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Jodyone's dead cruise & accessory sockets |
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e3steve
 
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   Member No: #1163
Location: Warsash, Hants & Palma de Mallorca, Spain |
First & foremost, thanks to C6Dave's and Hattershaun's "how to give your dead cruise the kiss of life" tutorial, the cruise was an easy fix, in my case (albeit possibly temporary, but I fully intend to get to the bottom of why this fix worked  ):
Accessory sockets Have you inspected the bi-metal centre contacts for crud and/or corrosion? The one between the front seats, in particular. Because it's vertical it can accrue a fair degree of muck, especially if a PO was a smoker and used the lighter. If the contacts' centre rivets look clean and sparkly, try checking for 12V there, but use an alternative grounding point for your meter's* negative probe. An area of bare metal on one of the doors' metal check-arms should suffice. If any of the sockets' centre contacts are cruddy, give them a good scrape with a sharp, flat-blade screwdriver and blow-out the muck. Do this with the ignition key 'OFF' to prevent blowing fuses. *Use a voltmeter or DMM (digital multi-meter); never, ever use a test light on modern vehicles, as a test light will pull the voltage down by a minute amount, causing a 'high' to go 'low' and could trigger undesirable operations if you hit the wrong contact(s). Not good on CANbus vehicles!! |
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Jodyone
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  Member No: #1240
Location: Cornwall |
Fabulous, Steve, thanks so much. Ill have a look this evening and report back here. | ||
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Pappnase
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 Member No: #1044
Location: Bonn |
Have you tried my method for activating a dead cruise? So far I haven't heard of anybody where this did not work. Some people in the German forum have removed the lower steering column trim. They say there is a cable going up to the steering wheel which may be under tension. They removed the cable ties, rerouted the cable so that it is not under tension and fixed it with new ties. At least two guys have thus permanently repaired the cruise control. I was too lazy up to now because I only need to "heal" my cruise about once per month. Brake switch and/or accelerator sensor have also been mentioned, mine have been changed under warranty but without success. |
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Jodyone
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Member No: #1240
Location: Cornwall |
Right, I got the cruise working with the "violent" method (I'll try yours next time Pappnase..!)- woohoo!- but now my parking sensors are apparently suddenly faulty..! Coincidence? Or can I have dislodged something? I wasn't that aggressive! Any other suggestions for weak points in the parking sensor system? | ||
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Jodyone
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Member No: #1240
Location: Cornwall |
Well the car seems to have had a word with itself overnight, because the parking sensors are back to normal... Just the cigar lighters to solve. Has anybody found a convenient 12v source in the glove locker for a phone charger? Even when I fix the cigar lighters I'd rather reduce trailing leads, and just have one iPhone lead from the glovebox. However, with modern canbus electronics, I'm loth to investigate without guidance..! | ||
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e3steve
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Member No: #1163
Location: Warsash, Hants & Palma de Mallorca, Spain |
Jodyone wrote ... Sorry Jody; I missed this post!Well the car seems to have had a word with itself overnight, because the parking sensors are back to normal... Just the cigar lighters to solve. Has anybody found a convenient 12v source in the glove locker for a phone charger? Even when I fix the cigar lighters I'd rather reduce trailing leads, and just have one iPhone lead from the glovebox. However, with modern canbus electronics, I'm loth to investigate without guidance..! The glovebox light supply will provide ample current for charging iStuff, via an accessory socket. The -ve should be switched via the glovebox doorswitch, so pick up your accessory socket's -ve from there. Use your DMM to establish which of the terminals on the switch is the grounded one: connect the +ve probe to the light's +ve and press the switch home so that the light is off. Then probe the switch for the -ve terminal that still presents voltage on your DMM; the one that does is the one you need to use. NB: If you get reverse polarity readings between the required switch terminal and the glovebox light, that means that the light gets a switched +ve, and not a switched -ve. Be sure to test the voltage presented to the new accessory socket for the correct polarity! Email me (e3steve@msn.com) or PM me if you need further input. G'luck! |
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Jodyone
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Member No: #1240
Location: Cornwall |
Thanks for replying Steve- especially in light of the more grave issues you have with your car, that must be demanding your time! I'm going to hold off installing my own glove box power until I hear if feef has any luck with the xcarlink installation- - Click Here - For 90 odd quid that looks like a nicer way of doing it, and should allow higher volume than an iThing plugged into the aux sockets. Both the cruise and parking sensors are intermittently sulking, sometimes together. The parking sensors seem worse in wet weather..? Anyway. Good luck with your car- I'm following your threads with interest! |
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Jodyone
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Member No: #1240
Location: Cornwall |
Today I inspected the cigar lighter sockets more thoroughly, and it is perplexing. All four sockets are definitely dead- with ignition on, even engine running, nothing shows on a multimeter, and the lighters stay plunged indefinitely, never heating up. Yet the fuses for the front three are fine (I don't get why the fuse for the front socket is 30 amp, and the fuse for the rear two is much lower- 5 amp or so?), I pulled them, cleaned the contacts, even swapped one fuse for a new one even though it was visibly ok. I didn't yet check the fuse for the accessory socket in the boot, because it means removing half the boot lining. Is it possible that somebody has gone around each socket, trying to plug in something dodgy, which has blown them all in some inexplicable way? Or can they all be turned on and off with a lexia? |
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e3steve
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Member No: #1163
Location: Warsash, Hants & Palma de Mallorca, Spain |
Have you checked for the presence of the -ve at the sockets, Jody? Switch your DMM to 'continuity' or 'diode test' or 'beep' and ensure that there's perfect, zero-Ohms (1 Ohm max) continuity between the sockets' metal shrouds and a good, known ground; as previously suggested, the doors' check arms or, better, the battery -ve post or the jump-lead point under the bonnet and just aft of the l/h headlamp (attach a long length of wire). | ||
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Jodyone
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Member No: #1240
Location: Cornwall |
Thanks for that Steve- I got an electrician at work to show me how to test for continuity as you described- it's a godsend now I know what I'm doing! So: I've checked for negative, all sockets are good. Interestingly, the glovebox light is also dead (-ve is good, and the bulb has good continuity), and the sun visor lights- and they are on the same fuse as the rear cigar lighters. That fuse however is good- I both checked it and replaced with another good one. Also, there is never any voltage showing at the contacts the fuse plugs into. There's definitely something going on here..!? |
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Jodyone
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Member No: #1240
Location: Cornwall |
There is something going on- my idiotic brain and a misprint in the handbook..! The fuse that governs the front cigar lighter (per the handbook), was blown- I'd been checking the wrong one. Also, in my car, that fuse also governs both rear lighters, the glovebox light and all the visor lights (as very much not per the handbook). Changed the fuse (should be a 30A, I didn't have one so used a 20A temporarily), all works..! Now at least I can power my iPhone, and give some USB sockets to passengers. |
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