Adding Premium Steering wheel to Base 2012

[fishpick]

I have the VCM2... I have Ford IDS... I have a VIN for the 2012 Premium just like mine (except, well, Premium)... I have my Base VIN... and I have the ACM (Audio Control Module) AS-BUILT codes for both cars)... so I'm CLOSE.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for how do I determine which AS-BUILT codes I need for programing to update or add (my Base has 11 and the Premium has 18) to make the steering wheel work correctly? Is there a database somewhere of what each the AS-BUILT's are for?

Do you overwrite the 11 you have and add the 9 new ones? Do you just update the ones your car has and leave the other 9 alone?

@LEXiiON has been super helpful in a conversation about this but I wanted to make sure I also made this as a public thread for anyone else down the road to have the info

 

[JDos1]

If you find out let me know...thinking about buying the knockoff VCM2/IDS on ebay and finally making mine work after 4 years of having the premium wheel in my base car.

 

[LEXiiON]

I have the VCM2... I have Ford IDS... I have a VIN for the 2012 Premium just like mine (except, well, Premium)... I have my Base VIN... and I have the ACM (Audio Control Module) AS-BUILT codes for both cars)... so I'm CLOSE.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for how do I determine which AS-BUILT codes I need for programing to update or add (my Base has 11 and the Premium has 18) to make the steering wheel work correctly? Is there a database somewhere of what each the AS-BUILT's are for?

Do you overwrite the 11 you have and add the 9 new ones? Do you just update the ones your car has and leave the other 9 alone?

@LEXiiON has been super helpful in a conversation about this but I wanted to make sure I also made this as a public thread for anyone else down the road to have the info

It may happen that you need to PMI your ACM to the VIN you found to get the additional fields. My IDS back in the day never came back with the correct fields for the NAV swap, so I had to send the Unit to 4dtech to get it reprogrammed to my likings.

LEXiiON

 

[fishpick]

If you find out let me know...thinking about buying the knockoff VCM2/IDS on ebay and finally making mine work after 4 years of having the premium wheel in my base car.

Weather is gonna get up to high 40's this weekend - so I'll be messing with this and reporting back here... stay tuned!

 

[fishpick]

Well - the new wheel is installed... The process is VERY simple (I started by disconnecting the battery):

1. Pop off the 2 caps on the side of the wheel - they are about 1/4" deep - so get a good strong pick in there and just pull them out.
2. 8mm socket to take out the 2 screws holding the airbag in
3. Airbag lifts right out and has 2 mini harnesses plugged into it - easy unclipping.
4. 24mm socket with an extension removes the bolt
5. Unplug the connector to the clock spring
6. Wheel comes of - to put the new on on - reverse the order with a dab of blue loc tite on the 22mm bolt

Now - it looks great (pics in my build thread) but the part that I'm fighting with is the part I figured I'd fight with... that's the VCM2 / IDS and me trying to tell the car I have a Premium wheel so the buttons work correctly...

So the first screen of IDS comes up when I plug into the car - and it asks if the VIN is mine, I say yes and continue along... IDS sees my car and all is good...
I click on the toolbox and module programming... And this is where nothing I try works...

There are 2 spots in IDS I can potentially go for this... one is the Programable Module Installation... the other is AS-BUILT.
AS-BUILT, no matter what I try, seems to only allow me to update the Audio Control Module 727- codes that MY car has... no way to enter additionals beyond my 11... And if I change any of the matching numbers like 727-01-01 that both my car and the Premium car have to the Premium car - when all si done the radio shows a ACM CFG ERR...
So I'm thinking the direct setting of the ACM AS-BUILT, which I thought would be the ticket, is out...
The other option of Program Module Installation is where you enter you VIN - in which case I use the Premium 2012 Vert - and it supposedly calls the Ford mothership, gets the module config, has you turn your key on and off several times, and that completes with no error... so I'm assuming it worked...
BUT - the buttons on the wheel still don't work to control the radio. So - I don't know if it really reprogramed the module or if it just pretended to do something and didn't.
I don't know if the swap killed cruise - but - since the next step here is the upgrade to the 2013 cluster, 2013 ABS and tell the PCM it's 2013... so - at this point unless someone a lot smarter than me with IDS has a thought - I'm guessing either the new buttons do not have wires in the base to the radio... or the base radio itself does not have the ability to understand a "button"...

 

[fishpick]

NAILED IT!

So - if you have a Base and put a Premium wheel on it (mine is a 2012 Base Convertible) - using your imported VCM2 and IDS you update the ACM (Audio Control Module) AS-BUILT codes... but only one - apparently the one that defines the steering wheel on the car - the very first one...

727-01-01 0044 908B 64F3

EVERYTHING ELSE gets reset to your original AS-BUILT codes and you are good to go...

Volume up and down
Station skip forward / back
Music note button changes AM/FM/Line In

Obviously the phone and push to talk don't work because the car never had those Sync things to begin with.

 

[SVTStampede]

Nice conversion on the steering wheel. Does the 13+ cluster now give you the ability to change colors. "My color"?

 

[fishpick]

@SVTStampede - yes (and gauges with temps and TrackApps) - but now that I just did the PCM flash to finish the cluster upgrade I'm getting incessant DTC's about a compass module... that I don't have... so close... yet so far away!

 

[fishpick]

Fixed - reflashed PCM with the VIN off a Base Vert - and - errors stopped spewing (but this had nothing to do with the steering wheel thread - this si all cluster replacement)... the steering wheel was JUST that single AS-BUILT code change and it worked fine.