Retro Fit Cruise Control Avensis T3-s

[Firstpeke]

Okay, time for me to wade in to the discussion.......

in March I bought a relatively low mileage 07 plate 2.0 D4D T3 Estate, the only thing it lacks, apart from adjustable lumbar support on the front seats, is cruise control.....

Having read this thread and looked at all the diagrams and so on, I finally went down to the car, took out the glove box and sure enough there's the ECU with its annoying security bracket with the only TS screw that I don't have a tool for....

Never mind.

I take the steering wheel boss off and check the layout etc.... looks okay....

So.

I have ordered a steering wheel complete from an e-bay seller that has the cruise control switch, when it comes, I will fit it and test it.

If the cruise doesn't work I am hoping that the only thing missing is the white wire to the ECU, at which point I will need to get the relevant TS bit and about six feet of white wire....

Will let you know how it goes!

Oh and I have already put 12000 miles on the car with a low of just under 40mpg and a best of 59mpg....

These are great cars!

[Exvec]

Thanks for the input Les,never did get around to fitting my CC so it will be interesting to gauge how you get on.

I have a long drive from Nottingham to Cornwall in a month or so and i really would like to see the CC working..:D

[Firstpeke]

Well the steering wheel is on, I bought the range of Torx and other bits to cover the security guard on the ECU.... none of which fit the stupid screw Toyota has fitted....

So, pre lunch today is Dremel time.....

Once I get that guard off, I can see where I need to put that wire on plug B pin 24 of the ECU.....

Not been a difficult task so far, I did swap over the switches from my steering wheel as cosmetically they were a little better than the one son the wheel I bought, but I now have a spare air bag..... complete with standard wheel.....

Hope this works out as it will really make the car soooooo much better.

Anyone have a satnav disc better than '07 they don't want or need?

[Exvec]

Great Pete ..keep us posted on your progress.:D

[Firstpeke]

Having just lost my entire post courtesy of Win8.1 and Chrome I will start again.....

Having installed the steering wheel and run a wire from the CC switch to pin 24 on E10, B
connector on the ECU, it didn't work.

So the install involved buzzing out the pins on the steering wheel slip ring assembly from
the steering wheel connector to the lower connector on the steering wheel slip ring assembly, I found that pins 2 and 3 on the lower row of both connectors were connected, working from the left, I ran a wire from pin 3 to a ground bolt on the left side of the steering column.

Then ran a wire from pin 2 lower row left side to pin 24 on the E10 connector on the ECU.

This failed to illicit any response from the cruise control.

After re- reading the thread and looking at the diagram 2AD_FTV.pdf, I tried moving the white wire from the cruise control switch to pin 21 on the E9 connector of the ECU. (In my case it is actually a purple wire as I had no white cable)

This worked.

A quick test drive confirmed that the Cruise Control was now working as it should.

So, a steering wheel with the cruise switch, a bit of investigation and diagram reading has resolved this.

Mine is a 1AD engine but the 2AD diagram seems to apply, checking the wires already present has helped me to pin down that I needed to change to the A connector on the ECU, the top one of 4.

Getting to it was a pain as none of my existing or new Torx security bits fitted, five minutes with a dremel using a fine tipped deburring tool followed by the medium one, removed the security post from the security screws, allowing me to remove the two screws and bracket from the ECU securing bracket. I have not replaced them as they are not really required.

My car is now going to be so much better on my weekly commute to Northampton.

I hope this makes sense as I made a nice chicken and bacon tagliatelli with roasted red peppers, herbs and mushrooms, which when accompanied by ¾ bottle of red wine may result in some minor errors in my text.....

[Exvec]

Result then Les well done,gonna have another go at mine now i have the inspiration..:D

[Firstpeke]

I should say that the plugs did not have pins in the empty connector holes.... I have used wire that would be a little too big normally, stripped the insulation back to bare copper sufficiently long for the insulator to butt up against the back of the connector, very careful not to allow any strands to protrude and interfere with any other wire, then trimmed any excess protruding from the plug face....
Same on each connector where I added the wire required.

Carefully taping the cables together to prevent the new wire being pulled back..... this allows the pin in the female side of the connector to enter the socket in the male side and make good contact with the copper strands.... it works so no problems, although care should be taken when pushing the copper in to the back of the plugs... A gentle twist to try and keep the strands together, did'nt always work first push, but perseverance pays off.....

I have used mechanical crimps for in line or the ring tag connection for the negative return (chassis) connection on the steering column...

Ideally I would have used toyota diagram colours for all cabling but I used what I had!

Hope this helps others, thanks to all those who have previously contributed as this would not have been possible without all the other posts already made!

The cruise selections clearly work by adjusting the voltage level on the pin on the ECU by introducing various different resistance values to between the pin and ground.... these levels then enable or disable the various functions within the ECU to set or adjust the throttle positioning circuit.... this in conjunction with the throttle position sensor, throttle body position sensor and the pulse output from the speed sensor are integrated to control the speed set, or any other selection being made.

I am slightly amazed that Toyota go to the bother of producing different looms for the cars, but clearly their production is sufficiently well controlled to be able to do so, shame really....

It would have been nice to simply have plugged in the steering wheel with the cruise option fitted and it work without all the skint knuckles and after work body pains that ensue after assuming various odd positions to try and get the wire from the left side of the car to the steering column.....

Also as an ex Navy aircraft armourer, I was nervous about reconnecting the airbag without carrying out some sort of no volts check on the connections first!

[Exvec]

Great write up very informative..

I have some pins like these..??would they fit at all.

The pictures are blurred sorry.

[Firstpeke]

I couldn't say if those pins would fit as I don't know what pins are in the connectors!

My method is working just fine so I am going to stick with it!

Just drove down to Northampton, motorways were very quiet, used cruise for almost the whole journey once I got on dual carriageway east of Port Glasgow A8, M8, M74, M6, A14 etc etc.....

Set it at 80mph indicated which is 75 on the Satnag, didn't have to knock it off too often, but as you can use it to bump the speed up or down in 1mph (or thereabouts) increments, or decrements, or just tap for resume, then it worked very well.

Up some very steep hills and down as well of course, but speed hold was very good.

Fuel computer indicates I have averaged about 54mpg, which is going to be anything from 49mpg upwards, I would say it has all been entirely worth the £50 for the steering wheel and the few hours work.

Although the steering wheel will have to come off and go one spline right....

Again, hope this helps, sorry I can't advise on the pins.....

Biggest advantage apart from not getting a stiff right leg and ankle, is I can set a speed under the ACPO/ACPOS guidelines and actually not mind sticking to it.... 75 might not sound very fast but I did the journey in 6 hours 10 minutes including a ferry trip and a stop for a Subway! Not bad for about 380 miles.

[Totally Tech IT]

Hey Les,

Thanks for the info.

My engine is a 1AD FTV (2008 2.0 Avensis)

Am I right in thinking the only steps to get this working is:

1. Buy cruise control steering wheel and replace old one

2. Run a new wire from Pin 2 on the steering wheel CC plug to Pin 21 on E9

Is that all? This is scarily simple if that's the case!!! My old Pug 307 needed to be plugged in to a computer etc to have the CC turned on in the ECU etc... Was a nightmare lol...

I've got everything sitting here and will be going straight outside to fit this and my front fog lights shortly lol

[Exvec]

Hey Les,

Thanks for the info.

My engine is a 1AD FTV (2008 2.0 Avensis)

Am I right in thinking the only steps to get this working is:

1. Buy cruise control steering wheel and replace old one

2. Run a new wire from Pin 2 on the steering wheel CC plug to Pin 21 on E9

Is that all? This is scarily simple if that's the case!!! My old Pug 307 needed to be plugged in to a computer etc to have the CC turned on in the ECU etc... Was a nightmare lol...

I've got everything sitting here and will be going straight outside to fit this and my front fog lights shortly lol

Let us know how you get on Drew..:D

[Totally Tech IT]

Hmmmm, I have a minor problem lol....

Inside the steering wheel my CC control has 2 cables - Red and White (with a black stripe)

Does anyone know where I plug these 2 cables? I'm assuming they go in the plug where the volume controls etc all go?

[Totally Tech IT]

Which is earth? Is it the red one? :)

[Firstpeke]

It really isn't hard once you know where to erm... stick the wires.... yes red is negative or ground....

The plug to be putting the wires in to take to ground and ECU is the one nearest the driver at the bottom of the slip ring assembly. (In my pics it's the one I am pointing at..)

If you use a meter with a beep function for continuity and just buzz the pins out you will have no problem.

Lower row in both cases, left to right, pins 2 and 3. It is important to get them correct as the resistances in the cruise control switch are used to set the voltage level at the ECU pin.... if you get them wrong it will either not work, might work the wrong way around, or it may cause damage!

If it's the same ECU then again, easy enough!

Let us know how it goes!

Actually I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was and the fact that it worked straight away with no reprogramming or anything.

I'm impressed with the car even though there are quite a few things I would like to sort out to my satisfaction.... brakes, possible wheel bearing but it may be tyres.... only wish I could afford to put 4 new Michelin on it.... as well as new discs and probably a bearing or two.... but I am a bit over picky.... and it will probably do another 10,000 with nothing more than a service and some tyres....

[Totally Tech IT]

Wowzers, a little harder than the pug but I've added wires like you've said and it only works 100%!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much, I'd have never dared to test the ecu for and alternative pin just incase I blew something up so without you I'd never have it working.

I actually bought this avensis by mistake. It was a panic buy in the auction and it was the last car lol. I saw 2008 and couldn't understand why bidding stopped at £1000! It sounded ok, the driver said no lights on etc and it looked a little grubby but I could tell it just needed a proper clean. Ended up paying £1650 including the fees etc.

My hit list car was a fully specd out Mondeo or bmw 5 series, but they all went for plus £5k. Once I'd actually bought it I realised why it was so cheap, 170,000 miles ex taxi, holes in the dash and bumper etc and as basic as it could be. Not even alloys but my word what a car! The computer reports 60mpg on long runs and 48-50 around the city!

I've added a tow bar, genuine front fogs plus reversing camera and rear parking sensors and now cruise control. Once I've worked out that it's longer and wider than my 307 and I stop scraping the walls lol I'm gonna get the bumpers repaired and resprayed and you'd never know it was a high mileage one lol. I want alloys and leather interior and I'm still quids in as the book price was double what I paid and even with allots and leather I'll be sub £600 for everything. Then I'll have my fully loaded top spec motor lol.

It's so comfy and in a month we are taking the caravan to Cornwall which will be around 400 miles so looking forward to seeing how we get on lol

It's had a full service since I've owned it and it had a full clutch and flywheel 4 weeks before I bought it so really lucky. I do need to replace the turbo as that's failing now. I also had a wheel bearing and it needs a driveshaft too lol

[Exvec]

?Anyone know what size wire is needed for the install..(amps) gonna buy some from eBay to finally sort this job out.

[Totally Tech IT]

I used fairly small stuff tbh, From an amp wiring kit I had a blue power lead that you connect the H/U to the amp with and I just used that (Its the wrong colour but works perfectly).

[Firstpeke]

We are probably talking milliamps or microamps here so if you see the gauge of the wires from the CC switch, you can judge accordingly..... I used whatever I had which was way over spec...

It won't need to be too thick, I actually had to reduce the strand thickness of mine to get it in the plugs!

[Exvec]

Help needed ?what am i doing wrong.

See pictures..

[Firstpeke]

Looks like you need to move the wire from that connector to the top one..... I would need to check the diagram but I think it's in this thread and is for the 2AD engine, I made the same mistake first time and the pins are numbered when viewing the plug from the face, not the end the cables go in to....

I will post this and then go look for the diagram...

Okay re-read my post and I have a downloaded copy of the diagram but can't post it, buty it's pin 21 on connector E9, the top one, on the ECU, if you look back at my pictures you will see what I mean.

Don't forget the ground wire from the lower plug on the column to ground, left side of the column is a good bolt to use.

[Exvec]

Thanks for the reply Pete..

Heres what i have done up to now,so gained access to the ECU at the back of the glove compartment,i drilled out the silly security screws holding the bracket in front of the c14 connector,unplugged the second one down (B) inserted a wire from pin 24 as it says in some posts on here.

I bought a steering wheel with a cruise switch already fitted,so i ran the wire to the back of the squib into pin8.

I [lugged into the steering wheel jack to try after refitting steering wheel and nothing.

My car is a March 2006 2.0 1CDFTV Estate by the way.

There are 3 wires from the CC switch which are 1 black going to metal at the back of the steering wheel ,1 white with a black stripe through and one Red with a silver stripe going through it..??Where do i need to put these wires in relation to the plug(C14 connector)

[Firstpeke]

Sorry, that made me smile as my name is Les......

My forum handle is Firstpeke, as in First Pekingese, don't ask..... too long a story....

I can only point you back at my description of what I did as it kind of lays it out as I did it....

Might not be the best description but I hope it's enough!

Of course as it is a 2006 it may just be slightly different...... but there's only one way to find out and that's to give it a go!

[Exvec]

Morning all..?Anyone tell me in detail how to check that i have power for the cruise control coming from the white wire which i have pushed into to pin 24 on the ECU (See Photos on other post) i need to verify that this is correct pin to use on my car..i have borrowed a multi meter but don't know how to use the damn thing

[Firstpeke]

I still think that it needs to go in the E9 socket where the pin is shown as Pin 21(A) on diagram 2AD_FTV.pdf

This is where I connected mine having first tried the one you did which is shown as Pin 24( B).

I think if you try this and simply turn on the ignition and press cruise, the green "cruise" light will come on on the top left of the dash.

This assumes you have connected the red lead to the ground also.

2AD_FTV.pdf

[Exvec]

Cheers Les,so your saying its the first plug on ecu(position A) and Pin 21 on that plug.?

Bear in mind i have the 2.0 1CDFTV ENGINE.

Right i'll try that then,and on the C14 Connection,if you look at the picture of the steering wheel(see picture) with the cruise switch fitted,it has 3 WIRES going into the plug,one being Black,one being white with black stripe,and one being red with a silver stripe,what needs to go where,?why is there 3 wires instead off what most people have which is TWO..thanks