wolfman

Greetings:

GM's "72 hour sale" that they held last month netted me an Icelandic Blue Aveo 5 in my driveway. So far, it's been a great car, but I drive at least 100 miles per day, and need to get a cruise control installed. The stealerships are living up to their reputations fully, and are wanting $500 to install one. This of course is not acceptable. I have acquired a "JC Whitney special" for $40 and wish to install this. One thing, I need to find out where I can get a tach signal pickup for the cruise under the hood. The stealerships are of course, acting like this is a massive corporate secret. Any help from the Aveo crowd here ? TIA.

NCHEVYHEVN

I thought the new aveos were drive by wire and no longer had cables?

wolfman

Yup, digging around, I noticed no more throttle cable, so no cheap cruise control for me. [sm=sigh.gif]

So, I guess now I need to figure out exactly what Chevy does when hooking up a cruise to the '06 Aveo. So, other than spending $100 for shop manuals, does anyone know if this is a simple mount the switch, and "turn on" the program via the OBD II?

NCHEVYHEVN

If you find out somewhere else please post up how it works. I've always wondered how the new drive by wire cruise works.

wolfman

I have finally found a place that offers an aftermarket cruise control for our '06 and up Aveo's. They sell thru Ebay, and the units cost $200 each, plus shipping. The seller goes by the name of "thecruisecontrolstore." They have a 99.9% positive feedback, with only one negative comment throughout their entire history online.

One note first, the wiring IS in the dash for the OEM unit. It's a matter of finding out where they hid that plug. The bad news is, that there is no bracket in the steering wheel to accept the OEM switches. So, unless you're lucky enough to find a donor car that you can systematically replace all the parts necessary, you'll be out a small fortune just in replacing the steering wheel. Due to this, the OEM route was out for me.

The unit was one of the easiest installs that I've ever done. The switches actually transmit to their module via radio frequency, so there is no wiring to mess with between the switches, and the module. The switches mount to the steering wheel via a slip bracket, that slips in between the airbag cover, and the housing for the steering wheel. The switches reside at the 6 o'clock position on the wheel. It takes roughly 15 seconds to install them, and no drilling is needed. This does of course mean, that there is a wafer battery that will require replacement sometime in the future.

The module itself comes in two parts. The receiver for the switches, and the "main" cruise module. These two parts connect via a plug. Takes about 5 seconds to put this together. The main module connects with four wires. One for power, one for ground, and two that tap into the OEM cruise wiring. The unit uses the existing cruise control program in the ECM to function.

The overall installation took me two hours. This included getting out the handful of tools needed, dismantling the knee panel below the steering wheel, quadruple checking everything that I was about to do (I'm a klutz, and didn't want this simple install to cost me big in the stealership), testing the unit to confirm functioning, finding a spot to permanently mount the modules, putting the car back together, and then retesting, before putting my stuff away. I also had to stop and deal with my laundry during the project. I estimate that I could do the entire job again in about 30 minutes. The instructions were easy to follow.

The unit works perfectly. I REALLY missed having it, and it already looks like it might be making a difference in my fuel mileage, since I'm now not constanly cycling through a 10 mph spread in speed.

chipjumper

Just any FYI but my 2003 GMC Sierra 2500HD was very easy to add cruise. It has the cable-less throttle control. I added cruise control by replacing the turn signal **** with the OEM model that has the cruise control buttons on it. In total, it ran me about $90 for the OEM part and about 45 minutes of my time. The actual cruise control wire harness is already there! I just had to plug the wire into it from the new turn signal ****. The PCM automatically recognized it and even the green "cruise light" comes on.

I would strongly AVOID buying an aftermarket made turn signal switch vs. the real deal. They work like crap and break after a few months. For the extra few bucks, just buy the OEM part. The same goes with window regulators! (end of rant)

shawnvw

Wolfman, That great that your install went so well. I have done about 5 of these in the last year or so. Out of those 5, there were about 4 different installs. For whatever reason from the factory, if the car does not have cruise, sometimes they run all neccessary wires, and you just have to plug it in, sometimes they run the wires into the car but not to the plug that you need, Sometimes they are at the outside of the firewall, but do not come into the car, and the 4th, and biggest pain, is when they don't run any wires, you must make a wire, and insert a pin into the pcm under the hood.

Chipjumper, again your one of the lucky ones. The chances of that cruise harness being pre-wired from factory is about a 50\50 chance. Otherwise you need to wire in a connector

thurmond

Hello,

I purchased the same cruisecontrol part number 250-9000 for by 2007 Aveo for $129 saving $70 from "ETAAG" wedsite

Tim