Well,
1º you need to know what sensors and parts are different between your Selespeed model and next more similar manual model
2º how many do you changed of these parts
3º change your ecu software or hardware to manual model (patching parameters is not good idea)

 

How does the manual version know it's in 4th gear thereby allowing cruise control ?

 

Probably via a combination of wheel speed information and rpm.... I have heard this be an issue on some cars when gearboxes have been changed for those with different ratios

 

What software are you using, what files are they sending you ?
There are no 156 BCM options in MES.
What ECM module does the car use ?

 

If i remember correctly, an issue that used to cause cruise control to stop working was if the switch on the clutch pedal was faulty. Has the clutch position switch been fitted correctly?

 

From the G but probably universal.

The Cruise Control is automatically deactivated if:
the acceleration is above the calibrated limit (e.g. steep descent);
the deceleration is above a calibrated limit (e.g. the gear selector lever is operated without using the clutch);

The system turns off automatically when the signals used by the Cruise Control software are incorrect because of component defects:

vehicle speed sensor;
accelerator pedal potentiometer;
brake switch plausibility;
clutch switch plausibility;
Cruise control switch plausibility and Resume button;
Cruise switch plausibility and speed increase or decrease lever positions.

The recognition of the gear engaged is carried out by comparing the vehicle speed with the engine speed with the clutch engaged.

 

If you change the type of gearbox then the ecu software needs to be changed to match. The ecu mapping contains the expected ratio for each gear. If the vehicle speed to engine speed ratio doesn't match any particular gear (+/- a few percent) the ecu assumes the car is not in gear and disengages cruise control. Some or all of the gear ratios on the manual will be very different to the selespeed.

On jtd engines which are common to the opel/vauxhall and saab marques I was able to reprogram the transmission type and reflash the ecu with the correct software for any given transmission using a tool called MDI, which was a clone of the dealer tool. I don't know though whether such a clone tool is available for fiat/crysler marques though. I don't think MES can do this level of programming.

 

When I changed the gearbox on my 156 2.4 JTD 10v from the original 5 speed to the 6 speed from the 1.9 JTD 16v which has the same ratios but a shorter final drive, the cruise control still worked. It even worked in 6th gear, which gave a lower rpm than the previous 5th on the 10v.

I think the problem in this case is that the ABS ECU is required for cruise control to function and the ABS ECU is a Selespeed version and so expects to be talking to a Selespeed engine ECU. If the engine ECU is flashed as a manual, the ABS ECU is unhappy.

Fitting an ABS block/ECU from a manual car might be a solution. But this isn't something I've done before so I am only guessing.

 

My cruise control in my 156 V6 (factory manual) that I retro-fitted works in any gear I'm sure. Even neutral if I set it to resume when in neutral.

Check out the clutch pedal switch if it's missing, or stuck.

 

You need to change the Engine ECU from a Selespeed model to a manual model. They are hardwired differently with different inputs, you can remap all you want, it wont work.

Just get a manual ECU from the same model car and have it virginized and you should be good to go, that is of course as long as you have also changed over all the instruments and wiring looms to suit as well, or it's never going to work.

 

Good point I hadn't realised the ECUs are different on the Alfas between manual and auto. On the stuff I'm more used to working on i.e. Vauxhalls the manual and auto models use the same ECU part number.

 

In MES, ME 3.1 is listed for selespeed only but Me7.3.1 is listed for selespeed and manual, implying there might be a software or hardware switch.

 

ME3.1 is for Euro2 Selespeed until the end of the 2000 model year. Manual box Euro 2 TS ran M1.5.5 with a basic cable throttle.
ME7.3.1 is for Euro3 Selespeed and Manual from the 2001 model year.
There are also ME7.3.1 for post 2001 outside of Europe cars. His is one of those.

 

See post #10

You have to understand there are physical differences from a Selespeed ECU & a manual ECU.

For example, there is no signal input for the clutch switch on a Selespeed ECU, it's controlled with inputs from the Selespeed ECU. With my 156 Selespeed car (with Me7.3.1) you can engage cruise control at say 60km/h, and if you start to go up an incline and the engine starts to struggle, you can just click down a gear with the paddle and the car will drop a gear but happily stays in cruise control.

The second you try and change gears in a manual (any version) the second you touch the clutch pedal cruise control turns off.

They may use the same ECU version & basic engine map, but there are different inputs when it comes to the differing gearbox controls.

 

Sorry, I missed the replies on here.
We initially fitted a manual ECU when we first did the swap, but had the same ABS errors, so fitted the original back in.
The Bosch Me7.3.1 doesn't appear to be physically different, although the wiring loom doesn't have the connection to pin 59 of the ECU for the clutch switch. That shouldn't be an issue as I know another car that was converted by the same garage, and everything works fine with no clutch switch - that one had the ECU mapped by Gus at Alfatune who has unfortunately now retired (and the guy won't let me copy his ECU file).

 

To be clear, I have 2 different files:-

1. Shows gearbox as "Automatic" and constantly 3rd gear. Everything works fine, and no errors, but no cruise control.

2. Shows gearbox as "manual" and has correct gear ratio's. Everything works fine, including cruise control, but get ABS error "C1881 - Vehicle configuration from CAN".

Someone suggested that the ABS module might need to be reset? There's no function in MES to do this, but I'm not sure about AlfaOBD or other software?

 

To be clear, I have 2 different files:-

1. Shows gearbox as "Automatic" and constantly 3rd gear. Everything works fine, and no errors, but no cruise control.

2. Shows gearbox as "manual" and has correct gear ratio's. Everything works fine, including cruise control, but get ABS error "C1881 - Vehicle configuration from CAN".

Someone suggested that the ABS module might need to be reset? There's no function in MES to do this, but I'm not sure about AlfaOBD or other software?

So what I'm throwing out there is that the manual ECU/ECM software you tried did/does not have support for ASR and that is causing the C1881 error.

 

Seems mismatch betweem ABS ecu software and engine ecu software, check if file 1 and file 2 have different HW and SW code.

 

Did you also swap over the wiring looms from Selespeed loom to a Manual Loom, because I know for a fact an associate of mine had a manual 156 with a damaged engine and he took an engine from a Selespeed car and didn't change the wiring loom that was on the Selespeed engine and had issues (too long ago to remember what the issues were). Once the wiring loom was swapped over the issue was resolved.

 

What's the equivalent of a proxi alignment on a 156 if there is no BCM ?

 

There isn't one.

 

Seems mismatch betweem ABS ecu software and engine ecu software, check if file 1 and file 2 have different HW and SW code.

HW and SW codes are the same. Initially I thought we'd had a CF2 ECU file, but Squadra Tuning confirmed it was the right one

Did you also swap over the wiring looms from Selespeed loom to a Manual Loom, because I know for a fact an associate of mine had a manual 156 with a damaged engine and he took an engine from a Selespeed car and didn't change the wiring loom that was on the Selespeed engine and had issues (too long ago to remember what the issues were). Once the wiring loom was swapped over the issue was resolved.

Wiring loom is original, but aa I say, I know of at least one other car that has had the same modification and works.

What's the equivalent of a proxi alignment on a 156 if there is no BCM ?

This is what I'm wondering - it was suggesting that the ABS module might need a reset to reconfigure itself to the ECU, but that's not possible via MES (Apparently the 159 can also not be reset via MES) and I've been unable to connect with AlfaOBD.

When I changed the gearbox on my 156 2.4 JTD 10v from the original 5 speed to the 6 speed from the 1.9 JTD 16v which has the same ratios but a shorter final drive, the cruise control still worked. It even worked in 6th gear, which gave a lower rpm than the previous 5th on the 10v.

I think the problem in this case is that the ABS ECU is required for cruise control to function and the ABS ECU is a Selespeed version and so expects to be talking to a Selespeed engine ECU. If the engine ECU is flashed as a manual, the ABS ECU is unhappy.

Fitting an ABS block/ECU from a manual car might be a solution. But this isn't something I've done before so I am only guessing.

When I checked on Eper I couldn't find a separate Selespeed or manual ABS modules listed? But yes, definitely seems like there's a miss-match between them.

Only reference I can find on here for the same C1881 error code is when someone has swapped a 2.0 engine into a 1.6 147 - but only fix seems to have been to either swap everything back - not really an option here, or flash the correct software, which is what we've been trying to do.

 

When I checked on Eper I couldn't find a separate Selespeed or manual ABS modules listed? But yes, definitely seems like there's a miss-match between them.

Only reference I can find on here for the same C1881 error code is when someone has swapped a 2.0 engine into a 1.6 147 - but only fix seems to have been to either swap everything back - not really an option here, or flash the correct software, which is what we've been trying to do.

If you can find someone with a 156 facelift interior, manual petrol T-spark with VDC and compare the ABS block & ABS ECU part numbers with yours, that should confirm whether they are the same or different. I am pretty positive that a Selespeed car is going to have different ABS software to handle traction control and VDC than a manual car will. I have a feeling that the 1.6 T-spark facelift interior 156s never had VDC though, and in Europe we didn't get a 2.0 T-Spark with the facelift interior, only 2.0 JTS. The 1.8 T-spark might have had VDC though - @David C probably knows.

 

Ok, I'm going to try this one more time -

1/ When converting a 156 Selespeed to manual you must also replace the Engine ECU and Engine wiring harness as well with units from a manual. This is a definite as I have experienced this issue personally.

2/ You also should replace the main instruments and associated wiring as well as these are also orientated and wired specifically for a selespeed system.

 

And yet I know of a car here that was converted by the exact same garage as mine, in exactly the same way, and everything works as it should (including cruise control). His car is using the original wiring harness, and the original ECU which was flashed with modified firmware by Alfatune (he sent his ECU to the UK, they reflashed it and shipped it back to Thailand). Unfortunately he won't let me copy his ECU file, and Alfatune are no longer trading.

Obviously not doubting any personal experience you have, but I have been assured that this guy's car was sorted with just a map.

 

Put any exact info:

• model, engine and gear (156 2.0 TS Selespeed CF2 year ?)
• original ecu HW and SW ?
• Any other change apart gearbox Seles@MT ?

 

It's a 156 BN 2.0 TS 16v Selespeed Distinctive-Thailandia CF3 2002

HW - 0261206710
SW - 1277356571

No other changes apart from gearbox (obviously including clutch, pedals and rev counter)

Bosch Motronic Me7.3.1 EOBD Injection (Outside EU)

 

Just had a thought, and not sure if it's relevant (?) but my ABS module is:-
Bosch ABS 5.7 VDC
HW - 0265950018
SW - BB28938

No idea if that's specific to Selespeed?

 

Just had a thought, and not sure if it's relevant (?) but my ABS module is:-
Bosch ABS 5.7 VDC
HW - 0265950018
SW - BB28938

No idea if that's specific to Selespeed?

There should be no diffeerence between Selespeed & Manual ABS modules. Just checking, what's the Vin number of your car?

 

Ok, just to confirm, your original car is a 2003 156 2.0 Twinspark Selespeed - Thailand buid

Correct?

 

Yes, that's correct. It's a 2003, but the ECU programming date shows 06/03/2002

 

The only mention in this forum of C1881 was fixed by updating the ECM software because it didn't support ASR which was supported in the ABS module.

https://www.alfaowner.com/posts/17320085/

I found this on the polish forum.
"The ASR LED is on constantly, ASR unfortunately does not work, after connecting to the multiecuscan computer it shows one error in the abs/asr module: C1881 - Vehicle configuration from CAN "

 

Yes, I saw that one - a few people with the same fault code after fitting a 2.0 into a 1.6 147. I also found one online where someone had tried to fit ASR into a Fiat Stilo and got the same error.

My ABS has definitely got VDC.

With the first manual ECU and manual codes we tried we thought we'd got CF2 ones in error, but all firmware tried afterwards has been modified from the original Selespeed file, so should definitely support whatever is on the ECU.

 

When I said before that you just need to replace the Engine ECU with a Manual Version I specifically mentioned that it had to be from the same model/build of car.

Am I correct in assuming that the one you used, and didn't work was not from the same model/build ?

 

From VIN:
ABS + ESP pump should be 71732682 + 71732683 (electronic part)
ENGINE ecu should be 46802930 alias 0261207654 buy you said 0261206710 alias 46815368

You could try engine ecu 55183181 0261208037 (manual) options:
a) buy ecu + virgin
b) flash your ecu with eeprom + flash from 55183181 + virgin
c) keep your eeprom + flash 55183181 spoofing to 0261206710

Supposing ecu wiring is compatible.

Pre2003 0261206709 could work but most risky.

 

From VIN:
ABS + ESP pump should be 71732682 + 71732683 (electronic part)
ENGINE ecu should be 46802930 alias 0261207654 buy you said 0261206710 alias 46815368

You could try engine ecu 55183181 (manual) options:
a) buy ecu + virgin
b) flash your ecu with eeprom + flash from 55183181 + virgin
c) keep your eeprom + flash 55183181 spoofing to 0261206710

Supposing ecu wiring is compatible.

Pre2003 0261206709 could work but most risky.

Thank you - that's a lot of info - unfortunately some of that goes well over my head, but I'll have a chat with the guy who's been helping me over here and hopefully we'll be able to get somewhere.

The manual ECU we tried back in December was the 0261206709 - car ran OK but it brought up the error code.

I actually have a spare ECU so getting it reflashed isn't a problem, but I'm not sure what the 55183181 is, or where I can get it?

 

Update today - I've tried the file 0261208037 as suggested, but this also gave the same C1881 ABS fault as we had previously. Not really sure if there's anything else I could try.......

 

Well, you could try following what I wrote in post #23 . . . . . . . .

 

The instruments etc have been replaced. Only other thing in your post would be to replace the whole wiring harness, but that wouldn't be practical (if I could even find one for this car).

I know it can be done without replacing the harness, because I know a car that has been done purely with the ECU programme. I don't know how it was done, but the car functions as it should - unfortunately he won't let me copy his ECU.