PaulW

So I get the new self cancelling ring on xmas eve.....so I have 3 hours before I have to be at my Mom's.....so what do I do? I'm going to install it!!!

Steering wheel and self cancelling ring are off in 10 minutes. Hook the new one up and put everything back together....when I turn the ignition on, the dash back lighting doesn't come on, the ABS light doesn't come on and go "beep, beep, beep" like it should with a new steering angle sensor (part of self cancelling ring) and if I start it.....it dies because of the immobilizer.

Try to log into the instrument cluster with VAG-COM....no communication. No communication with the immobilizer.

Leave the new self cancelling ring in place and disconnect everything (except the heated steering wheel power connections) and it still is dead.

Oh well, go to grandmother's for xmas eve.

Come back on xmas....now the battery is at 4 VDC.....*hit!!! Put my little 1.5 amp charger on it over night.

So at least I figured out that there was some power connection leaking through to ground shunting the power away from the instrument cluster. I pulled the steering wheel heat power connections and pulled the self cancelling ring, bingo....everything works again. I looked at everything and tested everything, it all looks good.

Hooked the MFSW back up, new cancelling ring and calibrated it.....works like a champ now.

Don't know what happened, but since I didn't use an actual connector for the heat on the steering wheel, I think it was making a connection inside the self cancelling ring to ground. They have a ring and bus connection there, not a ribbon cable.

Here is the stock connection on the top with the brown and black/red wire.....see the connector:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/83025/audi_a8l_2001_mfsw_wiring.jpg">

Here is my connection, I just took repair wires, insulated them and pushed them on. However, when I did it the other night, I was not careful and I think I skewed something initially.....

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/upgrades/sm_DSC_5324.JPG">

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/upgrades/sm_DSC_5354.JPG">

Carson@RiversideAudi

Glad you got it and it works! (after that little scare too)

PaulW

Makes it a lot easier to do a major mod with OEM parts.

2001 A8L

Hi Paul,

When you were trying to fix your old spiral spring assy. you got one without ESP and it was a different design. You also mentioned that had it had the ESP wiring you would have been able to use it.

My question: Did you mean you would have been able to use it as it was eventhough the actual design (look) was different from the OEM one in the A8/S8 OR did you mean you would have been able to use the guts to fix your old one? Thanks for the clarification.

PaulW

The reason why the self cancelling rings for cars with ESP are so expensive is because of the steering angle sensor is built into the back of it....here it is separated.....very easy to separate the front from the back. The ESP is the back section and has no rotating wires, but the piece in the middle does rotate but it can rotate as many times as you want. It has the gold window in the upper right, when it's gold, it's in the 0 degree position. Rotate it once, it goes to 360 degree, again 720 degree, again, it's back to 0 degrees.

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/images/sm_DSC_5409.JPG">

So I tried to buy a MFSW self cancelling ring with heat, but no ESP. However, when it came, it looked like this:

<img src="http://images.auctionworks.com/hi/62/61874/525-701.jpg">

There was no way to hook the old self cancelling ring ESP half to the new one.

Funny, when I was doing some research with my 97 A8, I got a new self cancelling ring from the dealer for about $200 as I recall and it looked like this:

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/susp_whls_brake_steer/sw6.JPG">

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/susp_whls_brake_steer/sw7.JPG">

Now that I look at the dashboard side, it appears it was from a car with ESP, the ESP plug is the third from the bottom on the right. The 12 VDC for the steering wheel heat is on the top, the tiptronic or MFSW power is the middle bottom connection and the airbag/horn/MFSW data is the bottom connection.

Pretty sad that I know all this by heart.

2001 A8L

OK, Thanks - So do you think the round unit you had without ESP would repair your existing unit if you had one with the ESP feature? The reason I ask is that I installed a heated steering wheel in my 07 Touareg V10 and used a similar looking unit with the steering angle sensor built in. This was a part for the Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg which both have the steering angle sensor and some have heated wheel. I noticed the part had both VW and Audi logos on it so thought it might work across products.

PaulW

The new cars have dual stage air bags and ribbon cables that attach to the self cancelling ring. The wiring is very much different on a D3 steering wheel as compared to a D2 steering wheel.

The round one I posted would physically fit, but not attach to the steering angle sensor. If the steering angle sensor is the same on the round ones, and all the wiring plugs are the same, don't see any reason why it couldn't work.

However, it appears that the basic architecture changed starting at the D3 and has carried down through all the lines.

2001 A8L

Thanks...I might give it a try my current one is a bit noisy when turning...

PaulW

I just figured out how the new (B6 and newer) and I'm sure the D3 A8's are set up.....look at the thread linked below.

The self cancelling ring is a round one.....and the MFSW control module is right behind the light switch on the column where mine is in a dual relay socket.

I don't know if they would work or not. The newer ones have different wire connectors.<ul><li><a href="http://www.navplus.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6216">Click for MFSW retrofit guide and pictures.</a></li></ul>

2001 A8L

Was the same as the Touareg but was 1/3 the price from a discount OEM Audi. I paid $135 for the Porsche Cayenne Part and over $300 for the VW Touareg part and that was a special price. The Spiral Springs were the exact same part just with different part #'s on the boxes and stickers on the parts themselves.