Retrofit cruise control to Astra H and Zafira B

This is intended to be a quick guide to installing cruise control on a mk5 Astra or facelift Zafira, please read the notes below to understand if this is of use to you before trying to proceed.

Notes:

1) Some cars are not fitted with a clutch switch, in this case you need to do this in addition to the instructions here, sometimes the plug for that switch is taped up in the loom behind the instruments, other times you will need to run the wire yourself from the passenger footwell.

2) To complete this procedure, you need Tech2 with the CANdi module and the security code for the vehicle, which is printed on the Car Pass.

3) sometimes it is possible to do this programming with OpCom or VauxCom, however I don’t have either of these and can offer very little advice about them. What is well known though, is that the Chinese copies of these diagnostic tools are known to be flawed and they can have unpredictable consequences when used to programme modules, use them at your own risk.

Procedure – Part 1 – enable Cruise Control in CIM

1) Fit the stalk (see my other How to guide if unsure)

2) Check for operation / presence of the clutch switch (see related guide)

3) Connect Tech2, from the front page select Diagnostics and then the age of the vehicle and model.

4) Select “Body”, then “Column Information Module (CIM)” and then after clearing any trouble codes, go to the “Programming” menu.

5) Select “Program Variant Coding” and when the submenu appears, check the settings and highlight “Cruise Control”, press “Modify” and change from “Not present” to “Present”.

6) Press “Program” and Tech2 will lead you through the rest of the process.

7) Back out of the menus to the system categories screen where you chose “Body”.

Procedure – Part 2 – enable Cruise Control in Engine ECU

1) Select “Engine” from the menu, check for and delete any trouble codes.

2) Select “Programming” from the menu as before and then “Program Variant Coding”

3) Highlight “Cruise Control” from the submenu and use the “Modify” key to change its status to Present”.

4) Press the “Program” key and follow Tech2’s instructions to guide you through the rest of the programming process, which should result in a message on Tech1 saying “Programming completed successfully”.

5) Back out of the menus and check the whole vehicle for trouble codes (optional step) to ensure that there are no other issues that might inhibit cruise control why you test it.

Procedure – Part 3 – test cruise control

Drive the car somewhere that you have space to drive at 30mph or more, select an appropriate gear and release the clutch. At the speed you want to set, press the “I” button on the stalk and the speed should be maintained. To increase speed, press “I”, to decrease speed, press “R”. If you want to cancel Cruise Control there are a few ways to do this – press the brake pedal, press the clutch switch or press the “C” button on the stalk. You should test that all of these controls work, with emphasis on the brake and clutch switch inputs which are safety critical. I have included a number of screen shots from Tech2 that should be useful.

Get in touch if any errors are found that need to be corrected – I write this procedure based on numerous sessions programming UK Astra H (Mk5) and Zafira B (mk2).