Retro Cruise Control S3

Trev241

Trev241

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I am considering retro fitting cruise control to my January 2007 S3 and wondered if anyone can help with the following questions.

1. I have a factory fit flat bottom MFSW does this mean the car will have the correct ECU / Slip Ring already installed. ?

2. If this is the case do I take it that I will only need to purchase the new stalk and lower column cover ?

I would like to install myself as I can get someone to do the coding.

Any help would be great, any photos of an installation would be even better.

P.S My local stealer quoted £520 :hubbahubba:
Trev
 
mitch78 said:
I'm pretty sure the answer to both your questions is Yes.

It was just a matter of fitting the stalk and cover and a bit of coding when I did mine. Parts were only £80 ish frim the dealer. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Sounds good, I rang the VAGPARTS outfit today and they quoted £77.
 
mitch78 said:
I'm pretty sure the answer to both your questions is Yes.

It was just a matter of fitting the stalk and cover and a bit of coding when I did mine. Parts were only £80 ish frim the dealer. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yeah, same with me. Only I got mine from German eBay for £65. Although dropped a clanger as don't understand German and found out I had to buy the lower cowling seperately. Cost just under £90 for mine but worth every penny if you do a lot of motorway miles
 
Yes, I'd recommend cruise control highly if you do a lot of motorway miles.

I installed the VW kit into my brother's GTI at the weekend. Very simple job - 45mins to 1 hr. Just waiting on my new VAGCOM lead to arrive tomorrow night to activate it.
 
There is an article in this month's issue of the Audi Driver magazine showing one being retro fitted to an A4 with quite a few photos. Must be very similar with the A3.
 
mitch78 said:
I'm pretty sure the answer to both your questions is Yes.

It was just a matter of fitting the stalk and cover and a bit of coding when I did mine. Parts were only £80 ish frim the dealer. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Just had a thought, does this mean it is possible to fit the stalk without removing the steering wheel ?
 
No, the wheel needs to come off as the stalk is installed behind the wheel.

You'll need a special 12mm bit for the removal too. I had to go out and buy a set for the GTI install at the weekend.
 
I would seriously suggest you get the proper 14mm 12 slotted torx head for the 8P as if you screw the head up on that then you are well & truly fecked, its only a small price to pay at halfords & you can get a whole set which actually also has the 12mm one for the seats should you ever do the bluetooth install which goes under the seat.

You need to remove the wheel anyway to check the part number of your steering wheel control module, I suspect its probably ok to use that one for the cruise, but do take it apart & check 1st, when taking the top cover of be careful not to break the little retaining clips at the top that holds the top & bottom covers together around the steering column, me & Matt did this, I repaired mine, he glued his in place(yeehaaa boy, lol, lol, sorry matt had to) anyway patients & time.

Make sure you straighten your wheels, before anything else, then also make sure the centre column thread has a centre mark which also matches up with a centre mark on the steering wheel, it should already have one u will see, if hasnt mark the column thread & the wheel with a stanley knife lightly so you know which position to put the wheel in when reinstalling.

When wheel has been removed, put some tape on the slip ring so it doesnt move cause this is VERY VERY IMPORTANT it remains in the same place when reinstalled, then take it of, but make sure it doesnt move whatsoever when removed from the column.

Also note the module has a certain way of coming of, dont try & prize it of as it wont budge, it must be released from the front by inserting a long thin screwdriver & I mean thin or a thin peice of metal say coat hanger, PATIENTS HERE AS IT DOES **** YOU OF if you dont know how to, at the rear is also a clip you can push in to release the module at the rear so then it drops down & out, bright torch & patients needed.

Rest should be simple to work out to be honest as fit the cruise & then reverse of removal.
 
You could always just use VAGCOM to check which steering wheel controller, or if you don't have that give VAGParts a call and give them your chassis number. They'll be able to tell you if your car has the required steering wheel ECU fitted.

They were able to do this for me when I was ordering the GTI kit.

Saves you having to remove the wheel twice if you have to order the new controller.
 
Ah yeah thats another way to do, but he's gotta take trims of anyway so sod it, lol.

So VAGParts have server side etka linked up, lucky shits, lol, as thats only way chassis search would determine the controller installed, wish we had that huh Marc.
 
Thanks for the info guys, sounds like a lot of care needed but I think I will have a go as don't fancy paying the stealers £520.
Would like to fit cruise not so much for the uk but more for holidays into Austria, have had cramp in the right leg many times on long quiet motorways.
 
Its actually fairly easy to do TBH Trev, all it takes is time & patients, just take care removing trims etc as they have little tags that easily break of, but you should be able to do no problem & yeah no way pay the stealers to do it, no wayyyyyyy
 
nigelhobden said:
So VAGParts have server side etka linked up, lucky shits, lol, as thats only way chassis search would determine the controller installed, wish we had that huh Marc.
Click to expand...

They have paid for an ETKA login which is how they have that. They are a VW\Audi Genuine Parts distributor, so are just like any of the dealers' parts departments.

When you key in the chassis number, you can then go into any of the part number listings and any part that is installed on the vehicle with that chassis number appears in black. All other part numbers are greyed out.
 
audi upgrades
Ah I didnt know etka was available to purchase for login, **** I wonder how much that works out at, uuurrrrrmmmmm

Yeah I saw that in brighton audi parts, thought was quite cool.
 
sooo...if i were to buy this:

http://cgi.ebay.de/NEU-Original-Aud...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

i'd need....what? it says complete set, but i would need a lower cowling? and it might not work with my MFSW? aaand i'd have to activate it with VAG-COM...do i need a CAN HEX cable?

also as i side note: can i use an old OBDII version of the cable at all with my car? just to read the turbo pressure and stuff?
 
I have been shopping around for the best parts prices prior to fitting cruise, whilst doing this a number of people have stated that an extra wire may need adding to the loom before the system will work on the S3.
Have any of you guys come across this during your retofits ?
 
Came across this on my brother's GTI the other week. Pin 13 on the steering wheel ECU will either have a black and white wire or it won't. His didn't have the wire.If it does then you are in business. If it doesn't then you'll need to run a wire from pin 13 into the engine bay to the engine ECU.I visited three VW dealers to find out where the wire went and they all thought I was crazy when I mentioned the additional wire. One of the techs even said that he had fitted cruise into two cars the previous week and it worked out of the box.It is possible that the newer models have this wire pre-fitted, but best to check beforehand. Let me know if you find out where the wire runs to and what pin on the engine ECU it connects to as I'm having no luck with the dealers.
 
MarcQuinlivan said:
Came across this on my brother's GTI the other week. Pin 13 on the steering wheel ECU will either have a black and white wire or it won't. His didn't have the wire.If it does then you are in business. If it doesn't then you'll need to run a wire from pin 13 into the engine bay to the engine ECU.I visited three VW dealers to find out where the wire went and they all thought I was crazy when I mentioned the additional wire. One of the techs even said that he had fitted cruise into two cars the previous week and it worked out of the box.It is possible that the newer models have this wire pre-fitted, but best to check beforehand. Let me know if you find out where the wire runs to and what pin on the engine ECU it connects to as I'm having no luck with the dealers.
Click to expand...
Wonder if anyone at VagParts would know ?
 
Dunno. I bought the cruise stuff from them and had to give them the chassis number so they could check if the steering wheel ecu supported cruise. They just check the part number of the ECU because I had the right ECU, but just not the wire.

I suppose it would do you no harm to give Alan or Martyn a call and see what they say.
 
I retro fitted cruise to my first A3 with the original Audi kit. Cost almost £100 so my for my current S3 i just bought the stalk from VAG parts, a third of the price!!

The original kit came with a black wire that was needed for vechicles without control cable system (A3 3-doors up to and including 05/2005). In the instructions it states that this wire needs to be connected to pin 13 of the steering column switch module and to another connector called the radiator tank coupling station! also referred to as the blue plug-in connector T12a. The other end of the wire goes into pin 4 of this connector. The instructions have got diagrams and quite detailed guides if you want them.

Fitting cruise to my 2007 S3 was straight forward. I'm pretty sure that if you have a multi-function steering wheel, you have the right steering control module.
 
Wouldn't mind a copy of them if you've got them handy.

I just found an italian web page that referenced the "pin 4 on the blue windscreen" - so I assume it is the same thing they were talking about.

I just checked the hazzydays site and they say that for MkV Golf, Caddy & Touran prior to 2006 there is an additional wire required.

There was no wire in the kit I bought though.
 
Again no issue with the extra wire on my 2005 TDi. As there were doubts on the ECU version in mine I went for the full kit.

You will need a spline set to remove the steering wheel and a small Torq set to remove the steering ECU (T-8 from memory).

It is a reasonably straight forward job, though you will need a fair bit of leverage to remove the spline holding the wheel on. Audi state using a new bolt, but I just used some thread lock when I re-assembled it.

Just make sure you mark the wheel so you you position it correctly and use tape to keep the slip ring in the correct place.

Just a matter of coding the steering wheel ecu that it has CC and the Engine ecu, I think some require a login and later ones a new long coding.

Regards,

Paul
 
TrevS3 said:
I have been shopping around for the best parts prices prior to fitting cruise, whilst doing this a number of people have stated that an extra wire may need adding to the loom before the system will work on the S3.
Have any of you guys come across this during your retofits ?
Click to expand...

I thinks its only the very early 8P's which need the wire (2003 2004 & early 2005)

MarcQuinlivan said:
Came across this on my brother's GTI the other week. Pin 13 on the steering wheel ECU will either have a black and white wire or it won't. His didn't have the wire.If it does then you are in business. If it doesn't then you'll need to run a wire from pin 13 into the engine bay to the engine ECU.I visited three VW dealers to find out where the wire went and they all thought I was crazy when I mentioned the additional wire. One of the techs even said that he had fitted cruise into two cars the previous week and it worked out of the box.It is possible that the newer models have this wire pre-fitted, but best to check beforehand. Let me know if you find out where the wire runs to and what pin on the engine ECU it connects to as I'm having no luck with the dealers.
Click to expand...

Basically the wire runs from the steering wheel ECU to a panel under the bonnet. The wire is already in the loom to the main ECU but not the loom to the steering wheel ecu.

The instructions should say which pin on the plug at each end to put the wire in. The wire then has to fastened down the steering column threaded though a u-bend piece of tubing, make sure it is clipped to the existing loom. Then you need to take the plastic trim off from under the windscreen, it runs across the whole car, then you need to remove the wiper motor to gain access to a panel on the bulk head. When this is removed you can see into the foot well, you can then pass the wire up, the other end of the wire then goes into a plug under the panel.



MarcQuinlivan said:
Wouldn't mind a copy of them if you've got them handy.

I just found an italian web page that referenced the "pin 4 on the blue windscreen" - so I assume it is the same thing they were talking about.

I just checked the hazzydays site and they say that for MkV Golf, Caddy & Touran prior to 2006 there is an additional wire required.

There was no wire in the kit I bought though.
Click to expand...


Ill dig out the installation guide when I get home on Friday if I can find it, it only tell you the pins to put wire in. I used elsawin for assistance as the quide only mentions which section to use in elaswin.
 
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