Harz Ducato 120
New member
Warning: Thread contains image of item full power Ducato owners may find distressing
Evening guys
Well, well, well. Success at last.
This little bugger has been the problem all along. It's called a Siemens VDO Pedal Enhancer Type 2 but it does anything but enhance the performance of your beloved Ducato. In fact it does exactly the opposite, by kurbing the performance.
As you will all know from my previous thread about restriction on my MJ120 2007, I've been to hell and back to try and find out what was restricting my van to 63mph and what I could do about it.
I was fixated by the bloody ECU as that made the most sense but it turned out to be the Siemens VDO that was stopping my van from performing as it was meant to.
I got the remapped and 'speed restriction removed' ECU back fromthe UK today but whilst I was waiting for that to arrive discovered lurking maliciously behind the plastic panelling under the steering wheel was a 'plug and play' restrictor that looked like someone with a failed CSE in physics had installed on a bad day and without any thought whatsoever.
So this morning, armed only with a freshly bought LED hand lamp I got all the panneling off and located the box (plastic tied to the lower panel - to the left of the fuse panel) and 1.5 mtrs of protected cabling and managed within 15 seconds to get it all out in the open so I could get a proper look.
To be honest it looks daunting as there are probably 30 odd cables going into two block connectors but do not let that put you off. Despite the excellent schematic diagram and photographs available on the VDO website PDF's suggesting that the installation method requires 'cutting' into the existing wiring loom, the simple fact is that this 'restrictor kit' is a genuine 'plug-in' module.
The device is designed to stop the vehicle reving to it's most efficient and also there's a speed restriction capability (all programmable via a dongle and laptop program). I own, and have access to neither so the only solution was to extract it box and cabling complete which is very easy.
The only fiddly bit is rejoining the original throttle pedal block connector in to it's original counterpart. They're stuck up over the top of the pedal and there's not much room to manouvre so would advise getting a amte to hold one end whilst you take the other end. Access is not helped as the original block connector from the pedal is virtually hidden by a diagonal metal support strut. After 10 minutes of buggering about we gave up and took the fuse box out which made things a lot easier and with 30 seconds they were back together.
Before we reinstalled the fusebox and took out the restrcitor box and cabling, we turned the ignition on and started her up. No problems, no fault lights.
Once you have the original pedal - ecu cabling back together there is no need to disconnect any thing else. The whole bloody lot comes out together but please be aware there are two earth leads attached to the fuse box lower mounting plate which have to come off as well. We cut them with a pair of sidecutters.
By the time we had finished that, it was pouring with rain so without putting all the plastic panels back we drove down to the local 'go as fast as you like' local dual-carraigeway and crossed our fingers.
BINGO!!!!!!!!
We let the engine warm up properly and took her in to unknown territory!
Free at at last. Perfect fueling, perfect rev and torue curve and the next thing we were doing 140kmh.
I hope that helps guys. I know there are at least two members suffering with this problem last time I looked at my old thread so even if there's no VDO unit installed it's gonna be a black box of some make stopping your Ducato from performing as it was supposed to.
Tips for removal:
Get a mate to help you
Take your time
Photograph connections with your mobile phone
Find a nice warm garage with plenty of light - you're gonna spend a lot of time on your knees getting the blokck connectors back together.
Hope that helps .
Let me know of any successes
Simon
Evening guys
Well, well, well. Success at last.
This little bugger has been the problem all along. It's called a Siemens VDO Pedal Enhancer Type 2 but it does anything but enhance the performance of your beloved Ducato. In fact it does exactly the opposite, by kurbing the performance.
As you will all know from my previous thread about restriction on my MJ120 2007, I've been to hell and back to try and find out what was restricting my van to 63mph and what I could do about it.
I was fixated by the bloody ECU as that made the most sense but it turned out to be the Siemens VDO that was stopping my van from performing as it was meant to.
I got the remapped and 'speed restriction removed' ECU back fromthe UK today but whilst I was waiting for that to arrive discovered lurking maliciously behind the plastic panelling under the steering wheel was a 'plug and play' restrictor that looked like someone with a failed CSE in physics had installed on a bad day and without any thought whatsoever.
So this morning, armed only with a freshly bought LED hand lamp I got all the panneling off and located the box (plastic tied to the lower panel - to the left of the fuse panel) and 1.5 mtrs of protected cabling and managed within 15 seconds to get it all out in the open so I could get a proper look.
To be honest it looks daunting as there are probably 30 odd cables going into two block connectors but do not let that put you off. Despite the excellent schematic diagram and photographs available on the VDO website PDF's suggesting that the installation method requires 'cutting' into the existing wiring loom, the simple fact is that this 'restrictor kit' is a genuine 'plug-in' module.
The device is designed to stop the vehicle reving to it's most efficient and also there's a speed restriction capability (all programmable via a dongle and laptop program). I own, and have access to neither so the only solution was to extract it box and cabling complete which is very easy.
The only fiddly bit is rejoining the original throttle pedal block connector in to it's original counterpart. They're stuck up over the top of the pedal and there's not much room to manouvre so would advise getting a amte to hold one end whilst you take the other end. Access is not helped as the original block connector from the pedal is virtually hidden by a diagonal metal support strut. After 10 minutes of buggering about we gave up and took the fuse box out which made things a lot easier and with 30 seconds they were back together.
Before we reinstalled the fusebox and took out the restrcitor box and cabling, we turned the ignition on and started her up. No problems, no fault lights
.Once you have the original pedal - ecu cabling back together there is no need to disconnect any thing else. The whole bloody lot comes out together but please be aware there are two earth leads attached to the fuse box lower mounting plate which have to come off as well. We cut them with a pair of sidecutters.
By the time we had finished that, it was pouring with rain so without putting all the plastic panels back we drove down to the local 'go as fast as you like' local dual-carraigeway and crossed our fingers.
BINGO!!!!!!!!
We let the engine warm up properly and took her in to unknown territory!
Free at at last. Perfect fueling, perfect rev and torue curve and the next thing we were doing 140kmh.
I hope that helps guys. I know there are at least two members suffering with this problem last time I looked at my old thread so even if there's no VDO unit installed it's gonna be a black box of some make stopping your Ducato from performing as it was supposed to.
Tips for removal:
Get a mate to help you
Take your time
Photograph connections with your mobile phone
Find a nice warm garage with plenty of light - you're gonna spend a lot of time on your knees getting the blokck connectors back together.
Hope that helps .
Let me know of any successes
Simon
Last edited:
