Ok, new weekend project. As I have written about in other posts, various functionality from the Range Rover Sport '06-'09 that was not intended for the LR3 can be retrofit and made to work (e.g., adaptive cruise control). One of the features that has long been on my wish list is a heated steering wheel. One solution to this has long existed, involving a LR4 heated steering wheel and swapping out the printed circuit boards. A feasible route, though I'm not particularly excited at the prospect of a PCB swap.

On 2009 Range Rover Sport models a heated steering wheel was an option. These are rare. This week I was lucky enough to obtain one together with its matching clock spring. It's scuffed, probably a B- or C+ grade, but my current wheel is in the same condition. The 09 RRS heated wheel clock springs look to be particularly difficult to source. While this would appear to be a direct swap (there is a 'heated steering wheel' option in the car's configuration file, not sure if it needs to be checked off via GAP tool), I want to keep my adaptive cruise control which means... I need to swap the dual voice/heat paddle shifter from the heated switch panel to my adaptive cruise switch panel on the steering wheel. I understand how the circuits connect (ribbon connector held in place with a plastic stopping bar) and I think I can do this. A part number for the combined heat+ACC switch does exist -- giving me confidence that the resistance ladder of the switches will not have interference -- but this combination looks to be exceedingly rare and isn't something that appears to physically exist for sale at the current moment on eBay, the UK junkyards or in US junkyards.

I can't dive into this until the weekend but I will post pictures when I do.

 

Do you have to run any extra wires to the clock spring for this? For example, my BMW E32 did not have heated steering as an option but upgrading to one was not terribly difficult. However, one had to run power wiring for the heating since it drew a ton of amps and therefore needed a separate power source. Was one of the best upgrades I did and sure do miss my LR3 not having one. So I took looked into doing this, but the cost of a steering wheel was always high and the PCB boards are not super cheap making for an overall expensive project equal to a quarter of the vehicles value....

 

I might have to run a power and ground wire into the back-side of the clock spring. There is wiring for a heated steering wheel in the LR3 wiring diagram (even though there is not was never an option) and so I'm hoping for cost-reduction purposes they just used the same wiring harness across the LR3 and RRS platforms. But I might have to supply power to it.

I'm going to do a test fit tonight but I have run into my first issue. The PCBs for the left switches (with heat and cruise control) are very different and it's not a question of just swapping the ribbon cable and heat paddle over from one switch to the ACC switch. It looks like all the ACC wiring is in place on the heated PCB, with the exception of the switch LED which is not present. The cover plate and buttons do swap over, and so I'm going to try to see if my ACC system still powers up with the heated switch, but I'm only putting a 30% change of success on ACC working this way.

I have a search on for the following parts which have both ACC and heat, but... they appear to be exceedingly rare and not currently available.

• LR007953
• LR014306

A 'thank you' to Simon at PowerfulUK for finding these part numbers for me.

 

So... the Land Rover cost efficiency team for the win... the ACC functionality works just fine with the ACC switch cover moved over to the heat-enabled non-ACC switch. But the heating function does not yet work, I do think my clockspring harness feed (in vs. out) is missing the power line. I'll explore more tonight.

Lol, get this... the inexpensive aftermarket clocksprings sold for the LR3 and LR4 come with the heater connections, so after going to the trouble swapping out a RRS clockspring that is difficult to find, I could have just continued to use my replacement non-OEM clockspring. To verify, just check to see if the clockspring has the 2-prong in- and out- connectors, heat is the only item that uses a 2-wire connector on the clockspring, the airbags are 4 and the other functions are like 7 wires give or take.

So.. I still need + and - wires, those are not present in the steering column. The connector looks the same as the clockspring-out connector, so I think I'm just going to pick up a used LR4 module and sacrifice it for the connector.

All in, expense wise, I got lucky. The steering wheel and switch were $80, the clockspring was $40 (which I did not need!), so all in this project should be under $200. I will say I got very fortunate with the steering wheel price wise.

 

Wow... good find on the wheel. Every time I get curious to do this the ones I find are $400. Keep us updated. I would love to do this one also. I bet the switch LED could be swapped over easily enough, well if one has some soldering skill.

 

It works.

I'll post pictures tonight.

You need these components for this retrofit:
1. heated 09 RRS wheel
2. heat module (inside the right switch on the wheel)
3. heat switch (left switch on the steering wheel)
4. compatible clock spring (eBay aftermarket springs appear compatible)
5. run ground and power wires to the clock spring connector. I don't know what this specific connector is. Electrical diagram says source of power is 10A from Fuse 22, I used one of those tap-a-fuse adapters into fuse 22 for this.
6. I did not make a change to be configuration file, so like the HID lights, this works without telling the car you have installed it.

You also have to be comfortable removing and re-installing the airbag, which I realize is not for everyone.

 

I'm looking forward to the big write up. People say you don't need a heated wheel; until they try it, and then they do!

 

So right now the test-fit heated wheel is working. Final fitment will be next weekend after I get a power connector to use for the connection into the clockspring. Here's the heat switch lit up.



To know whether or not your clockspring supports heat, you want to look for the 2-wire connector at the top of the clockspring that you can see here.


Here's a picture of the wheel before test-fitting.



As I wrote above, I removed the adaptive cruise-enabled switch cover and moved it over to the heat-enabled left switch. The cruise switch components, other than the LED, were all there and the ACC functionality continues to work. Here are some pictures of the steering wheel switches disassembled. Basically, the plastic switches move white plastic 'feet', and these feet 'squish' silicone pads with conductive bottoms into the switch area, closing the particular circuit.

 

Thanks for the info in this thread and being willing to jump in and give it a go. I can only find one OEM Land Rover part number for the clock spring. What were the part numbers on your original non-heated one, the OEM one you couldn't source and the aftermarket one you used?

 

I don't have part numbers handy but I do recall seeing the OEM heat-enabled clockspring for around $400... while the ebay aftermarket ones I've seen do appear to have the heater connections for a fraction of the price.

Here's the ebay one with heat next to my original LR3 clockspring which is missing the heat connection.