Believe me this is going to be easier than reading Fiat's instructions. The setting up section is unintelligible, so I ignored that. I shall cover it it with either an ammendment or subsequent guide as I fitted my sensors and they worked striaight out of the box. This guide applies to various cars as the same kit seems to be for all models including Tipo, Renegade, Compass, 500,500L, 500X, Bravo, Sedici, Doblo, Ducato, Scudo, FIorino, Panda 2012, Grande Punto, Ypsilon, Ypsion 2011, Delta, Mito, Giulietta.
Difficulty. 3.0*
I did need to solder a wire due to the dumb instructions suggesting mounting the unit on the off (R) side. Wires not long enough! But otherwise easy with a little patience.
I shall post the OEM Panda instructions on the downloads section and will be able to pass on other vehicle instructions on request. There are some subtle differences with sensor orientation and connection of the yellow wire that may apply.
Tools
Mirror on a stick is useful too.
Some basic but key points
Check the kit is complete
Remove the bumper - have a helper standing by and something soft to put it on.
Cut the holes
Fit the sensors
Feed sensor wires inside the car
Wrap and fix the sensor wires into a harness
Refit the bumper
Fit the buzzer. It can be fitted into the black plastic rear shelf. Side of the removable parcel shelf.
Find the cars wiring to the RFL's and reversing light in the spare wheel well
Wrap and fix the buzzer and sensor wires into a harness. Stop at the cars wiring (above)
Plug in the wires to the control box. NB these are one time fit so do not come back out.
Fix the control box into the n/s (left) of the boot behind the carpet trim.
Wrap and fix the sensor wires into a harness back to the cars exterior wiring.
Connect the wires to the cars wiring.
Replace all the boot trims
Test and adjust as required
Painting the sensors see below
1. Check you have all the bits before starting.
2.Painting the sensors
A tip from my dealer contact. The sensors rely on ultrsoics and vibration. Sensors MUST BE PAINTED FIRST. Each sensor is SUBSEQUENTLY fitted to the bumper but sandwiched betweeen two silicon washers.If you fit the sensors, with these washers before painting paint WILL get in between sensor and washers and interfere with the ultrsonics and prevent them working. He said this is a very common event, including after bodywork repairs. Should this happen its either get a new set or remove the bumper and then the sensors and pick all the paint off where it meets any part of the silicon washers! Repeat as many times as needed to make them work!
3. Remove the bumper
This is the worst and most time consuming part of the entire job. Take your time and avoid breaking things!! The standard car is a breeze as long as the screws release, the Cross is more involved and there is a danger of breaking the arch trim ends, which I have now done at both sides.
First put your hand up under the bumper and remove the reverse light bulb and rear fog bulb holders from their lights. The wires are NOT long enough to remove the bumper if these are not undone!. 1/4 turn and pull the bulb holders out gently.
N.B. these are held in with three tabs one larger than the other two so they only go back when correctly lined up and its a bit fiddly.
The wheel arch trims make life much harder on the the Cross style bumpers. The edge trims on the bumper need to be removed first to avoid damage. However once these are sorted the bumper is just given a firm tug rearwards once the fixings are removed to get it off. Make sure you place a blanket or old quilt on the floor first to rest it on
There are 16 fixings there are three cross head screws on each side. Two 10mm bolts underneath and four torx bolts two in the tailgate opening and two in the wheel arch. Two further screws each side hold the bumper-edge trims. Each trim has four ratchet type flat tabs that need help to disengage. before pivoting them off.
The bottom 2 screws in the wheel arch liner can easily be seen. Mine came out without the need for removing the wheel first, using a short screw driver. Then undeneath the bumper behind the mid line of the wheel a third one (each side) that can be seen and removed from behind / underneath the car.
Then more difficult to access are the two screws that retain the black trim section that is attached to the bumper.These are best removed so this trim can be removed before taking off the bumper as the end is FRAGILE and will break othewise. It can be glued but will not go back properly if it isn't.
On the reverse of this bumper edge trim are three screws also seen / accessed in the wheel arch. You need a mirror to find them easily. You only need to remove the two that are at the ends of the trim. Leave the third (middle) one alone. The trim is then held on by four tabs that push through slots in the bumper. These are a little tricky to release with a flat blade to lever the tabs to the side. The last tab was awkward. The bumper-edge trim then pulls out to the side of the car and off. Warning You need to be aware that it requires two things to extract the trim without breaking it (not counting luck) Where it fits into the back wing / quarter paned it slots in but has a very fragile lip tab end. This requires you to pivot / rotate the trim while using fingers to pull the wing trim (Gently but firmly away from the bodywork slightly to open the gap under teh wing edge trim. Only pull the wing edge trim a tiny fraction (1mm max) to remove the bumper edge trim. The black wheel arch trim is stuck on to the car wing with a quite thick double sided tape so dont over do this pulling as it will not ever go back well afterwards if you do. So hold the bottom of the trim piece with fingers and pull it outward away from the car while pulling / levering the wing end of the arch trim slightly, and the trim will come out with a little GENTLE jiggling. I did not do it that way. I busted both end tabs removing the whole lot in one piece. Thankfully Easy Fix black plastic glue came to the rescue.as these tabs are required to hold the whole thing neatly in place. Subsequent conversation with my local dealer reveals they pull them off and break the tab / tangs most times too. Get your "Easy Fix" glue from Ebay first. (The dealer uses it too.)
Easy fix two part glue. Even in the wheel arch gluing a tiny break in a little piece of the bumper it had held 5 years since the towbar was fitted, so this stuff is GOOD. But better to avoid breaking this trim tab if possible as the bumper wont fit back without it.
Even if you pull the bumper off and go for repairing the tabs / tangs, to refit it, these trim sections have to be removed to refit tje bumper or breakage WILL occur, so messing about before removal is probably by far the better way.
4. Cut the holes
Drilling the holes for the sensors is fairly simple especially if you have a 19mm hole cutter. On the Cross the positions for the factory fitted sensors are nicely marked on the inside of the bumper.
The snag is there are only 3 factory fitted sensors. The accsessori kit has 4 sensors. Good news is the locations for the outer pair which would be difficult to locate accurately are marked, so just mark the centre of the circle and cut your hole. The kit comes with some natty self adhesive templates for accurately drilling the holes so you can place these over the circle (marked inside the bumper) and the dead centre of the hole is easy to locate. A hole cutter will have a nice small pilot drill and a little cutter blade. You need to take great care not to tear the paint as you cut. I always start from the back and finish on the front. Not having a hole cutter I used a stepped drill which is slightly too big at 19.1mm. It did a perfect job which I finished with a conical file to get rid of swarf. The holes were OK at the slight oversize. To fit the inner pair of sensors I marked a line through the middle of the sensor position and maked a point 180mm each side of the sensor to approximate the template for the standard bumper. Fiat stipulate middle sensors must be 360mm apart at the centres. See pic below.
Taking care as far as possible I marked two spots 2cm from the Panel line above the black bumper trim. Triple check this stage to make sure the hole will have sufficient clearance all around to fit the sensor and the washers and lock ring behind on a flat uninterrupted spot on the bumper. The centres of both this pair of sensors must be 360mm apart. In my case I have a tow bar fitted so there is no bumper styrene pad or crash bar, and consequently more space behind the bumper cover. Without this aready being removed holes are needed through the styrene bumper packing piece .Its obviously vital to ensure that there is sufficient space in the void inside the bumper to accomodate all the sensors and wires before drilling holes!!!. Here the isnstructions show how to cut the packing piece. (see diagram below) The part on the Panda Cross may be different to the picture so may need to hold it up against the bumper and mark the sensor positions and cut openings for the centre sensors. Measure three time and cut once.
5. Fitting the sensors
At this stage you have broken the back of this job. Its now a case of fitting the sensors, with all the parts in the correct order, and making sure they are as far as possible arranged to be perpendicular to the ground once the bumper is fitted. The order of the parts is straightforward, There are two sizes of silicon washer. The small one is fitted to the sensor before the sensor face ring goes on. It is invisible once the outer face ring is clipped in place. The outer face rings will only clip in one way round as tabs on each side are different sizes. Fit the four small rings to the four sensor and clip the four face rings in place.
Next you need to select the wedge angling rings (B6 in the diagram) to ensure the sensors are the right angle when the bumper is replaced. You need the thinnest set. Thin edge uppermost to angle upwards. These have a little cut out which engages with the tiny tab on the sensor. NOTE. Sensors have to go in the right way round as well so align them before fitting the rings. The wires from the inner pair of sensors run towars the centre of the car (once fitted) and the wires from the outer pair run towards the outside of the car on each side. See Pic. Have no idea why they need this but make the effort in case its vital. The Inner pair of sensors need to be angled upwards so the thin edge of the wedge rins at the top once fitted. Arrange one and press it into the bumper from the painted / out side. Check you are happy with the alignment. See diagram below. Then fit the big silicon washer (M in diagram) , a spring (B7) and the lockring (B8) which needs to be pushed against the spring and turned to engage the retaining lugs. Check again its correctly aligned and the wire once plugged in will point inwards. All these little parts are breakable so go slow and gently. Force is unnecessary. Repeat for the other inner sensor, then do the outer pair but note these need to be angled downwards so the wedge rings need to be thin side downwards, and the wires once fitted must point outwards.
Now check again. Wires direction OK, wedges aligned OK. Rectify if required. The lock rings can be pushed and turned to unlock allowing sensor removal and realignment.
5. Wiring.
Some more trim removal is required. NOTE Fiats instructions are wrong in relation to the Cross. The control box is best fitted in the left side rear arch void inside the boot behind the carpet NOT the right side. If like me you have a towbar and the relays are already occupying this space you have to use the other (right) side and this will require altering one of the wires as this will not reach the unit. More later.
6. Remove boot jamb inner plastic trim. This needs to be removed. Its held inside the boot by 4 plastic trim clips resembling false screws and two muti use plastic rivet types. Remove with care extract the centre pegs and then lever them out forwards. The trim is now further held by 5 trim clips that are reatined in the trim itself. Lift the whole trim upwards and these will come out. some will stay in the trim so make sure not to loose them. Some may stay in the cars panel and need levering out and refitting to the trim before its replaced.
7. Remove Rear shelf side panel.
You need to remove the side panel to fit the reverse buzzer unit. This is held on by two cross head screws. Remove these and then the D pillar trim needs to be loosened to get access behind. It does not need tp be removed. Loosen the left rear pillar trim at the rearmost edge. Ease the tailgate rubber out of the way as you pull the plastic trim panel . The pillar trim is held in place by four push in trim clips, the same as holds the tailgate jamb trim removed earlier. Again watch in case they fall out. They may come out with the trim or stay in the bodywork. They need to be removed and placed back on the pillar trim for refitting. Once the shelf side is loose you can see in behind. It has a little box section thats ideal for the buzzer to be mounted in. Clean the dust from the upward facing surface of this box and use the double sided adhesive tape pads supplied to fix the buzzer after you have plugged in the buzzer wire (red plug. Plugs dont come out again so check you have the correct end before plugging in.
Buzzer location. The buzzer extension cable is not needed.
Move the side carpet trim out of the way. It is held in place by the tailgate door seal. Do not remove it. Just fold forwards out of the way. Release the door seals grip as you pull the carpet clear. Move the carpet out of your way and bring the buzzer cable into the left rear corner of the boot and plug it in to the control box. Then refit the D pillar trim. Put the fixing pin clips into the back of the trim align the holes and tap the trim pins into place. The rubber seal edge can be teased out into place by hand, and once it is located right tap the trim back in place.
Under the boot trim near the centre you will see the cars wiring loom in a felt wrap. It passes out through a large rubber grommet. You need to identify both of these things.
Cut a slit in the grommet with a sharp knife. Make this about 9mm long. Cars wiring is in the ribbed trunking once out side. See below pic
My sensor wires coming through the grommet next to the towbar 13 core fitted previously (behind the bumper which has been removed) which would normally leave you much more room for the sensor wires but they all fit.
Red arrow - Towbar wiring before RPS fitting , and Blue arrows show bumper bottom fittings. These are nearly identical to the extended brackets on the original crash beam.Yellow arrow is the rear fog wire / bulb.
Unfurl the four sensor wires and straighten them out They have different colour markings / plugs for the different sensor positions the round plugs go on the sensors, and the coloured squarer plugs to the control unit. Feed the small plug of each wire through the grommet and then pull though enough wire to reach the control box in the rear left corner of the boot behind the side carpet trim. Plug the wires onto the control box SEE diagram. I suggest you wrap the wires with insulation tape to make a manageable harness. Fix the harness in place on the bumper. I drilled available plastic tabs and cable tie the hearness to these. Pic below. Plug the sensor wire as in the Fiat cy placinstruction diagram. See a bit further below.Sensor plugs must be put in the correct slot
Now consider where the surplus wire will be contained. With no crash beam this was easy. I coiled the excess and tied it securely out of harms way. Plug the sensors to the harness as per the diagram instructions. Drawing above (59)
8. Replace the bumper cover.
An assistant will be very helpful. Lift the bumper and offer is up, slot the cover imto the side holder bracket and push it into place. Loosely refit the upper two torx bolts to hold it in place.
Sorry its rotated 90 left in this pic.
With the main bumper cover in place get the wheel arch end trims and replace them on the bumper. Insert the top loop into the gap behind the wing trim. A little outward pressure on the wing arch trim may be needed to get the loops tangs in behind the wing trim BE GENTLE. Then line up and slop the tabs into the slots in the bumper cover and press the trim into place, Refit the two cross head screws that hold it to the bumper from in the wheel arch , Fit the bottom fixing bolts. Get hold of the entire bumper, one side at a time with an arm under and lift it up until the panel gap is tight. Hold it and tighten the top torx bolts. 5ft/lb is plenty, nip up andDONT overtighten and crush the bumper cover by overdoing it.
Refit the wheel arch tox bolts.
Check the panel gaps and if needed lossen the bumper and lift / re tighten. Tighten the 4 torx bolts but dont over do this. Tighten the lower bolts and refit the 6 cross head screws in and under the wheel arch. Use aluminium or copper based grease ' anti seize on all the bolts and screws before refitting.
Replace the RFL and reversing light light bulb holders. You can reach these under the bumper.
9. Wiring Part 2
Home and dry nearly. You need to locate the reverse lamp wire live and the earth wire in the cars harness, The part you cut into is only the reverse light and the rear fog light so no hard. Carefully cut along the felt wrap and prize it open. Extract the black wire and the grey / green wires so you can clip the RPS harness Red and black using the pinch clips provided in the kit. You also nee the RPS harness yellow wire. The yellow wire reduces the sensitivity of the outer pair of sensors should you so wish if attched to the black wire. As the outer sensors angle outwards I did connect this to reduce false alarm signals when parking in the garage.
This is meant to represent inside the boot. The grommet on the wire is the big one idetified above .
Right pic above completed wiring
Red arrow is cars harness
Yellow arrow is the parking sensors yellow red and black wires
Orange arrow is my towbar wiring to relay / ssocket
Blue arrow is the wires to the park sensor unit which on m car had to be in the right side off the boot as the left was occupied already by my towing relays. Putting the park sensors on the right side meant I had to lengthen the red wire whch was not long enough to reach across the car. I use one of the other wires that was too long to extend it and soldered the extra wire to facilitate this. Best if possible to put the RPS unit on the left and avoid this hassle.
The short coloured wiring harness with rectangular white plug that comes with the kit, needs to be connected next and then plugged into the sensor unit.
In the diagram above, 3 is black, - so connect reverse sensors little harness black, to the cars harness black WITH the sensors harness yellow wire (18 ) as well. Thats the earths done.
31 is grey and green car harness wire and red (2) in the sensor harness is the live feed to the reverse park unit.
Once connected you can stick the park sensor unit into place
The brown wire is to do with switching off the sensors if towing a trailer. WIthout a towbar, ignore this and leave it unconnected.
The Fiat instructions are useless so I am researching this further. I believe connecting the brown to my 7 way relay grey will do the trick but will hopefully confirm.
The red and blue wire in the reverse sensor loom has something to do with setting up the system and will be cut off and unused thereafter - if used at all. You probably dont need it at all, I didn't.
Plug the sark sensor wires with the white plug into the unit and stick the control unit into place in the void at the back left of the boot. Use some decent quality double sided tape to hold it. Best oriented so you can easily access the adjustment screws if required in the future.
10. Adjustment
The screw adjusters for offset and sensitivity are factory set and should not need tweeking. Adjust clockwise to increase settings / sensitivity and anti clockwise to decrease settings etc.
Finally wrap or tie loose wires neatly, and tie into place with cable ties. I prefer to wrap wires in insualtion tape as it gives a little more protection from abrasion and damge over subsequent years, as well as looking factory fresh.
Finally refit side trim and the tailgate jamb trim and make sure the tailgate seal is not trapped or crushed at the bottom or sides by the refitted trim. It can be fiddly to fiddle the rubber seal out and into place. Recheck that all fittings removed have been replaced and tightened correctly.
Enjoy.
Difficulty. 3.0*
I did need to solder a wire due to the dumb instructions suggesting mounting the unit on the off (R) side. Wires not long enough! But otherwise easy with a little patience.
I shall post the OEM Panda instructions on the downloads section and will be able to pass on other vehicle instructions on request. There are some subtle differences with sensor orientation and connection of the yellow wire that may apply.
Tools
Mirror on a stick is useful too.Some basic but key points
- First, the sensors come unpainted and there is a box included that is sculpted to hold them for painting which is a good thing. Fiat recommend 48 hours drying time following painting. They also recommend baking them for 20 mins after at LESS than 60C. I decided not to bother as the Waze is already black and white so it doesnt look out of place. See warning below.
- The sensors need to be perpendicular to the ground when fitted (vertical) for good operation. Many bumpers are not perpendicular so there are a series of wedges supplied that fit behind the sensor head to correct the vertical alignment. Panda Cross requires the thinnest ones, In order to get the sensors aligned vertically the centre sensors need to be angled up wards and the outer pair of sensors need to be angled downwards. so Sensors A and D need the thick side of the wedge to the top and the thin side down, On the central pair (B and C) the sensors need to be the other way round thin edge up and thick edge at the bottom, The wedges have a notch that engages with a peg on the sensor head. Get this lined up and then fit so teh wires connecting to the unit are correctly aligned. See below.
- Sensors are supposed to be mounted so the inner pair have the plug tails (wires) pointing inwards to the cars mid line. The outer pair point outwards. I dont know why or if it matters but there is a warning triangle symbol by this in the instructions so make sure to put them into the bumper the right way round and with the wedges right or you may have to repeat the job with the wedges correctly aligned.
Check the kit is complete
Remove the bumper - have a helper standing by and something soft to put it on.
Cut the holes
Fit the sensors
Feed sensor wires inside the car
Wrap and fix the sensor wires into a harness
Refit the bumper
Fit the buzzer. It can be fitted into the black plastic rear shelf. Side of the removable parcel shelf.
Find the cars wiring to the RFL's and reversing light in the spare wheel well
Wrap and fix the buzzer and sensor wires into a harness. Stop at the cars wiring (above)
Plug in the wires to the control box. NB these are one time fit so do not come back out.
Fix the control box into the n/s (left) of the boot behind the carpet trim.
Wrap and fix the sensor wires into a harness back to the cars exterior wiring.
Connect the wires to the cars wiring.
Replace all the boot trims
Test and adjust as required
Painting the sensors see below1. Check you have all the bits before starting.
2.
Painting the sensorsA tip from my dealer contact. The sensors rely on ultrsoics and vibration. Sensors MUST BE PAINTED FIRST. Each sensor is SUBSEQUENTLY fitted to the bumper but sandwiched betweeen two silicon washers.
If you fit the sensors, with these washers before painting paint WILL get in between sensor and washers and interfere with the ultrsonics and prevent them working. He said this is a very common event, including after bodywork repairs. Should this happen its either get a new set or remove the bumper and then the sensors and pick all the paint off where it meets any part of the silicon washers! Repeat as many times as needed to make them work!3. Remove the bumper
This is the worst and most time consuming part of the entire job. Take your time and avoid breaking things!! The standard car is a breeze as long as the screws release, the Cross is more involved and there is a danger of breaking the arch trim ends, which I have now done at both sides.
First put your hand up under the bumper and remove the reverse light bulb and rear fog bulb holders from their lights. The wires are NOT long enough to remove the bumper if these are not undone!. 1/4 turn and pull the bulb holders out gently.
N.B. these are held in with three tabs one larger than the other two so they only go back when correctly lined up and its a bit fiddly.
The wheel arch trims make life much harder on the the Cross style bumpers. The edge trims on the bumper need to be removed first to avoid damage. However once these are sorted the bumper is just given a firm tug rearwards once the fixings are removed to get it off. Make sure you place a blanket or old quilt on the floor first to rest it on
There are 16 fixings there are three cross head screws on each side. Two 10mm bolts underneath and four torx bolts two in the tailgate opening and two in the wheel arch. Two further screws each side hold the bumper-edge trims. Each trim has four ratchet type flat tabs that need help to disengage. before pivoting them off.
The bottom 2 screws in the wheel arch liner can easily be seen. Mine came out without the need for removing the wheel first, using a short screw driver. Then undeneath the bumper behind the mid line of the wheel a third one (each side) that can be seen and removed from behind / underneath the car.
Then more difficult to access are the two screws that retain the black trim section that is attached to the bumper.
These are best removed so this trim can be removed before taking off the bumper as the end is FRAGILE and will break othewise. It can be glued but will not go back properly if it isn't.On the reverse of this bumper edge trim are three screws also seen / accessed in the wheel arch. You need a mirror to find them easily. You only need to remove the two that are at the ends of the trim. Leave the third (middle) one alone. The trim is then held on by four tabs that push through slots in the bumper. These are a little tricky to release with a flat blade to lever the tabs to the side. The last tab was awkward. The bumper-edge trim then pulls out to the side of the car and off. Warning You need to be aware that it requires two things to extract the trim without breaking it (not counting luck) Where it fits into the back wing / quarter paned it slots in but has a very fragile lip tab end. This requires you to pivot / rotate the trim while using fingers to pull the wing trim (Gently but firmly away from the bodywork slightly to open the gap under teh wing edge trim. Only pull the wing edge trim a tiny fraction (1mm max) to remove the bumper edge trim. The black wheel arch trim is stuck on to the car wing with a quite thick double sided tape so dont over do this pulling as it will not ever go back well afterwards if you do. So hold the bottom of the trim piece with fingers and pull it outward away from the car while pulling / levering the wing end of the arch trim slightly, and the trim will come out with a little GENTLE jiggling. I did not do it that way. I busted both end tabs removing the whole lot in one piece. Thankfully Easy Fix black plastic glue came to the rescue.as these tabs are required to hold the whole thing neatly in place. Subsequent conversation with my local dealer reveals they pull them off and break the tab / tangs most times too. Get your "Easy Fix" glue from Ebay first. (The dealer uses it too.)
Easy fix two part glue. Even in the wheel arch gluing a tiny break in a little piece of the bumper it had held 5 years since the towbar was fitted, so this stuff is GOOD. But better to avoid breaking this trim tab if possible as the bumper wont fit back without it.
Even if you pull the bumper off and go for repairing the tabs / tangs, to refit it, these trim sections have to be removed to refit tje bumper or breakage WILL occur, so messing about before removal is probably by far the better way.
4. Cut the holes
Drilling the holes for the sensors is fairly simple especially if you have a 19mm hole cutter. On the Cross the positions for the factory fitted sensors are nicely marked on the inside of the bumper.
The snag is there are only 3 factory fitted sensors. The accsessori kit has 4 sensors. Good news is the locations for the outer pair which would be difficult to locate accurately are marked, so just mark the centre of the circle and cut your hole. The kit comes with some natty self adhesive templates for accurately drilling the holes so you can place these over the circle (marked inside the bumper) and the dead centre of the hole is easy to locate. A hole cutter will have a nice small pilot drill and a little cutter blade. You need to take great care not to tear the paint as you cut. I always start from the back and finish on the front. Not having a hole cutter I used a stepped drill which is slightly too big at 19.1mm. It did a perfect job which I finished with a conical file to get rid of swarf. The holes were OK at the slight oversize. To fit the inner pair of sensors I marked a line through the middle of the sensor position and maked a point 180mm each side of the sensor to approximate the template for the standard bumper. Fiat stipulate middle sensors must be 360mm apart at the centres. See pic below.
Taking care as far as possible I marked two spots 2cm from the Panel line above the black bumper trim. Triple check this stage to make sure the hole will have sufficient clearance all around to fit the sensor and the washers and lock ring behind on a flat uninterrupted spot on the bumper. The centres of both this pair of sensors must be 360mm apart. In my case I have a tow bar fitted so there is no bumper styrene pad or crash bar, and consequently more space behind the bumper cover. Without this aready being removed holes are needed through the styrene bumper packing piece .
Its obviously vital to ensure that there is sufficient space in the void inside the bumper to accomodate all the sensors and wires before drilling holes!!!. Here the isnstructions show how to cut the packing piece. (see diagram below) The part on the Panda Cross may be different to the picture so may need to hold it up against the bumper and mark the sensor positions and cut openings for the centre sensors. Measure three time and cut once.5. Fitting the sensors
At this stage you have broken the back of this job. Its now a case of fitting the sensors, with all the parts in the correct order, and making sure they are as far as possible arranged to be perpendicular to the ground once the bumper is fitted. The order of the parts is straightforward, There are two sizes of silicon washer. The small one is fitted to the sensor before the sensor face ring goes on. It is invisible once the outer face ring is clipped in place. The outer face rings will only clip in one way round as tabs on each side are different sizes. Fit the four small rings to the four sensor and clip the four face rings in place.
Next you need to select the wedge angling rings (B6 in the diagram) to ensure the sensors are the right angle when the bumper is replaced. You need the thinnest set. Thin edge uppermost to angle upwards. These have a little cut out which engages with the tiny tab on the sensor. NOTE. Sensors have to go in the right way round as well so align them before fitting the rings. The wires from the inner pair of sensors run towars the centre of the car (once fitted) and the wires from the outer pair run towards the outside of the car on each side. See Pic. Have no idea why they need this but make the effort in case its vital. The Inner pair of sensors need to be angled upwards so the thin edge of the wedge rins at the top once fitted. Arrange one and press it into the bumper from the painted / out side.
Check you are happy with the alignment. See diagram below. Then fit the big silicon washer (M in diagram) , a spring (B7) and the lockring (B8) which needs to be pushed against the spring and turned to engage the retaining lugs. Check again its correctly aligned and the wire once plugged in will point inwards. All these little parts are breakable so go slow and gently. Force is unnecessary. Repeat for the other inner sensor, then do the outer pair but note these need to be angled downwards so the wedge rings need to be thin side downwards, and the wires once fitted must point outwards.Now check again. Wires direction OK, wedges aligned OK. Rectify if required. The lock rings can be pushed and turned to unlock allowing sensor removal and realignment.
5. Wiring.
Some more trim removal is required. NOTE Fiats instructions are wrong in relation to the Cross. The control box is best fitted in the left side rear arch void inside the boot behind the carpet NOT the right side. If like me you have a towbar and the relays are already occupying this space you have to use the other (right) side and this will require altering one of the wires as this will not reach the unit. More later.
6. Remove boot jamb inner plastic trim. This needs to be removed. Its held inside the boot by 4 plastic trim clips resembling false screws and two muti use plastic rivet types. Remove with care extract the centre pegs and then lever them out forwards. The trim is now further held by 5 trim clips that are reatined in the trim itself. Lift the whole trim upwards and these will come out. some will stay in the trim so make sure not to loose them. Some may stay in the cars panel and need levering out and refitting to the trim before its replaced.
7. Remove Rear shelf side panel.
You need to remove the side panel to fit the reverse buzzer unit. This is held on by two cross head screws. Remove these and then the D pillar trim needs to be loosened to get access behind. It does not need tp be removed. Loosen the left rear pillar trim at the rearmost edge. Ease the tailgate rubber out of the way as you pull the plastic trim panel . The pillar trim is held in place by four push in trim clips, the same as holds the tailgate jamb trim removed earlier. Again watch in case they fall out. They may come out with the trim or stay in the bodywork. They need to be removed and placed back on the pillar trim for refitting. Once the shelf side is loose you can see in behind. It has a little box section thats ideal for the buzzer to be mounted in. Clean the dust from the upward facing surface of this box and use the double sided adhesive tape pads supplied to fix the buzzer after you have plugged in the buzzer wire (red plug. Plugs dont come out again so check you have the correct end before plugging in.
Buzzer location. The buzzer extension cable is not needed.Move the side carpet trim out of the way. It is held in place by the tailgate door seal. Do not remove it. Just fold forwards out of the way. Release the door seals grip as you pull the carpet clear. Move the carpet out of your way and bring the buzzer cable into the left rear corner of the boot and plug it in to the control box. Then refit the D pillar trim. Put the fixing pin clips into the back of the trim align the holes and tap the trim pins into place. The rubber seal edge can be teased out into place by hand, and once it is located right tap the trim back in place.
Under the boot trim near the centre you will see the cars wiring loom in a felt wrap. It passes out through a large rubber grommet. You need to identify both of these things.
Cut a slit in the grommet with a sharp knife. Make this about 9mm long. Cars wiring is in the ribbed trunking once out side. See below pic
My sensor wires coming through the grommet next to the towbar 13 core fitted previously (behind the bumper which has been removed) which would normally leave you much more room for the sensor wires but they all fit.
Red arrow - Towbar wiring before RPS fitting , and Blue arrows show bumper bottom fittings. These are nearly identical to the extended brackets on the original crash beam.Yellow arrow is the rear fog wire / bulb.
Unfurl the four sensor wires and straighten them out They have different colour markings / plugs for the different sensor positions the round plugs go on the sensors, and the coloured squarer plugs to the control unit. Feed the small plug of each wire through the grommet and then pull though enough wire to reach the control box in the rear left corner of the boot behind the side carpet trim. Plug the wires onto the control box SEE diagram. I suggest you wrap the wires with insulation tape to make a manageable harness. Fix the harness in place on the bumper. I drilled available plastic tabs and cable tie the hearness to these. Pic below. Plug the sensor wire as in the Fiat cy placinstruction diagram. See a bit further below.
Sensor plugs must be put in the correct slot Now consider where the surplus wire will be contained. With no crash beam this was easy. I coiled the excess and tied it securely out of harms way. Plug the sensors to the harness as per the diagram instructions. Drawing above (59)
8. Replace the bumper cover.
An assistant will be very helpful. Lift the bumper and offer is up, slot the cover imto the side holder bracket and push it into place. Loosely refit the upper two torx bolts to hold it in place.
Sorry its rotated 90 left in this pic.With the main bumper cover in place get the wheel arch end trims and replace them on the bumper. Insert the top loop into the gap behind the wing trim. A little outward pressure on the wing arch trim may be needed to get the loops tangs in behind the wing trim BE GENTLE. Then line up and slop the tabs into the slots in the bumper cover and press the trim into place, Refit the two cross head screws that hold it to the bumper from in the wheel arch , Fit the bottom fixing bolts. Get hold of the entire bumper, one side at a time with an arm under and lift it up until the panel gap is tight. Hold it and tighten the top torx bolts. 5ft/lb is plenty, nip up and
DONT overtighten and crush the bumper cover by overdoing it.Refit the wheel arch tox bolts.
Check the panel gaps and if needed lossen the bumper and lift / re tighten. Tighten the 4 torx bolts but dont over do this. Tighten the lower bolts and refit the 6 cross head screws in and under the wheel arch. Use aluminium or copper based grease ' anti seize on all the bolts and screws before refitting.
Replace the RFL and reversing light light bulb holders. You can reach these under the bumper.
9. Wiring Part 2
Home and dry nearly. You need to locate the reverse lamp wire live and the earth wire in the cars harness, The part you cut into is only the reverse light and the rear fog light so no hard. Carefully cut along the felt wrap and prize it open. Extract the black wire and the grey / green wires so you can clip the RPS harness Red and black using the pinch clips provided in the kit.
You also nee the RPS harness yellow wire. The yellow wire reduces the sensitivity of the outer pair of sensors should you so wish if attched to the black wire. As the outer sensors angle outwards I did connect this to reduce false alarm signals when parking in the garage.This is meant to represent inside the boot. The grommet on the wire is the big one idetified above .
Right pic above completed wiring
Red arrow is cars harness
Yellow arrow is the parking sensors yellow red and black wires
Orange arrow is my towbar wiring to relay / ssocket
Blue arrow is the wires to the park sensor unit which on m car had to be in the right side off the boot as the left was occupied already by my towing relays. Putting the park sensors on the right side meant I had to lengthen the red wire whch was not long enough to reach across the car. I use one of the other wires that was too long to extend it and soldered the extra wire to facilitate this. Best if possible to put the RPS unit on the left and avoid this hassle.
The short coloured wiring harness with rectangular white plug that comes with the kit, needs to be connected next and then plugged into the sensor unit.
In the diagram above, 3 is black, - so connect reverse sensors little harness black, to the cars harness black WITH the sensors harness yellow wire (18 ) as well. Thats the earths done.
31 is grey and green car harness wire and red (2) in the sensor harness is the live feed to the reverse park unit.
Once connected you can stick the park sensor unit into place
The brown wire is to do with switching off the sensors if towing a trailer. WIthout a towbar, ignore this and leave it unconnected.
The Fiat instructions are useless so I am researching this further. I believe connecting the brown to my 7 way relay grey will do the trick but will hopefully confirm.
The red and blue wire in the reverse sensor loom has something to do with setting up the system and will be cut off and unused thereafter - if used at all. You probably dont need it at all, I didn't.
Plug the sark sensor wires with the white plug into the unit and stick the control unit into place in the void at the back left of the boot. Use some decent quality double sided tape to hold it. Best oriented so you can easily access the adjustment screws if required in the future.
10. Adjustment
The screw adjusters for offset and sensitivity are factory set and should not need tweeking. Adjust clockwise to increase settings / sensitivity and anti clockwise to decrease settings etc.
Finally wrap or tie loose wires neatly, and tie into place with cable ties. I prefer to wrap wires in insualtion tape as it gives a little more protection from abrasion and damge over subsequent years, as well as looking factory fresh.
Finally refit side trim and the tailgate jamb trim and make sure the tailgate seal is not trapped or crushed at the bottom or sides by the refitted trim. It can be fiddly to fiddle the rubber seal out and into place. Recheck that all fittings removed have been replaced and tightened correctly.
Enjoy.
- Next page: A few more photos that may be useful
