Fabia VRS cruise control retro-fit

[tramman]

Picked up a 2004 Fabia VRS yesterday and although overly impressed with the car the one thing I am missing is cruise control. I've being looking through the various threads and it appears to be quite a task (I've being retrofitting Vauxhall Corsa-D's, Astra's and Zafira's for a number of years now as I have my own diagnostic kit) however the fabia looks to be very involved and with two different methods of installation being recommended, can anybody recommend anywhere near York willing to retro-fit cruise control and would I need to check any modules first to confirm that my car will be compatible. Also what sort of price should I be looking to pay, I've seen a kit on eBay for £65 is it worth doing it myself.

[Tech1e]

I have done probably 30 or so of them by now if not more. Its fairly easy especially as you sound fairly handy.

You do need VCDS to activate it and yes you need either a 6Q0 or 6Q1 central electrics ecu (09) if its 6Q2 its not possible without changing that ECU. However on your car im betting its a 6Q0 or 1.

[tramman]

Are the eBay kits a worthwhile proposition then? Looking at this one at the moment

Edited 23 October, 2010 by tramman

[Tech1e]

Thats an official Skoda kit, get it from a dealer for a little bit less than that.

[tramman]

Thats an official Skoda kit, get it from a dealer for a little bit less than that.

Would you have a part number for this kit, and would it be the best option or would I be better with this one again off of ebay.

[Tech1e]

Pretty sure its BEA 000 002

It's the same kit on eBay, up to you where you buy it from.

[vRSAnt]

I've got the VW one one mine.....and fitted myself. Again, pretty easy provided you are ok with handling explosives ! (airbag)

Mine was when the car was practically brand new too....imagine that, taking a new car to bits....

I also hasten to note, that I had to use the proper pin into the loom method, as opposed to breaking into it. I'd recommend that's the better way to go, but given as you are well out of warranty, you might find it easier to splice into the ECU loom

The VW stalk is excellent

Edited 24 October, 2010 by dominorising

[tramman]

Thanks for the replies guys, definately gonna go the proper pin method. even though I'll probably lose my knuckles in the process. Is there any difference between the VW and Skoda kits?

[vRSAnt]

In terms of their end function, no as they both do the same thing

But I think they may "feel" a bit different in how their control although I have never tried the Skoda stalk, certainly look a bit different.

I prefer the look of the VW one (seems to fit in perfectly with the stalk on the other side) and am certainly happy with how it works. No complaints yet after 3 years use

Cruise control stalk 8L0 953 513 J 01C (Skoda) or 1J0 953 513 01C (VW)

[gocro]

Bought mine from e-bay for £28 partial loom included. The control is a slightly paler shade of grey than a genuine VAG article, only time will tell if it is as good, the loom has Audi tags.I also had to buy the brown six way plug and two yellow leads with contacts from Skoda dealer to complete loom £9.60.

I spent about four,rain interupted hours fitting it yesterday.This morning took a trip to Sacriston, Durham where Andy (Contact on 07884005252 after 6pm or email [email protected]) activated it for £15. He usually just does VWs but the vRS was no bother other than there being no activation light on the dash. He also does a complete scan and emails the results included in the price.

Whole job done for less than £53, wold have been even less but I bought a pack of 5 leads rather than just two.

[tramman]

Thanks for the advice guys, going to contact my local Skoda dealer tomorrow to get a price for the kit as well as practice some contortionism to get to the T11a socket

[tramman]

Just contacted my local dealer (DM Keith) who have quoted £65 for the kit, however they will need the car in to connect it up to their diagnostic equipment to ensure it has the correct ECU prior to selling me the kit which will incur an aditional charge.

Edited 26 October, 2010 by tramman

[SimonK24]

Just contacted my local dealer (DM Keith) who have quoted £65 for the kit, however they will need the car in to connect it up to their diagnostic equipment to ensure it has the correct ECU prior to selling me the kit which will incur an aditional charge.

Additional charge?! Stuff that. My local dealer (Murray Newton Abbot) just needed my chassis number and confirmed it would work.

[VRStu]

As Ross says it's unlikely you have the wrong 09 Central Electronics controller. Just tell them you want the kit and you'll take it on risk.

[tramman]

Asked if they could take it from the chassis number, and they said it couldn't be done. Which was a very surprising response

[SimonK24]

As said above, I would just get the part ordered and buy it.

[Tech1e]

Just contacted my local dealer (DM Keith) who have quoted £65 for the kit, however they will need the car in to connect it up to their diagnostic equipment to ensure it has the correct ECU prior to selling me the kit which will incur an aditional charge.

They are quite correct, F1 active on the parts system doesn't tell you what central electrics ecu is fitted as anyone of three can be. Only two will work with cruise az per my other thread.

[boro86]

phoned TPS today and ordered a kit for £46. turns up tomorrow then gunna fit this week

the lass at TPS told me a guy orders loads of the kits and puts them on ebay lol

Edited 26 October, 2010 by boro86

[VRStu]

Allow yourself plenty of time, it's not a walk in the park. Nothing like trying to rush a job you aren't sure of.

[adc124]

Hi Guys,

Wondered if anyone could help me out. I bought the cruise control kit from Skoda and spent most of yesterday fitting it, I had to remove the entire facia to get to the transverse wall, how anybody has managed to do this without removing the facia I don't know, they must be contortionists with small hands!

Anyway, put everything back together and it isn't working! The only thing that sticks out is that the instructions seem to show that you can connect the white wire to either pin10 on the T11a or pin 6 on the T11b. I went for the T11a pin 10 but now wondering if I should have gone for the other! Does anyone have any experience with this?

The only other thing I haven't done is clear the fault code from when I activated cruise control and started the engine without it installed, but I'll give that a go today.

Any help is really appreciated!

[vasvas]

Hi Guys,

Wondered if anyone could help me out. I bought the cruise control kit from Skoda and spent most of yesterday fitting it, I had to remove the entire facia to get to the transverse wall, how anybody has managed to do this without removing the facia I don't know, they must be contortionists with small hands!

Anyway, put everything back together and it isn't working! The only thing that sticks out is that the instructions seem to show that you can connect the white wire to either pin10 on the T11a or pin 6 on the T11b. I went for the T11a pin 10 but now wondering if I should have gone for the other! Does anyone have any experience with this?

The only other thing I haven't done is clear the fault code from when I activated cruise control and started the engine without it installed, but I'll give that a go today.

Any help is really appreciated!

hi,i tried to connect it to the same area (pin 10 at T11a) but it was empty from the other side so i connect the white wire to the pin6 T11b,notice that my fabia is petrol not diesel,it is easy to find out if you have connect successful the white wire to your ecu,just clear the fault code,if it don't come up again then the connection is ok .

[SimonK24]

I had to actually take the car on a short journey and activate the cruise before the fault code would disappear. Have you driven the car to see if it works?

[adc124]

hi,i tried to connect it to the same area (pin 10 at T11a) but it was empty from the other side so i connect the white wire to the pin6 T11b,notice that my fabia is petrol not diesel,it is easy to find out if you have connect successful the white wire to your ecu,just clear the fault code,if it don't come up again then the connection is ok .

Thanks for your reply, I'm fairly sure I should also have used the pin 6 T11b too. I didn't think to try clearing the fault code and check it at that point because I assumed there would be a few fault codes considering I'd disconnected just about every electrical component in the dashboard to get to it! Wish I had tried now though!

[adc124]

I had to actually take the car on a short journey and activate the cruise before the fault code would disappear. Have you driven the car to see if it works?

Yeah, I went for a drive as soon as we'd pieced it all back together but no luck at all. I'm getting a really odd fault code now that nobody seems to know of, I think it is the "You idiot you plugged it into the wrong plug" fault code.

[SimonK24]

Hope you manage to get it sorted, I'm glad I took the white wire into the engine bay route, as it was quite easy!