steering wheel controls

[gstuart]

hiya

tried a search and couldnt find anything relating to this subject

i wish to replace my worn out steering wheel for one which has the radio and cruise controls.

is it a question of pulling the fuse out to stop the air bag going off, what other precautions would i need to take.

my other thought is how difficult would it be to wire up my radio to the steering wheel controls and what would be involved if i wished to install the cruise control system.

im also about to buy myself the synergy 2 with maf, an egr bypass kit and the crankcase bmw conversion hopefully it will make a difference,hopefully the synergy comes with instructions how to alter the settings for which results is wanted

i have a 2002 td4

as always many thanks and hope everyone is keeping well

gary

[Mr Bean]

synergy 2?

Is that a modded ECU?

[Disco_Mikey]

Tuning box IIRC

[Darren]

hiya

tried a search and couldnt find anything relating to this subject

i wish to replace my worn out steering wheel for one which has the radio and cruise controls.

is it a question of pulling the fuse out to stop the air bag going off, what other precautions would i need to take.

Essentially, yes. Pull the fuse and leave it for half an hour to be sure the capacitor has discharged. It can then be unscrewed from the rear and unplugged. With the airbag removed it looks like this:

The yellow wire is the air bag connection and the switches have their own mini harness that run to the green plug in the centre.

To remove the wheel, slacken off, but don't completely remove, the large nut and then pull the wheel towards you by waggling it (technical term). When it pops free the loose nut prevents it from smacking you in the mouth.

my other thought is how difficult would it be to wire up my radio to the steering wheel controls and what would be involved if i wished to install the cruise control system.

You'll find the wiring already in place in the steering column for both the stereo switches and the cruise control. It you plug them in then the stereo controls should just work, assuming that the stereo is wired for it. The cruise control is much more complicated though and I've been told that it's very difficult to retrofit. I haven't been able to find any detailed information about what exacly would be required, which means that the cruise switches on the leather steering wheel that I fitted to mine just look pretty.

Hope this helps.

[dubtike]

disconnect your battery aswell, just to be on the safe side.

most radios wont work with the steering controls unless its an upgrade. such as taking out the cassette player and putting in the l.r. cd player.

the cruise control power switch is situated by the heater controls in one of the dead switches. if you pull out the covers, you might be lucky enough to have the wiring there.

i have a 01 petrol gs but couldnt find any wiring for the cruise control

[Darren]

I must admit I haven't explored behind the blanked off switch, but I do know that the cruise control needs its' own ECU, which would also have to be sourced and fitted.

[Mr Bean]

Are these individual parts not listed in RAVE?

[Darren]

Yes, to a certain extent, but it's hellishly complicated. It would appear that manual vehicles lack most of the wiring for the system as well as other components, although auto's may fair slightly better depending on year. It's reported that LR dealers will tell you that it can't be retro-fitted. It's also been suggested that it was never even an option on manual TD4's.

There's a long and detailed thread about this on another forum here where the conclusion was that it was pretty much impossible to retro-fit and that it's much easier install an aftermarket system. There's even details of how to use such a system with the LR steering wheel controls.