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How To - Retrofit Cruise Control

97K views 176 replies 69 participants last post by  BFleming 
#1 ·
I've now completed the retrofit of Cruise Control to my 09 118d Sport Coupé. Not at all difficult - apologies for having no photos, but I had no camera with me when I did it!

I'd advise having the car booked in for the necessary coding before you start though.

You need (these are for my model, best check if yours needs the same!):

61319123040 - the complete steering column switch unit
61316950263 - the lower half of the steering column shroud
(You do NOT need the top half!)

I got them from a UK dealer with 10% off, and paid £297.20 + VAT and £16.92 + VAT respectively, but they'd be slightly cheaper ordering online at eshop.original-teile.de I think.

Disconnect the battery negative before you start!

Do all of this with the wheels in the straight ahead postion and do not move it.

Remove the airbag from the steering wheel using a flat-bladed screwdriver of about 5mm width; plenty instructions elsewhere on the forum on how to do that, and having read them, I found it easy - took about 2 minutes.

When it's loose, there are two cables plugged into it - disconnect them, by first lifting the black locking tabs up and away from the connector body (watch this part - at least some of the instructions elsewhere neglect to say that you have to lift the tabs first!) then the connectors pull straight out. That lets you set the airbag aside.

Disconnect the two connectors that you can see at the top of the wheel; again these have locking tabs, easy to see, though of a different sort - a small flat-bladed screwdriver will lift them.

Lock the steering column as far up towards your face, but down from the dash, as it will go.

Undo the 16mm bolt holding the wheel on. Note the mark at the bottom of the hole in the wheel next to the splines for lining it up correctly. Lift the wheel off.

Now you can remove the two halves of the plastic shroud round the steering column; there are no screws - they simply clip together. Take the top one off FIRST, leaving the bottom one in place for the moment! The best way I found to separate them is to place the sharp side of a new Stanley knife blade in the joint and twist it while gently pushing the top half of the housing upwards, doing one side at a time. The top half has a plastic bar with vinyl cloth attached at the bottom; the bar has four lugs that pass through the top half of the housing. Simply squeeze the lugs with your fingers and push them out (self explanatory when you see it!). Now remove the bottom half of the housing - it has two clips that go onto the switch unit, one on each side, so look for them and ease them back - having done that, it lifts away.

Remove the old switchgear; four T20 self tappers hold it on. Remove those, lift it up the column a little to allow you to disconnect the wiring plugs, then lift all the way off.

Replace with the new one, making sure it's seated properly before screwing in the four torx screws. Refit the two halves of the shroud, again self explantory, then the wheel and the wiring. I don't know the correct torque setting for the wheel, so I used my best judgement. Reconnect the airbag and clip it back in. Job done and time to reconnect the battery.

Now you best be aware - until you get this coded, your dash will be lit up like a Christmas tree with warning lights, DSC will not work, along with several other systems, the steering will not self-centre nicely, and your indicators will not self cancel. (Which is why I said have the coding appointment booked first!!) However, I found no difficulty in driving it like that.

Time to do the full thing? Half an hour.

Coding can be done as a total ripoff by your local BMW Stealer (ours charge £105 + VAT and hour, so they'll not see a penny of my money!) who'll probably claim it takes a couple of hours. I had mine done (I'm in central Scotland) by an Autologic dealer. It should take around 30 minutes start to finish, but it actually took an hour and a half, because although the Autologic tool has a selection for doing just a retrofit of the Cruise control, this did not work, despite doing it three times; in the end, it required all 15 (on my car) modules to be recoded, which worked no problem. Had the chap doing mine known that, as I say, it would have been a 30 minute job. Cost to me was an hour and a half at £39.50 + VAT an hour - £69.61, which is rather better than the BMW stealer would have charged!

All warning lights out, indicators self cancelling, steering as normal, Cruise Control now working as intended! :celebrate:

Hope this is of help to anybody who wants to do it!

Jim
 
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#6 ·
well so far they told me that the car need coding b4 fitting and then coding after fitting ???? hmmmmmm
and the cost of roughly 4 hours of labour is £492 lol !!! but they may need the car for 2 days just incase the coding fails !!!
so i told her to give me a price to supply and fit the cruise control and call me back i did this at 10am this morning
i get a call back at around 430pm and she tells me it has been the topic of conversation and she still has not got all the details and they are not even sure it can be done !! and i will get a call back thursday to confim

so i wait and report once more after my call back

interesting i think !!!
 
#7 ·
millerman said:
well so far they told me that the car need coding b4 fitting and then coding after fitting ???? hmmmmmm
and the cost of roughly 4 hours of labour is £492 lol !!! but they may need the car for 2 days just incase the coding fails !!!
so i told her to give me a price to supply and fit the cruise control and call me back i did this at 10am this morning
i get a call back at around 430pm and she tells me it has been the topic of conversation and she still has not got all the details and they are not even sure it can be done !! and i will get a call back thursday to confim

so i wait and report once more after my call back

interesting i think !!!
:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: How very........ BMW Dealerish of them! Educate them about how it CAN be done, how long it takes, and what it should cost!!!

Jim
 
#8 ·
well after a few calls i have found an autologic dealer who can do the coding and lend me a car for the day for £112 inc vat :cool2:
all i have to do now is get the parts and fit em!!
i have got bmw down to £446.68 labour charge :lol2: and parts were £479 odd b4 vat so was looking at a grand for there services
for someting i can do for around £400 :cool2:

my advise if your gonna do this is FORGET BMW they charge like a wounded rhino on heat :lol2:
 
#9 ·
millerman said:
well after a few calls i have found an autologic dealer who can do the coding and lend me a car for the day for £112 inc vat :cool2:
all i have to do now is get the parts and fit em!!
i have got bmw down to £446.68 labour charge :lol2: and parts were £479 odd b4 vat so was looking at a grand for there services
for someting i can do for around £400 :cool2:

my advise if your gonna do this is FORGET BMW they charge like a wounded rhino on heat :lol2:
Yup - it's a shame that people DO go to BMW dealerships, and let them get away with these scandalous charges. Many people don't know that as long as your car is serviced properly and with the correct consumables, your warranty is unaffected if you have it done at a non-genuine dealership.

Jim
 
#11 ·
millerman said:
well after a few calls i have found an autologic dealer who can do the coding and lend me a car for the day for £112 inc vat :cool2:
all i have to do now is get the parts and fit em!!
i have got bmw down to £446.68 labour charge :lol2: and parts were £479 odd b4 vat so was looking at a grand for there services
for someting i can do for around £400 :cool2:

my advise if your gonna do this is FORGET BMW they charge like a wounded rhino on heat :lol2:
Any chance you could take photo's whilst following the how to, edit the original one by insert the pictures in the how to?? thanks
 
#14 ·
Does anyone know if you can just fit the cruise control stalk to your existing indicator/wiper unit?

I took a punt on ebay and the switch unit I have doesn't have the auto wipers style indicator switch on it...
I have managed to extract the cruise control part from the switch unit but am now wondering if there will be a place to plug it into on my existing one that's on the car currently?

Any info would be fantastic!
 
#15 ·
Does the slip ring with the cruise control stock also have the plug for the steering wheel buttons in it?

TIA
 
#18 ·
I actually got my CC done by the dealer for €600, just as much as I paid the week before in speeding tickets.
There is a list price and an indicated 'shop time' in the BMW parts list and that is what an authorized BMW dealer should charge, regardless of their effort.
 
#19 ·
I'm collecting the parts I need to do this retrofit, going to add MFSW at the same time and then code them myself (gulp!) with SSS.

When I get the parts I need and my SSS setup sorted (just need to doctor a vagcom KKL lead first!) I'll do a how 2 for the site with pics, providing I don't toast the car!

:lol2:
 
#20 ·
rob-the-viking said:
I'm collecting the parts I need to do this retrofit, going to add MFSW at the same time and then code them myself (gulp!) with SSS.

When I get the parts I need and my SSS setup sorted (just need to doctor a vagcom KKL lead first!) I'll do a how 2 for the site with pics, providing I don't toast the car!

:lol2:
Let me know how you get on as Ive just got the slip ring today :p
 
#23 ·
Just thought i would post a shameless plug here. (prob already been said)

I was reccomended to speak to Lee at quarry motors (google it) and the service was fantastic. I called them yesterday looking for a stalk set for my PF 1er with auto wipers, the MFSW, cruise, the lower cover & the stering ring(just in case). I got a call first thing saying they have all the above and will get it set out to me ASAP. And at a very reasonable price!

Well done Quarry Motors
Gareth
 
#24 ·
Managed to source a second hand slip ring with all three stalks on it.

Problem i'm having is identifying whether it's the correct part for my 2005 116i

Coil spring code is 6989557-02

another number is 9121895-01
another number is 392 00 2082 13-05

The three stalk units all appear to have been made in Oct 2006.

Have i made a fool of myself and bought the wrong kit?
 
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