Fitting reversing sensors to a 1.5Dci Sport Tourer

The section for all Megane III talk.

Moderators: q292u, Ray, AndyAdmin, Stranger

candleman
Learner Driver
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:14 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane3 Sports Tourer 1.5dci 110 Expression+
Location: Enfield, Middlesex

Fitting reversing sensors to a 1.5Dci Sport Tourer

Postby candleman » Thu Jun 15, 2017 10:15 am

I decided to fit parking sensors to my Megane sport tourer as I can’t quite judge how far back I can go with the Mk3. Whenever I park against a wall or back onto a car I always seem to have another 2-3 foot I could have used. My wife’s Corsa has sensors fitted so I thought I might invest in a set myself. After a bit of research, I decided on the Cisbo 4 sensor set which seem readily available from various outlets.

I have done this walk through for others thinking of fitting reversing sensors

Pic 1 Cisbo reversing sensors for CANBUS cars. £22 from EBay, this the audio version only, no visual display. The Megane is CANBUS enabled so I bought this kit as a precaution.
Image

Pic 2 View inside the box. The yellow CANBUS wire is only used if the unit doesn’t work or a fault is raised on the dash board after fitting. Connect to a permanent +12v supply.
Image

Pic 3 The unit is activated when reverse is selected and the main power (Red cable +12v) taken from the reverse light circuit. The Sport tourer has the reverse light in the boot lid so accessing the loom is not so straight forward.
Image

Pic 4 As I didn’t have a wiring diagram I took the light cluster off to find the cable colours. Yellow for the reversing light, white for rear light and green for fog lamp (just visible). Instructions on how to remove the cluster & change bulbs are in your handbook so I won’t bother putting instructions here.
Image

Pic 5 The loom runs behind the left hand side boot side panel, so it will need to come off. Firstly, empty the boot and remove the boot floor carpet & wheel cover.
Image

Pic 6 Drop down the rear seats, peel back the rubber seal and unclip the lower door trim. Use levers feeding them behind the trims close to the clips.
Image

Pic 7, 8 & 9 Next is the boot side panel top trim. There are 2 x Torx screws to remove first, followed by the accessory socket and the courtesy light. If we need the +12v for the CANBUS wire mentioned earlier I will take it from the accessory socket power supply. The trim then unclips with the help of levers.
Image
Image
Image

Pic 10 Peel back the boot seals a little and unclip the bottom boot panel. There are 3 or 4 clips on the underside which will need levering off and 6 or so little clips along the front edge which are done by hand. It doesn’t need to come fully off.
Image

Pic 11 Remove the fir tree clip holding the side panel in place to the boot pillar.
Image

Pic 12 Manoeuvre the side panel away and slide it over the locking arm for the seat back.
Image

Pic 13 This is the view of the loom and boot side without the side panel in place. The 2 hanging connectors are for the accessory socket (the larger one) and the courtesy light.
Image

Pic 14 This is the close up of the loom which comes from the boot lid.
Image

Pic 15 & 16 At this point I hit a snag. This is a little cable cover which once removed allowed me to access the loom. I just gently cut through the insulation at each end and removed it. Remember I am looking for a yellow wire from the reverse light. There wasn’t one. Which meant there was a colour change somewhere, probably at a connector but where? I stated looking by popping off the boot liners. Start with the top centre section then the LH side pillar then the main boot front liner, taking out the 2 x Torx screws from the handle holes and popped off one side just enough to peer in and spotted the offending connector. You can see the colour change, yellow becomes grey, green becomes pink! Thankfully you won’t need to do this now, hence no pictures, but I include the step just as a warning not to take anything for granted.
Image
Image

Pic 17 Back at the loom in the boot I am now looking for a grey and pink wire combination. I noticed a brown connector clipped to the side wall with just these 2 colour cables. It was matter of moments to unclip and test using a multi-meter that these was in fact the correct wires. (I turned the power on without starting the engine, engaged reverse gear and tested for 12v and then into neutral to confirm 0v on the smaller male connector half, (grey wire pin) Sorry I didn’t have enough hands to test and take pictures. Once confirmed I was good to go.
Image

Pic 18 & 19 Next I needed to gain access to the inner bumper from the boot. On the inside of the boot is a grommet. No need to remove it but I carefully put a cross shaped cut in this with a craft knife and ran a cable trace through to the inside of the bumper. A long stiff wire from a coat hanger will do. I will use this to pull the sensor cables through later. In the picture is the main body earth point for the rear of the car. We will us this point later to attach the control unit ground (Black cable GND) supply to.
Image
Image

Pic 20 I then marked out the bumper roughly where the factory fitted sensors go. There are no drill marks on the inside of the bumper so I didn’t bother taking it off to drill. If you use the same positions, you will be fine as there are no obstructions behind.
Image

Pic 21 Using the tank cutter supplied in the kit, drill out the holes. The bumper here is a soft PVC so you don’t need a fast speed on the drill as it will just melt the plastic and snatch as it did in this picture. Lesson learnt for the next 3 holes. Let the cutter do the work and don’t push it too hard. Clear the little washer out from the middle of the cutter after each hole.
Image

Pic 22 Deburr the hole inside & out and pop the sensor wire through in the correct order. Starting with “D” at the far right hole as per the instructions. Don’t insert the sensor in fully yet, leave them a little loose in the holes.
Image

Pic 23 & 24 Next I taped the sensor wires to my cable trace spacing them out over 5-6”. This so that there isn’t a big blob of connectors trying to squeeze through the grommet and potentially damaging them. Pull them from the inside gently easing them through the grommet.
Image
Image

Pic 25 Getting under the car, tidy the cable run. I slipped the cable under the bumper clips as shown. Leave some slack should you need to do any work later.
Image

Pic 26 Next I crimped a connector onto my ground wire (Black cable GND), loosened the earth bolt mentioned earlier and slipped it under. Tighten until secure.
Image

Pic 27 I don’t like using Scotch Locks normally, I prefer to crimp or solder but as space was tight, in this instance I did. Connect the power (Red cable +12V) from the control unit to the Grey wire.
Image

Pic 28 I then connected all the sensors and the bleeper for a test. There was a parked car behind me in the road. Into reverse and moved slowly backwards.
Image

Pic 29 About 2 ½ feet rapid bleeps.
Image

Pic 30 About 1 foot, solid tone. Time to stop.
Image

Pic 31 & 32 Everything seems to be working fine. The wiring run was tidied up and excess cable tied together. No need for the yellow CANBUS wire. Using the supplied sticky pads, the bleeper was secured to the panel where shown up near the seat belt and the control panel so that It would be accessible through the removable panel used to unscrew the rear light cluster when changing the bulbs. I could have put the bleeper here as well but it is very loud and having it hidden behind the side panel muffles it somewhat, but it’s still loud enough to be heard with the radio at normal volumes. Again its fairly easy to change position as it is only stuck down should I decide to move it later.
Image
Image

Pic 33 & 33B I could have moved the control box over another ½ inch or so but no matter. The connector hanging down is the accessory socket. Should a problem occur later on where I do have fit the CANBUS wire it’s all still fairly accessible. Since taking the pictures I have moved the box to the reverse side of the cross bar for a neater finish.
Image
Image

Pic 34 Replace all the panels and bits of trim in reverse order. Don’t forget to slip the side panel over the seat locking arm before fitting the fir tree clip, as I did, otherwise it will have to come off again.
Image

Pic 35 This what the sensors look like when fitted. I choose the matt black finish when I bought them which are a little darker than the bumper, hopefully they will fade with time.
Image

Overall fitting time including taking off the extra trim to find the wire colour change, taking the pictures and being stopped by neighbours for a chat was about 3 ½ hours.

So far I am very pleased with the way they work. A word of caution though, don’t reverse at speed as they will struggle to keep up, keep it steady and they work fine.
How many more times, it's not an estate it's a SPORTS TOURER
Azzuro Blue 1.5dci 110 Expression+ Sports Tourer

Southdev
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:02 pm

Re: Fitting reversing sensors to a 1.5Dci Sport Tourer

Postby Southdev » Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:06 pm

Thanks for the in-depth fitting procedure.
I already have a set of sensors and now feel confident to give it a go!
Any other tips would be much appreciated.
Cheers.

candleman
Learner Driver
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:14 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane3 Sports Tourer 1.5dci 110 Expression+
Location: Enfield, Middlesex

Re: Fitting reversing sensors to a 1.5Dci Sport Tourer

Postby candleman » Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:33 pm

Hi Southdev,

Just don't rush getting the trims off as you don't want to break the little snaps off. If they don't want to move it means something is holding them down somewhere.

Don't forget to verify the reverse light voltage before breaking into the loom. I have worked on enough cars to know that sometimes even similar models can have differing wiring.

Other than that it was pretty straight forward.

Candleman
How many more times, it's not an estate it's a SPORTS TOURER
Azzuro Blue 1.5dci 110 Expression+ Sports Tourer


Return to “Megane III”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests