How To: DIY Guide for Fitting Cruise Control

[Bowders1]

VRS DIY Cruise Control Fitting

Part 1

Hi Folks this my DIY guide for fitting Cruise control to a Skoda Octy VRS. As the Seat , Skoda, VW base cars for the same years are all interchangeable it does not matter which of these vehicles you get the kit’s from. What does matter is the right type of engine as diesels and none 1.8 Turbo cars will have a different loom.
Diesels , none 1.8t cars using a 80 pole ecu loom
1.8 t cars using a 121 pole ecu loom.

The kit I fitted was purchased in Separate bits

Control Stalk for Steering column
Main loom from Control stalk
121 pole ECU loom

All the bits and pics I purchased were from this site

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seat-Leon-1-8T-1-4-1-6-16v-Cruise-Control-Kit-/360101620767?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item53d7baac1f

Also this site kindly provides fitting instructions
(As I purchased from this site i do not feel too guilty refering to the site install guide, but still give credit to that site for the information provided)

http://vwgolfr32.co.uk/ccs.pdf

Which I actually followed quite easy, so to be honest that would help most DIY installers. The benefit of my pics and further instructions is really o focus from a Octy point of view, as the install guide uses pics of the golf which some of the panels ,trim are slightly different to remove but no major issue.

Note: update

This DIY guide is referencing 2 looms I used.
More recently VW, Skoda and Seat have released a single loom kit for the 1.8t and other variants which would make the install slightly easier as you do not need to join as many cables however the principal of fitting the kit is the same so the guide is still usable to those who have the newer single loom kit.

As you need to remove the steering/airbag disconnect the battery first.

To remove steering wheel:

Adjust the steering column to it’s lowest position by the column adjustment handle. Then pull out the column and lower it as far as it will go. Now you need to turn the wheel 90' then insert a small flat screwdriver into a hole in the back of the steering wheel and twist upwards. This will unclip the plastic lug holding one side of the airbag to wheel, then turn wheel back to center and then another 90' the opposite way and again insert screwdriver into back of wheel as before. This feels a bit awkward if you have not done before, but persevere.
This will then unclip the airbag, so get ready to hold it.
Turn steering back to center position as makes it easier to centralize later.
The airbag will still be attached by 2 wires. Carefully unclip those connectors and remove airbag
Then just undo steering wheel center bolt(torx bolt) and remove wheel.

Pic of wheel removed exposing the airbag slip ring.
Important:
Do not spin, move or turn the slip ring clockwise or anticlockwise



Undo the screws and remove the column height adjustment handle

Undo and remove the upper plastic shroud from the steering column , then release the plastic clips and remove the lower shroud.

Remove the Fuse box cover and the lower facia trim panels





Use a small screwdriver to release the locking lugs and pull the slip ring wiring connector from it’s plug connector.
Release the 2 retaining hooks and then remove slip ring.
Follow the Guide in link above to unplug and remove the steering columns stalks(come off as a pair)

Slip ring removed





Now you need to get to the relay/top fuse box that is located in the slam panel.
To get to that you need to remove the wiper arms, plastic cowling and wiper asm

Before I removed the wipers I placed tape above and below the blades to make it easier to relocate arms in correct position.



Remove the plastic wiper covers that sit over the nuts



Spray wiper bolts with WD40 to help release them if tight. Remove nuts with 13mm socket then pull wipers upwards from window which will help easier removal from spindles.

Pic of wipers removed.



Then remove the rubber strip that sits over plastic cowling

Remove the plastic cowling. It is in 2 sections and held in quite tight and sits in a groove at bottom of windscreen, so be careful to lever it off without snapping the plastic lugs.

Cowling removed, can also see the ECU in the center of slam panel, which you will need access to later.



Now is a good time to replace the pollen filter as it is now exposed and these are cheap enough. (sits on the battery side under cowling)



This was the state of my old one.



Part 2 to follow

Edited 21 January, 2014 by Bowders1

[Bowders1]

VRS DIY Cruise Control Fitting

Part 2

Now remove the 3 x 10mm bolts that hold the wiper arm asm to the slam panel area

Slowly manipulate the wiper asm out of the slam panel. Do not pull right out as you will need to unplug the wiring from the connector, shown here after I removed asm.

Save the rubber mounting washers for reinstall (but check condition prior to re fitment for wear)

With wiper asm removed you will now be able to see the black cover that sits over the fuse box.

Remove the 10mm nuts from this and carefully pull back the plastic/rubber cover to expose the fuses and relays.

You will need to get good access to the connectors as this is where you will be adding some of the new wires from the Cruise control looms

I decided to remove the fuse panel securing screws and push the panel into the driver foot well to get better access.

You need to get to the black connecter plug to add wires.

This is covered on page 6 of the install guide above

As I pushed through the fuse panel I removed the black connector plug from inside the car seen here

Now you can follow the PDF link at the start of this guide to work on the cables.

I have run though this below quickly though as back up

You should now wire up your cruise control stalk main loom. This routes from the stalk (not yet fitted) to the fuse box black connector and separate fuse position on the driver’s side fuse box.

It is easier not to fit stalk yet as you can route cables first

The main loom wires are all numbered/tagged follow instruction to locate to the correct positions in the black connector

This would have taken you to the top of page 9 in install PDF

Follow the instruction for page 9 by installing the 4 wires to their respective positions in the black connector housing

So now you should have plugged 4 wires into the Black connector, and have a spare wire loose to connect to side fuse box(leave inside foot well for plugging to side fuse box later),

Now you can re fit the black connector to the fuse box/relay carrier and refit carrier to scuttle/slam panel.

For 1.8T engines and folks with a second loom like if have (121 pole loom) you should go to page 11 and 12 of install PDF to start to wire up second loom.

This 121 pole loom is basically a linking loom to connect the cruise control stalk loom(fitted to the black connector) to the ECU. Folks that have a newer single loom kit would have found the previous activity not needed as there loom would connect straight to the ECU( If memory is correct)

This second loom you should poke through the black rubber cover to connect to the 4 wires just fitted to black connector. Fit as per instructions for AUQ engine on Page 11.

Refit black rubber / plastic cover with the 2 x10mm nuts.

You will be fitting the new wires from the second loom direct to the ECU multi plug. You will need to remove the blank crimps in the ECU connector to allow install of new wires( I think on at least 2 locations)

ECU multiplugs

Left side plug is the one you need to get to

Follow instruction very carefully to remove the plug locking devices on page 11

The numbering on the multi plug is very small (I have better detail of this somewhere)

Will find later

Complete the wiring to the ECU plug and reassemble the plug and connect back to ECU

Route new looms and tidy up / cable tie to existing looms in scuttle panel

Refit wiper arm motor asm, plastic scuttle panel cover, wipers etc

You are now complete in engine bay

Now you need to work on the remaining blue/black cable from the cruise control stalk loom to the side fuse box.

Again follow instructions from install guide page 13 and 14.

Note: I could not press out the short blue/black wire from fuse 5 even after pushing the purple fuse holder locking plate sideways. In the end I used a cable joiner (scotch lock)

Refit side fuse holder back to dash side panel

Now you can route the other end of the cruise control stalk loom up the steering column and towards where the stalk will be fitted

Now working on the original indicator stalk and wiper stalk split the 2 apart (screw holds them together) and add your new cruise control stalk to the wiper stalk(covered on page 5 of PDF)

Plug in the new loom to the cruise control stalk and refit the stalks to steering column.

Refit upper and lower steering columns shrouds and steering column adjuster handle.

Refit the airbag control ring paying attention to page 13 in PDF regarding distance between steering wheel and control ring. There need to be a correct gap between stalks , control ring and steering wheel to engage the control ring lugs into steering wheel correct

Re plug control ring to loom, refit steering wheel and airbag and wiring

Refit al remaining dashboard trim

Job Done

Now you need to recode your ECU to see cruise Control.

Follow instructions at start of install guide using VAGCOM . Very simple

Now you have cruise control fitted and hopefully working

[Juka]

Thanks for the writeup but I'm still very much confused what do I need for my 1.8T AUM engine. It's a huge PITA to have anyone install this where I live :( I'm transferring what I've read on: 

 

Option A:

1. Stalk

2. Loom from stalk to relay box (kit 1+2)

3. Loom from relay box to ECU (sold separately, but no longer available?)

 

Option B:

1. Stalk

2. Loom from stalk to relay box - updated, longer version - fits actually directly to ECU?

 

My idea is to order a genuine BAE 300 002 https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/bea300002-cruise-control-de-7851.html but do I need the extra looms as from original post https://www.kufatec.com/en/volkswagen/vw-golf/golf-4-1j/cruise-control-cable-set-for-vw-golf-4-gasoline-40307 as I think I get an extra loom in this kit, that I already get in the stalk+loom kit.

 

P.S. Difference between BAE 300 002 and BAE 300 003 is the 002 has +/- operation, will it work on 1.8T AUM intstead of the outdated single button for - (I saw it 100% work on a 1.9TDI Octavia)? 

 

@Stjepan

 

[Juka]

To reply to myself, the new style cruise is fitted to my 1.8T AUM. How, I have no idea, only many many kudos to @Stjepan who did the installation and granted me the wish of having the new style, rather than the old style which is the official mk1 stalk. I know he had to fiddle about a bit to make it work, but it's here! <3

 

Works perfectly.

 

In comparison to the 1.9TDI cruise control (fitted in the Fabia MK1 RS) it's very gentle on disable/restore - has a nice ramp up/down. The TDI just cut's power or enables power 100% making it very jerky.