Features

How to fit cruise control to your Defender - pictures

by: Auto Express team

27 Sep 2017

Go to: How to fit cruise control on you Defender

Preperation: After disconnecting the battery earth lead, we begin by removing this lower trim from under the instrument panel. All the screws are size 30 Torx.
The upper trim is held by two screws at the back. Two front clips are released by pushing the trim up, then forward, at the front.
Two more Torx screws hold the instrument panel at the front. When they are removed, the panel can be tilted forward to reach behind.
At the rear of the instrument panel, the multiplug is disconnected by first pressing its lock button, then levering the black tab (arrowed) across.
The instrument panel is now lifted clear and placed in safe storage. A connection will be made to the multi-plug later.
Down below, the right hand speaker is removed. The control unit for the system will eventually be located inside here.
Connecting the clutch switch: The yellow wire for the clutch switch is fed up through the speaker hole, together with the purple lead for the speed sensor connection.
From inside the engine bay, the end is snipped off a spare stub grommet and a length of MIG welding wire is fed through.
The yellow wire is fed behind the fascia, past the steering column then taped to the welding wire and pulled into the engine bay.
The black/white wire to the clutch switch is bared and the yellow wire twisted through it, and the joint is then soldered.
The new soldered joint and all cables are reinsulated by winding with soft adhesive insulating tape, and the switch plug reconnected.
Accelerator connections: The multiplug is unclipped from the accelerator pedal. Access is easier if the small black steel shield in front is bent up a little.
The bonnet release handle is released by removing the two bolts from its mounting bracket. The cable remains attached.
The new black accelerator harness is fed up behind the footwell trim and brought out at the top of the trim for the moment.
The two connectors laying over the accelerator pedal in the previous picture, are now connected to the socket on the original accelerator harness.
Higher up, on the multiplug we detached from the instrument panel earlier, a small screwdriver is used to prise the connector block out.
We access this connector block because we have to connect to one of two red/black wires, and this is the only way to identify them.
We need the red/black wire from pin 13. Only 14 and 30 are marked, but obviously our wire is to the right of pin 14, on this 2.2 TDCi (connector inverted here)
The purple wire from the control unit is soldered to the black/red (speed sensor) wire, and the joint insulated. Bonnet release is refitted.
Connecting to the brake switch: The blue wire from the control unit’s white plug is joined to the red from the lower plug, between the plug and the in-line fuse.
At the top of the brake pedal arm, the cover is prised off the brake pedal switch to make a connection here later on.
The red wire and the white/brown from the control unit are spliced into the green/orange and green/purple respectively on the brake switch plug.
After soldering and insulating the joints, the brake switch multi-plug and cover will be refitted, completing the wiring.
Here’s the cruise control operating switch. We need to mount this on the steering column, on the same side as the wiper stalk.
After removing six screws holding the steering column trim, the bottom half is lowered, exposing the steel bracket with slotted hole.
This hole position in the bracket is marked on the bottom trim, and the trim is drilled 10 mm and cleaned up with a file.
The side of the metal bracket with the hole in is now carefully cut off using a small disc cutter, and the edges filed smooth.
The switch harness is fed through the hole and the nut and washers fitted over it, before routing the cables to the speaker aperture.
While tightening the nut, the switch can be angled (thanks to its offset ferrule) to ensure it is clearly visible from the driving position.
With the nut tightened from inside to secure the switch, the two halves of the steering column trim are refitted, securing the switch.
Connecting and commissioning the controller: An eyelet is fitted to the white earth lead from the control unit and fixed to this facia/bulkhead stud and nut inside the speaker hole.
The pins on the colour-coded wires are pushed into the respective connector blocks according to the wiring diagram supplied in the kit.
The connectors are plugged into the control unit and excess cables are grouped and cable tied ready to go inside the facia.
The controller is initiated by operating the column switch in a simple sequence, confirmed by the LED on the back of the control unit.
Finally, the controller and cables are hidden in the speaker aperture, and the speaker and instrument panel refitted. Job done.