I completed this repair a little while ago and remembered today that there was a dearth of information on this one so I thought I would share my experience for posterity.
Quite a while ago I started getting errors with my cruise control that eventually resulted in the red triangle error and complete loss of functionality. After a trip to the dealer I was quoted over $5000 to fix it. Considering the age of the car opted to just live without cruise control. I reached out to contacts at Continental and the part even direct from them is extremely expensive. I can't remember the exact number but I think it was close to the $3k+ amount that I found when trying to order the part direct for myself to save on labor.
I searched for a while and found several units on ebay going for anywhere from $500 - $1500 and was hesitant to invest that much into a part with limited warranty and that I'm taking a gamble on working. However one afternoon I casually checked ebay on a whim and found a listing for a complete unit for $200. It had a bent support bracket so I assumed it was removed from a wrecked vehicle; it also had a short warranty so I took the plunge and ordered it.
When the unit arrived I was really pleased to learn that it shared model and version numbers with the unit that was already inside of my car. Several iterations of model/version numbers were listed in repair catalogues so I was concerned about needing to re-flash or re-calibrate the unit and having to jump through hoops with the dealer. Getting to the unit was simple. I just took off the cowl atop the radiator and reached down in there. I loosened bolts and swapped the computer only, leaving in my original support bracket which was much easier than trying to remove the whole thing. With everything bolted together, I plugged in the unit, plugged in the battery, and fired up the car. The unit worked exactly as it did before with just a plug and play swap of the computer and it has been going great for a few months.
The cost of this part from the dealer was a wakeup call on the maintenance of the electronic components of this car as it ages, but I supposed that is the inherent risk of getting cars with lots of bells and whistles from the factory. I got really lucky that I found this part for $200, but it is food for thought for anyone trying to avoid the dealer costs on this repair. I'm not sure what difficulties I might have encountered had the model/version number been non-matching but I wanted to get this info out there. Thanks!
Quite a while ago I started getting errors with my cruise control that eventually resulted in the red triangle error and complete loss of functionality. After a trip to the dealer I was quoted over $5000 to fix it. Considering the age of the car opted to just live without cruise control. I reached out to contacts at Continental and the part even direct from them is extremely expensive. I can't remember the exact number but I think it was close to the $3k+ amount that I found when trying to order the part direct for myself to save on labor.
I searched for a while and found several units on ebay going for anywhere from $500 - $1500 and was hesitant to invest that much into a part with limited warranty and that I'm taking a gamble on working. However one afternoon I casually checked ebay on a whim and found a listing for a complete unit for $200. It had a bent support bracket so I assumed it was removed from a wrecked vehicle; it also had a short warranty so I took the plunge and ordered it.
When the unit arrived I was really pleased to learn that it shared model and version numbers with the unit that was already inside of my car. Several iterations of model/version numbers were listed in repair catalogues so I was concerned about needing to re-flash or re-calibrate the unit and having to jump through hoops with the dealer. Getting to the unit was simple. I just took off the cowl atop the radiator and reached down in there. I loosened bolts and swapped the computer only, leaving in my original support bracket which was much easier than trying to remove the whole thing. With everything bolted together, I plugged in the unit, plugged in the battery, and fired up the car. The unit worked exactly as it did before with just a plug and play swap of the computer and it has been going great for a few months.
The cost of this part from the dealer was a wakeup call on the maintenance of the electronic components of this car as it ages, but I supposed that is the inherent risk of getting cars with lots of bells and whistles from the factory. I got really lucky that I found this part for $200, but it is food for thought for anyone trying to avoid the dealer costs on this repair. I'm not sure what difficulties I might have encountered had the model/version number been non-matching but I wanted to get this info out there. Thanks!
