No Factory Central Locking

[mfdoom30]

Hello! My car came without central locking. It is a Euro E30 316i from 1990. What are my options? How can I get all the doors and the trunk to lock/unlock from the driver's door?

[82eye]

spend up a pile of cash and pay a shop to install an aftermarket version
spend up a smaller pile of cash and install an aftermarket system yourself
go through the pain of sourcing a used one from a wreck with keys and remove it, then tear your interior out, run the wiring, install the system and locks or rekey. gas lock will need a little bodywork.

or be happy with what you currently have.

[mfdoom30]

spend up a pile of cash and pay a shop to install an aftermarket version
spend up a smaller pile of cash and install an aftermarket system yourself
go through the pain of sourcing a used one from a wreck with keys and remove it, then tear your interior out, run the wiring, install the system and locks or rekey. gas lock will need a little bodywork.

or be happy with what you currently have.

for the aftermarket solution, is it necessary to already have oem
central locking?

how does it work?

[reelizmpro]

Hello! My car came without central locking. It is a Euro E30 316i from 1990. What are my options? How can I get all the doors and the trunk to lock/unlock from the driver's door?

That's interesting. First thing I would do to check to see if the central locking wiring is there. If it is then all you'd have to do is install the Central Locking Unit and the actuators in the doors, trunk and gas cap. The aftermarket solution is more involved as you will have do all the wiring and mounting of the actuators yourself or pay to have someone do it. This is assuming you want to keep this car a long time. I'm surprised your car doesn't have it because even my 85 323i came with central locking. I know 316i is the lowest spec E30 but still...

[82eye]

for the aftermarket solution, is it necessary to already have oem
central locking?

how does it work?

oem uses electric lock actuators at all the doors, trunk, and gas door. it also uses different keylocks. none of which are on the non locking cars. some cars have the harness inside the doors and trunk already, some of the earlier ones do not.

the drivers lock is a common fail point and is nla. lots of guys revert to a regular lock on the driver's door.

your best bet is look into getting an aftermarket kit for the doors and trunk. get a locking cap if you are worried about the gas door.

[Vincenze]

It's actually not very difficult if you have the wiring for it in the car.

Check the part diagram. And you need a new lock.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=1113-USA-02-1991-E30-BMW-325i&diagId=41_0582

Then, find a 6-cylinder car offered for a part out, especially a convertible. They were better optioned.
You don't want a rotted car as the activators were made of plastic.

[uturn]