Replacing Cruise Control Cable

You've finally got your hands on a cruise control system, but when you got round to installing it, you noticed part of the cable was broken! Nightmare!

Don't worry, we'll tell you how to salvage the system with a brand new cable from BMW

Parts

One genuine Bowden Cruise Cable, part number 65711386243

Replacement

While it's possible to do this job with the system still fitted to the car, it's pictured here removed to make things easier. However, you will need to have the actuator unbolted from its mounting, and the cable detached from the throttle body plate. If you're unsure how to do that, please refer to the fitting guide

So here's the original cable. As you can see, we've got the two most common breaking points on the same cable; the first is that one of the plastic mounting tabs for the cable clamp has broken off which will weaken the cable assembly, and secondly the entire mounting collar has snapped, making the cable useless.

To begin the removal process, we need to dismantle the actuator. To do that, we need to separate it from its mounting bracket by undoing the three M6 nuts that hold it in place. You can just about see them in this picture.

Once the bracket is off, you can turn the actuator upside down to reveal the simple screws that hold the cover in place. Be aware, those screws are likely to have been in place for twenty years, and will be very brittle. Three of mine snapped during this process, leaving their rusty remnants wedged in the plastic. This isn't a huge deal, although for peace of mine and ensured longevity of the system, you should do your best to extract any broken screws and replace them with slightly larger ones so that you can tighten the cover back up at the end of this tutorial.

With the cover removed you'll have a good view of the internal mechanism. This picture is provided as a reference, as you're going to have to remove most of the spring and gear mechanism on the left hand side. The cable is connected to the bottom of the big red cog...

...so gently prise out the spring, the brass latch and then delicately prise up the red cog. You'll find attached to the cog is a thick rubber band. Don't try and disconnect it; we've just popping the cog off its spindle to loosen that band.

With that loosened, we now need to prise off the cable cover from the actuator body. This is done by pushing in a thick plastic tab on the actuator-side of the cable (see where the left screwdriver is poking down?) While you're pushing in that tab, use a second screwdriver to prise the cable away from the actuator body. Be careful; it's brittle plastic, and you don't want to break the actuator body or you'll be up a certain creek without a paddle. Be firm without being brutal.

With the cable separated, you'll be able to pull the rubber band out until you see how the actual cable connects to the end of the rubber. You may need to tug firmly on the rubber until the clasp is visible; the other end of the cable will prevent the whole thing from sliding out, so you may need to use a bit of force. Just don't pull the rubber too hard.

When the clasp comes out, you'll see that it's little more than a barrel fitting that slots into a hook at the end of the rubber. All you have to do is pop the barrel out, discard the old cable, and pop the new barrel of your new cable into the hook.

Once you've done that, go backwards through these steps to attach the cable body to the actuator shell, fit the cog and spring back in place, screw the cover back on and bolt the actuator back to it's bracket. And look, a shiny fresh new cable!