Puma Remote Locking distance - FIXED!!!

[Craig]

Hi all,

I thought I would share this with you all as I know a lot of you have complained about the poor distance the the remote central locking operates over.

So I had the dash apart today for an unrelated matter and noticed a little orange and grey wire that was just taped up behind the dash. It was coming out off a green box that I think is the alarm system, so I had a look in the wiring diagram that dm_td5 gave me and found it to be the antenna for the alarm sysem.

Long story short, a few feet of wire soldered on to the end of it and run up the A pillar and the remote now works from around 10 - 15 meters. :)

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos, but if I can describe where it is if anyone is interested.

Craig

[kenleyfred]

Something way way easier. Saw it on Top Gear and it really works. Hold the fob against your head and then press the button. Don't know how but its amazing the added range.

Your idea probably works better though and wont give you a stupid look. Standing like an idiot with a remote to your head.
Kenley

[Drover]

Hey Craig,

Any direction to that infamous orange/grey wire and green box would be great.

What a pain in the butt the remote locking distance is, any improvement will be worth while.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers
Grant.

[Craig]

Kenleyfred, I've been using the "keyfob against the head" technique for a while now but its to hard when you're carrying a baby or shopping.

Drover,
The Green box is basically just behind the steering wheel mounted on the bulkhead. You can just see it if you pull the speaker out and look up, but you cant reach it.

The orange/grey wire is only about 15cm long coming out the bottom of the box.

To get at it you have to pull the whole dash out which is a pain.

To get the dash off you need to remove the Instrument cluster, steering wheel surround, 3 Big screws at the top near the windscreen and a few smaller screws around the bottom.
You may or may not need to get the centre section with the radio out, (I'm not sure on this, I had it out for another reason)
Then you should be able to pry the whole dash out by about 15 cm and get a look in behind it.

Hope this helps

Craig

[dullbird]

or you could just ask the dealership to put the factory extension on like we did:)

[KarlB]

What factory extension dullbird?

[dullbird]

I would have to get Ian to find the part number if he still has it,,,,but when we had our issues when we first got the car (had to stand next to the door to unlock with remote "pointless") Ian found an actual extension that even the dealer didn't know about

[Drover]

I was having a look at mine last night, after reading the post from Craig and thinking that it was to much work.

I opened the fuse panel cover, below the steering wheel and guess what ?

The orange/grey wire was right there just hanging to the side, that should make the job easy ;).

Just hope that it is the right orange/grey wire and not the wrong grey/orange wire :o.

[Craig]

A factory extension... GRRRR

I cant believe that I've had this car for 2 years and been complaining about the poor range and my dealer just said "that's normal" when there was a fix out all this time.

Thanks anyway for the info DB. just more ammo to get stuck into the service manager with.

CRaig

[dullbird]

A factory extension... GRRRR

I cant believe that I've had this car for 2 years and been complaining about the poor range and my dealer just said "that's normal" when there was a fix out all this time.

Thanks anyway for the info DB. just more ammo to get stuck into the service manager with.

CRaig


Yeah like all things though we had to prove it to the dealer they wouldn't go find it for us...however even though we had it extended I wouldn't say it has the great range your claiming to have now (15meters) so your way was probably more worth while

[Drover]

Finished the remote locking ariel extensions this arvo, works like a charm !!

Used about 1 meter of wire, ran it from behind the dash up the "A" pillar and back down.

The range has increased from 2 meters to 10 - 15 meters, no problem.

Thanks again Craig for the tip.

[Craig]

Yeah like all things though we had to prove it to the dealer they wouldn't go find it for us...however even though we had it extended I wouldn't say it has the great range your claiming to have now (15meters) so your way was probably more worth while

DB, thanks, that makes me feel a bit better.

Drover, You're welcome


Craig

[KarlB]

I am still a bit confused (not unsual for me!). Are you saying dullbird, that you got the dealer to extend the 'orange/grey wire' or was the 'factory extension' something else? You mentioned a part number? :confused:

Cheers
KarlB

[dullbird]

as far as I was aware it was a factory extension with a part number..its hard to remember this was nearly 3 years ago.

however there factory extension could of been just like craig has done I dont know.

i'm positive Ian put a post on here about it I will have to try and find it

[Scouse]

YMQ501200 rings a bell.

[Keithy P38]

Drover,

Just for confirmation, are you saying the orange/grey wire from in the fuse panel area is the remote aerial? This may be a good mod once my other half gets her 90!!

Cheers
Keith

[Drover]

As described by Craig, (Fourth reply, page 2)

If you take out the front speaker, drivers side, and shine torch up and look towards the firewall you will see a green box, it is about 15 cm long and 8cm tall, with two harnesses attached to the bottom of it. The harness closest to the steering collum has an Orange wire with a light grey stripe, about 15cm long, leading out of it.

You can also see it from the fuse box, below the steering wheel, if you look in the gap on the right hand side.

This wire (orange/light grey stripe) is the Ariel for the remote. I was lucky enough that this wire was close enough to be able to grab it with a pair of long nose pliers from the fuse box (without removing the speaker).

I then soldered a length of wire about a meter or so long, used a stiff piece of plastic strap to poke down in the gap behind the dash and from the bottom of the "A" pillar, a second piece from the right hand side of the steering collum to the fuse box and then just pulled the new wire through, then up the "A" pillar, behind the plastic cover.

Job done - 15 meter remote distance :D

Good Luck (It really isn't hard, total time less that 30 minutes)

[SloMoBro]

Easy done. Did ours this arvo, took about 15 minutes. Big improvement. Thanks all.:thumbsup:

[eckwalsh]

Extende mine today as well. Took about 15mins.Works great now from about 15meters.

Eck

[ashtrans]

excellent fix, thanks very much,

it's so quick, easy and effective we are doing it free of charge on all pumas that come into the workshop !

Dave

[DiscoMick]

That's great. Is it actually necessary to pull it up to the A pillar and down, or would it also work if you just left it spread out under the dash, do you think?