut into one of the blanks and make a duplicate. This fits the key much better and I use this as my master key. That said, the duplications are never 100% perfect, and it's a little bit sticky in the n/s front door. Works fine in the ignition and drivers door and to be honest - you're about to have remote locking anyway, so it doesn't mattter!

VWD: This is for those who have central locking (i.e. not those with a classic). Should anyone be looking for a full install guide for actuators etc into a central-locking-less fabia, DanGB has created an excellent guide.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/technical-guides/fabia-central-locking-kit-retro-fit-guide/81916/

As VWD said, you can purchase these at any good electrical retailers, ie maplin.

Phew that was one meaty post

Key instructions will be here soon! Watch this space

Jon

I'm going to attack this this weekend, so if I get the windows working, I'll let you all know.

I don't have a spare key. So wish me luck lads

Best of luck! Sorry I haven't done the key yet, I will - but so busy at the moment!!

Tiny little small question

where exactly does the control box go? Does it go inside the car somewhere or does it sit on the dash?

Wherever you can fit it! It doesn't have to be visible. When you have the dash trim out, to the right of the ECU (i.e. just behind/above the fusebox is the perfect place. I just used two plastic clicky plasticy strappy things! Easy peasy

Excellent, thank you