MFSW retrofit problem

M

Motormouth

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Hi everyone,

I know this has been covered many times before and I have spent many hours reading various threads trying to find an answer to my problem but haven't so thought I would start a thread and see if anyone knows the answer to a problem I have with a retro fitted mfsw on my a4 b7.

I have a 55reg a4 2.0tfsi quattro b7 that I recently fitted cruise control on, to fit this I had to change the steering control module to one which supports cruise, the one I fitted was 8E0953549N. I have had the cruise control activated and it works perfectly. As the new module supports a mfsw (I think) I decided to fit a mfsw. I fitted a mfsw, changed the airbag loom for one with the connector for a mfsw and also changed the slip ring.

When I reconnected the battery the buttons on the wheel were lit but didn't work before I altered the coding, I altered the steering wheel coding for a mfsw and also the stereo coding but the buttons still don't work. If the faults in the steering module are checked it says 01426 - controls in steering wheel (E221) 49-00 - no communications, no matter what I do with the coding the buttons are always lit even when the lights aren't on which I don't know if this is correct? but I can't get any of the buttons to work, power must be to them for them to be lit.

All the parts I fitted were 2nd hand, I have since bought another 2nd hand steering wheel and tried it but it is just the same, so unless I have 2 broken steering wheels that can be ruled out.

Is there anything I have missed or should check as I can't figure it out. I pressume the 2nd hand steering module is ok as everything else is ok and not showing any fault codes, the airbag loom looked ok and so did the slip ring, I pressume the slip ring is ok as I don't have an airbag light on.

I have a retrofitted RNSE which is the latest model with the gloss surround, I am pretty sure it is wired correctly as vag com connects to it fine.

Is there anything else I should check or does anyone have any wiring diagrams as the next step would be to start metering things out I suppose.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/help.
 
I may be wrong so you'll have to check but I thought the steering wheel control module should end in Q or R?
 
Thanks for the reply, I thought the ones that end with n were ok, there is a main dealer selling them on ebay and it says in the listing they are compatible with cruise and mfsw, can anyone confirm this or have any other ideas/things to check.
 
Motormouth said:
Thanks for the reply, I thought the ones that end with n were ok, there is a main dealer selling them on ebay and it says in the listing they are compatible with cruise and mfsw, can anyone confirm this or have any other ideas/things to check.
Click to expand...

sounds something like your steering wheel control module is not talking correctly to your MFSW, only thing I can think of is that the pin outs on the control module and MFSW are different, have you got access to ELSA for the wiring diagrams ?
 
VagPro said:
sounds something like your steering wheel control module is not talking correctly to your MFSW, only thing I can think of is that the pin outs on the control module and MFSW are different, have you got access to ELSA for the wiring diagrams ?
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought, there is obviously power to it otherwise it wouldn't be lit up but no I haven't got ELSA for the wiring diagrams, is there anyone on here who can help with that sort of thing?
 
Motormouth said:
Thats what I thought, there is obviously power to it otherwise it wouldn't be lit up but no I haven't got ELSA for the wiring diagrams, is there anyone on here who can help with that sort of thing?
Click to expand...

Yea, no problem, what year, model and engine code is the car? Let me see what I can find....
 
ukdan said:
How many pin outs does your current module have?
I know for mfsw it should have 12.
Click to expand...

I don't know without taking it to bits, I know the slip ring I fitted had the 2nd row of pins so that is correct and everything connected up fine, I have checked all the connections several times. Are there different air bag looms or are they all the same, the air bag loom came with the first steering wheel that I bought which was the same design as the original none mfsw that I removed, it fitted perfectly and connected up fine and I guessed they would all be the same? From memory all the pins on the air bag loom connector were used but the connector on the loom from the buttons only had about 3 pins used, which was the same on the 2nd steering wheel I bought so I pressume that is correct and the other pins are for a heated steering wheel or something?
 
Motormouth said:
I don't know without taking it to bits, I know the slip ring I fitted had the 2nd row of pins so that is correct and everything connected up fine, I have checked all the connections several times. Are there different air bag looms or are they all the same, the air bag loom came with the first steering wheel that I bought which was the same design as the original none mfsw that I removed, it fitted perfectly and connected up fine and I guessed they would all be the same? From memory all the pins on the air bag loom connector were used but the connector on the loom from the buttons only had about 3 pins used, which was the same on the 2nd steering wheel I bought so I pressume that is correct and the other pins are for a heated steering wheel or something?
Click to expand...

Im not sure if there is any difference on the slip rings, I was thinking of getting a wiring diagram and then you could check which pin should connect where..... for which I need your year and engine code...
 
audi upgrades
VagPro said:
Im not sure if there is any difference on the slip rings, I was thinking of getting a wiring diagram and then you could check which pin should connect where..... for which I need your year and engine code...
Click to expand...

2005 55reg and just checked, think the engine code is BGB 2.0tfsi. Thank you.
 
Motormouth said:
2005 55reg and just checked, think the engine code is BGB 2.0tfsi. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Right then, there seem to be 3 different types of steering wheels for that model: From 01, From 04 and From Aug 04. I would need to print them compare and spot the differences, here they are for now, let me know how you get on and if you need any more help give me a shout.

A4 2005 MFSW Wiring Diagrams

(p.s. if this has helped you, please like my FB page and write a comment)
 
VagPro said:
Right then, there seem to be 3 different types of steering wheels for that model: From 01, From 04 and From Aug 04. I would need to print them compare and spot the differences, here they are for now, let me know how you get on and if you need any more help give me a shout.

A4 2005 MFSW Wiring Diagrams

(p.s. if this has helped you, please like my FB page and write a comment)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the diagrams, I will have a look and let everyone know how I get on. I'm not on FB but even if the wiring isn't the fault thank you for your help.
 
VagPro said:
I've just remembered I have a MFSW from my '06 A4 Cab if you would like to compare against that
Click to expand...

What is the wheel like? Do you have the airbag loom still attached to it? If so any chance of some photos or part number?
 
Wrath said:
I'd say the airbag loom is wrong. Think they are £13 from the dealer.
Click to expand...

What makes you think it will be the airbag loom, are there different ones for the A3, A4, A6 etc. If so do you know what the correct part number is and if the looms are different does that mean the buttons are different? Both mfsw that I have are the same to look at as the none mfsw that I removed from my car other than the buttons obviously so I pressumed (maybe wrongly so) that the parts other than steering module and slip ring were the same on the A3, A4, A6 etc. Is that not the case? I don't know what car the air bag loom/steering wheel I have fitted came from or the part numbers, but they did seem to fit properly to my original airbag.
 
The part number used to be 4F0 971 589 A for the airbag loom. Where did the wheel originally come from?
 
Wrath said:
The part number used to be 4F0 971 589 A for the airbag loom. Where did the wheel originally come from?
Click to expand...

Not sure where the wheel came from originally, bought it off ebay and the seller didn't say, they had bought the wheel themselves off ebay to retro fit on their car but never did, the wheel came with the airbag loom so I pressumed it was right for my car as the wheel fitted fine. I thought I had read somewhere that the looms were really expensive now for some reason.
 
Tried again today to find the fault with this but failed. I have metered the pins out on the slip ring and it is fine as I thought, checked the airbag loom and it has the part number Wrath has posted above, also metered this out and it is fine. I have 2 sets of mfsw buttons and they both only have 3 wires in the connector that connects to the airbag loom, these 3 wires go to pins 1, 2 , 3, pin 3 is a GND and goes to the same GND as the horn on the back of the airbag, pin 1 + 2 go to pin 8 + 9 on the slip ring connector where it connects into the steering control module.

As long as I don't have 2 faulty sets of buttons then everything up to the steering module is ok, the wiring diagrams above don't show the pin outs of the steering module so I don't know if pin 8 + 9 from the slip ring is going to the correct connections on the steering module.

I pressume there are only 2 wires other than the GND as one is can high and one is can low? If this is correct something must be right as there is power to the buttons as they are lit up.

I can only think now that the steering module is faulty, could the cruise and everything else be working fine but the mfsw part of the module gone faulty, if it had though surely it would have a different fault code? Is there any way of checking the outputs from the module? I shoved a bit of wire into the connections on the steering module and they felt ok.

The only other fault code the steering module is showing is vin not recognised or something as I bought this unit 2nd hand, I wouldn't imagine that would stop the mfsw working though. Unless I have missed something the only other option is to change the steering module which is expensive and also the last time I did it the traction light stayed on and I had to pay for the fault clearing as I couldn't do it with vag com.
 
Motormouth said:
Tried again today to find the fault with this but failed. I have metered the pins out on the slip ring and it is fine as I thought, checked the airbag loom and it has the part number Wrath has posted above, also metered this out and it is fine. I have 2 sets of mfsw buttons and they both only have 3 wires in the connector that connects to the airbag loom, these 3 wires go to pins 1, 2 , 3, pin 3 is a GND and goes to the same GND as the horn on the back of the airbag, pin 1 + 2 go to pin 8 + 9 on the slip ring connector where it connects into the steering control module.

As long as I don't have 2 faulty sets of buttons then everything up to the steering module is ok, the wiring diagrams above don't show the pin outs of the steering module so I don't know if pin 8 + 9 from the slip ring is going to the correct connections on the steering module.

I pressume there are only 2 wires other than the GND as one is can high and one is can low? If this is correct something must be right as there is power to the buttons as they are lit up.

I can only think now that the steering module is faulty, could the cruise and everything else be working fine but the mfsw part of the module gone faulty, if it had though surely it would have a different fault code? Is there any way of checking the outputs from the module? I shoved a bit of wire into the connections on the steering module and they felt ok.

The only other fault code the steering module is showing is vin not recognised or something as I bought this unit 2nd hand, I wouldn't imagine that would stop the mfsw working though. Unless I have missed something the only other option is to change the steering module which is expensive and also the last time I did it the traction light stayed on and I had to pay for the fault clearing as I couldn't do it with vag com.
Click to expand...

Ill put some pics up of the steering wheel I got when I get back home (mon),

you mentioned earlier that the lights in the buttons stay on regardless of the vehicle lights being on or off (not how it's supposed to work), due to this I think there is some sort of short / miscommunication between the steering wheel control module (j527) and operating unit in steering wheel (e221). I've had a brief look at the wiring diagrams. Appears that before Aug 04 the j527 module used to have some wires directly connecting to the buttons in the steering wheel but after aug 04 the j527 module is only connecting to the e221 module (and not any buttons). Based on this I "think" that if you have the wrong steering wheel. The steering wheel I have is from an 06, let me see if I can dismantle / make any sense of the configuration and we can compare it against the ones you have ?

Or are you anywhere near Leicester ? (thinking it might be easier for you to just try out the steering I have......)

Also the traction light may have stayed on because the steering angle sensor would have needed calibrating

VW Golf (1J) Brake Electronics (MK60) - Ross-Tech Wiki
 
Right then Motormouth,

I've had a look at the steering wheel I have in my garage and from what you explained above it appears to be the same as the ones you have. i.e. only 3 wires connect from the Coil Connector (F350) to the Operating Unit in Steering wheel (E221), so the correct wiring diagram for the steering wheel is the one that says "From Aug 04" (although it shows 6 wires instead of 3, additional ones may be for tiptronic).

Photo 21 10 2012 18 54 11

The part number on the Buttons is 4F0951527 and 4F0951527A and the loom between the two is 8P0419589 P

So the Steering Column Control Unit (J527) may be to the wiring diagram before Aug 04. To be sure you could check the parking light pin that illuminates the LED's in the buttons using a multimeter, Check for voltage not current (From the wiring diagram "From 04" there appears to be a pin that powers LED's in the steering wheel when the parking lights come on)

This would confirm the E221 module is to the older wiring diagrams and you need a set of buttons to suit.
 
Last edited:
This is a strange one.. Lets see if I can shed some light on this.

First of all, the 3 wires from the Steering Wheel are, in order 1-3, Data, +12v and GND. The data wire is the wire that takes a signal from E221 for whichever button is pressed and send the signal down that wire to the slipring and then into the Steering ECU. The data wire covers all controls on the wheel, including the tiptronic functions. Im left to assume the 3 other empty pins are for functions such as steering wheel heating etc.

The +12v and GND are obviously setup fine as the lights are permenantly on.. But this could also represent a fault in the data wire as the data wire is what carrys the signal that controls the lights to come on whenever the headlights/sidelights are turned on.

I feel this is where the problem is, in the data wire, or a faulty wheel.
 
If the fault happens to be in the module, I have a "N" module for sale.
PM if interested.
 
I know this is a really old thread and sorry to bump it up but after hours spent on the web this is pretty much bang on the trouble I'm having. Did the OP ever fix it? As I'm banging my head against the wall at the moment trying to find what's wrong.

Cheers
 
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