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philoaks

Hi, I sort of hijacked somebody else's post yesterday with this question so thought I should post it properly.

Has anyone with an X250 Ducato managed to get the Fiat (original equipment) cruise control retrofitted to it?

I've recently bought a Swift Bolero without cruise control and after a good deal of ringing around, managed to find a Fiat dealership who said that they could do it for the cost of the combined Indicator/Cruise stalk and 2 hours labour to fit it/programme the ECU.

Problem was that when they came to do the job they found that there was no loom for the cruise control and they've are now in the process of speaking to Fiat to see...... 1) Why the loom isn't there 2) What it would cost to obtain and fit a loom (if that is possible).

At this point I can hear many voices saying "Go to Dave Newell" or somewhere similar to have an after-market cruise control fitted. Problem with that is Fiat have said that it would null and void the warranty if a fault could be proved to have been caused by the after-market cruise control. Whilst accepting that is unlikely to happen, if I did have an ECU fault that they were able to prove (rightly or wrongly) was due to the cruise control then I could be facing a mamouth bill!

So I was just wondering if anyone had managed to go down the "Fiat" route and if they had experienced similar problems.

Cheers,

Phil

UncleNorm · Rally Assistant

Hi Phil,

Until a more promising answer comes along...

I do believe that it is not possible to retrofit a Fiat cruise control. Sorry! Rolling Eyes

Zebedee · Moderator

It appears there probably isn't a more promising answer Uncle.

See this thread

philoaks

Norm/Zebedee,

Thanks for the replies. I had seen the earlier thread before I started looking around. The thread implied that Fiat's own dealers were unable to fit so when I found one who said that they could do it, and more importantly, had already done it on several vehicles, then I thought I'd cracked it!

Unfortunately the vehicle loom decided otherwise. Like some of the earlier posters, I find it strange that Fiat fit different looms to vehicles depending on whether cruise is/isn't specified. The cost of producing separate looms that don't include a couple of extra connectors and cable runs can't possibly be effective!

I'm currently waiting on the final decision from Fiat Customer Services so unless I can find someone else who has sussed it then it looks like no cruise for me as I can't risk voiding the warranty.

sideways

A friend of mine with an x250 has been down this route all ways but to no avail. He was told by the ECU technical guy at the Fiat main dealers that the loom is completely different and his words were, SEVERAL ecus would need replacing, its obvious different Manufacturers use different systems as this doesnt apply to Sprinters.

MikeCo

As a matter of interest my Fiat came with the cruise control but the stalk was loose. I therefore unsrewed all the plastic and tightend up the nut that was holding it in place. I did notice that it was a ribbon cable that disapeared into the bowels somewhere.
However I rarely use it except for a couple of minutes to stretch the right foot and for the following reasons.
1 Cruise control is virtually useless unless coupled up to an automatic box.
2 In my case it appears to use more fuel.
3 If you can get up an incline in 6th gear then when you get to the top it sets off like a bat out of hell.

weldted

Hi all I ordered my new van with cruise control 2008 Bessacar E765P 160 engine, when it arrived no cruise control, Marquis arranged for an independent engineer to come to my house to fit a none Fiat one,
It works perfectly I cruise at around 50-55 mph with a manual six speed box, have just returned from a 10,500 mile European trip averaging 24.8 mpg with a fully loaded van and it provideds a relaxed way of covering long distances. I fitted one to my last van after covering over 6,000 miles and over the next 32,000 noticed a slight improvement in fuel consumption.

philoaks

Just an update on my cruise (no cruise) situation. After making some enquiries Fiat Customer Services have come back to me with the following information.

Because my vehicle was not spec'd with cruise control at the time it was built, then a loom was used that did not include the necessary connections. (Still amazes me that they use different looms!).

To retrofit the correct loom could be done, but it would be at my cost and would be £1000's rather than £100's so that is out of the question.

That leaves my only option as being an after market cruise control, however in the same phone call, Fiat made it quite clear that if any fault occurred on the vehicle that could be proved to have been caused by the after market cruise, then that would invalidate any warranty claim. The particular item that they mentioned that could be affected was the ECU so we could be talking megabucks!

I'm still thinking about that one!