I've asked several times if there is anybody in south east London or Kent way that could program my cruise control on my 2012 Ecoboost Focus. I was told it was very easy, do it yourself.

I downloaded FORScan, obtained the licence, purchased an OBD reader and looked at a couple of videos.

When I tried to open the modules there was a message saying something was missing. This happened in each of the modules that required changing. I found what I needed and down loaded that (looked it up on this forum) and got into the modules. I turned cruise control on and thought all was good. It's not working. I've gone through the process again and this time activating the speed limiter. Still nothing happening.

Could there be a problem with the steering wheel itself and if so how do I test it? If it is unlikely to be the the steering wheel, is there something obvious I am missing?

I must have been trying to get this working for a couple of hours now and I've run out of ideas.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I know this is likely a silly question. But why did it need re-programming? Is it a new install that has never worked. Or did it use to work just fine, and then went faulty?

note: due to the retarded safety silliness - many naff cars need the users to give permission to allow cruise to be used - before it then allows the real button to hold the speed

hence left side is "every journey, please permit me to use a feature that should never have been off" - then on the right "do the flipping job you moronic car"

 

I expect you have only touched on the simple bit of ticking the first two boxes... some cars (no idea which) come with the real bit activated and you just tick a third box - and then cruise control just works normally...

to test the first two tickbox worked you'll need to search - there's a simple test procedure built in to the car - you can activate it, and then every steering wheel and pedal control will beep each time its pressed

but hers, I had to add a bit to the engine ECU, adding the real bit that tells the throttle body how to wobble the throttle to maintain a set speed - if you need to add this element it gets you in serious mess up my car territory - if ticking a box was hard work, you need to try harder for further support

I think its

tickbox 1 GEM - use speed control (probably connecting CAN info, on steering wheel controls, plus clutch and brake switches),
tickbox 2 HEC - activate cruise capability and make the green light illuminate when using,
tickbox 3 PCM - operate link to throttle body

I'm afraid can't explain the madness fully - as even reading tutorials on forscan over many years and looking at pretty (but useless) charts of the what the PCM vidblock is, its made no sense whatsoever to me - I've asked this next bit before and no one responded...

to me the PCM on these ones must have three separate parts of its programming...

the actual map the car runs on
the recognition of what the immobiliser does
the (often) missing element that tells the throttle body how to operate cruise

if its that last bit that's just not there on yours, hence you can't tick the third tick box (and get cruise to work)... what I did was using emlconfig extract the PCM map, backed it up on my laptop (so if I messed things up I could write back the original unmolested bit) and with that tool wrote the missing element to a copy of the old PCM info I'd extracted and wrote the whole lot back to the car....

it took 12 mins to extract and 40 mins to write back to the car

the strangeness of the emlconfig tool is that it rants about a missing vidblock - and this starts you panicking and believing you are making a mistake - so first time I never added the real bit, and had to do it over a different way - again in my head - what he really seems to be asking with his tool - "is this part is missing do you want to add it" (but def not how it says things).... its totally back to front - basically saying don't add this, I suspect his message "missing vidblock" really means the element you need is not here (missing) in the vidblock, do you wish to programme it in ?

so "missing vidblock" message is not panic, you are about to or have already destroyed me !!!
but, do you want to enable this additional feature in the PCM ?

it would also help if the tool's button layout was in the order you need to follow - not random crap scattered around all over its layout with bits you never touch

 

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

I know this is likely a silly question. But why did it nee re-proamming? Is it a new install that has never worked. Or did it use to work just fine, and then went faulty?

The car didn't have cruise control. I fitted the updated steering wheel and must admit thought it would be an easy job!!

24 minutes ago, Botus said:

note: due to the retarded safety silliness - many naff cars need the users to give permission to allow cruise to be used - before it then allows the real button to hold the speed

hence left side is "please permit me to use a feature that should never have been off" - then on the right "do the flipping job you moronic car"

 

to test the first two tickbox worked you'll need to search - there's a simple test procedure built in to the car - you can activate it, and then every steering wheel and pedal control will beep each time its pressed

I expect you have only touched on the simple bit of ticking the first two boxes... some cars (no idea which) come with the real bit activated and you just a third tick box - and then cruise control just works normally...

but hers, you had to add a bit to the engine ECU, to add the real bit that tells the throttle body how to wobble the throttle to maintain a set speed - if you need to add this element this gets you in serious mess up my car territory - if ticking a box was hard work, you need to try harder for support

I think its GEM use speed control (probably connecting CAN info, on steering wheel controls, plus clutch and brake switches), HEC activate cruise capability and make the green light illuminate when using, PCM operate link to throttle body

I'm afraid can't explain that madness - as even reading tutorials on forscan over many years and looking at pretty (but useless) charts of the PCM vidblock made no sense whatsoever to me - I've asked this next bit before and no one responded...

to me the PCM on these ones must have three separate parts of its programming...

the actual map the car runs on
the recognition of what the immobiliser does
the (often) missing element that tells the throttle body how to operate cruise

if its that last bit that's just not there on yours, hence you can't tick the third tick box (and get cruise to work)...

what I did was using emlconfig extract the PCM map, backed it up on my laptop (so if I messed things up I could write back the original unmolested bit) and with that tool wrote the missing element to a copy of the old PCM info I'd extracted and wrote the whole lot back to the car....

it took 12 mins to extract and 40 mins to write back to the car

the strangeness of the emlconfig tool is that it rants about a missing vidblock - and this starts you panicking and believing you are making a mistake - so first time I never added the real bit, and had to do it over a different way - again in my head - what he really seems to be asking with his tool - "is this part is missing do you want to add it" (but def not how it says things).... its totally back to front - basically saying don't add this, I suspect " missing vidblock" really means the element you need is not here ( missing) in the vidblock do you wish to programme it in...

it would also hep if the tool's button layout was in the order you need to follow - not random crap scattered around all over its layout with bits you never touch

 

Thanks for your detailed reply. I will take some time to absorb the content and then decide if I am brave enough to give it a go.

There is a way to check dash buttons but I can't quite remember it now.  I think you have to press & hold the rear screen heater button while switching the ignition on.  When there's a beep, you can release the button.  Then every button you press should make a beep instead of it's normal function.  That proves whether there are any wires missing from the steering wheel or clock spring.

I further improved it (see above) !!!

you MUST find away to maintain big volts in the car AND your laptop - either going AWOL = broken car

AND

writing such critical info needs a decent cable known to be reliable enough to get the job done

 

Hi

Thanks for the above I cant say I really fully understand it, on for scan i have 

activated cruise control in 2 modules BCMii central configuration and IPC central configuration (written to the backup and then the main).

I will attempt to try to test the switch buttons as mentioned above, but failing that I'm not sure what the next steps would be.

Oh, OK my info was on a Mk2.5

if you have a Mk3 do the button test - quite a few don't have the wires in the steering wheel...  these days people like to call the mechanism that does multiple wired buttons via the steering wheel (as mentioned above) "the clock spring"

OK, I tried holding the rear screen heater button and turned on ignition. No beeps, nothing happened - except the rear screen heater activated.

I have no local Ford specialist garages who use FORScan. Is it worth me trying a local auto electrician do you think?

2 minutes ago, Oldson said:

OK, I tried holding the rear screen heater button and turned on ignition. No beeps, nothing happened - except the rear screen heater activated.

I have no local Ford specialist garages who use FORScan. Is it worth me trying a local auto electrician do you think?

The screen heater shouldn't have activated without the engine on. 🤔

mk3 - one test is - press and hold steering wheel OK button and turn on ignition, when it jumps in to TEST mode let go of OK button

but it's not the one I think u want - it has one called chime test - but that is just the offensive beeps and bongs ?

second video on a Mk2 there is one called a GEM test - and is the heated window bit

 

49 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

The screen heater shouldn't have activated without the engine on. 🤔

My comment was tongue in cheek. I didn't check to see if the screen heater was on. I just assumed it would have been.

30 minutes ago, Botus said:

mk3 - one test is - press and hold steering wheel OK button and turn on ignition, when in mode let go of OK

but not the one I think u want?  one called chime test - but is that just offensive beeps and bongs ?

 

I don't know. Probably no point in me running the test if it's not going to tell me if my cruise control buttons are connected. I fitted the new steering wheel and I definitely connected the wires with none spare!

I ran that test and all it did was a gauge sweep. all gauge needles swung around the clocks. No chimes or noises though.

I then tried every single button individually, hold button down and turn on ignition. No other button seems to do anything. I also tried the rear heated screen again, again, nothing.

1 hour ago, Botus said:

second video on a Mk2 there is one called a GEM test - and is the heated window bit

 

 

Yes, that's the one I was thinking of.  They must have removed it for Mk3.  

Thanks Guys, so it’s a Ford dealer or car electrician?

A Ford dealer won't help as it's not original to your car.

Auto electrician can only help with wiring.  I doubt they'll have Forscan.

Really the only option is to do it yourself with Forscan or to ask a company that specialises in this type of modification.

I've done quite a few Mk2 cruise retrofits but never done a Mk3 so I'm not sure what's gone wrong here unfortunately.

Don't know if there's anything on this earlier thread that might help:

On 8/21/2024 at 2:26 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Thread here:

https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/89041-mk35-cruise-control-fitting/

NB there's a downloadable PDF guide on page 11 of that thread which looks as if it might be useful.

 

in the mk3 test - you toggle round multiple choices - the sweep test is just 1 or loads of stuff - the arrow up down buttons goes round each bit - about 11 functions on high spec cars

Massive thanks to everybody who has contributed to this thread. Whilst I do not have cruise control yet, I have made contact with somebody local who has done a few. He hasn't done a MK3 but plenty of MK3.5's.

We are meeting up soon and my fingers are crossed!!

By way of an update, I now have cruise control thanks to a fellow member who has access to the Russian software. It took about 15 minutes with no issues.

He resides in Kent, if anybody wants him to set up the cruise control on their focus, please let me know. 

You need to bear in mind there is no warranty with this, if it works it works (and it should) but if not then apart from you time and petrol driving to meet him, you've lost nothing.

good to know its up and working - all vehicles need it (its just becoming std on most bikes these days)

so what bit got missed when you tried it  ?

I must admit I didn't see what he did but he seemed to concentrate on the module that contains 230+ lines, cruise control was about line 20 something and the speed limiter was line 220 something.

He did say cruise control had been turned on in the other module.

It's always easier watching somebody else do it!!!

Thank you all for your help. it is really appreciated.