How to: Install a switch for SWAS enable/disable

[TORQUERULES]

So I have an issue. My car is a non-tech 2013. I got tired of holding down the DSC switch all the time, so I installed a toggle using the pink wire. With the toggle off I get the steering light on the left gauge and a skidding car on the right gauge (with the DSC switch I only got a skidding car on the left). But when I turn the switch back on and cycle the ignition I still have the skidding car on the right. Even cleared the codes and the skidding car is still there. Plus the DSC switch does nothing now no matter which position the toggle is in. I haven't been able to drive it because of the weather. Any ideas as to what the issue may be? Thanks.

[TORQUERULES]

Well, issue solved I guess. I drove the car today with the switch off and the light cleared itself after driving a little ways. I did not try the factory DSC switch after that because a call came through and I got distracted. I will try that on my way home. We will see.

[Reedy]

Probably a bad connection in there somewhere. Did you solder and heat shrink the joints or just tape them together? I'd expect this problem to return if you didn't do anything to fix it.

[TORQUERULES]

Checked the connections and they seem fine. One the light went out, the DSC switch started working and all was fine. It was just strange. It like there is a lull for the computer to recognize all is back to normal. I am experimenting to see how repeatable it is. If it is random, I will take it all back apart and maybe try a different switch along with re-doing the connections.

[brucetopping]

So I'm pretty new to the MS3 world. bought used '13 with tech package.
turbo died almost immediately after purchase and so Corksport turbo was installed.

I'm still in tuning stages (with Will from Purple Drank who is awesome) but I was honestly feeling unimpressed with all the "upgrades" so far. (intake, fuel pump internals, accessport, colder plugs, and of course the turbo itself). Car was feeling more prone to stumble and fuel-cut. Didn't feel the same smooth powerful feeling as it did when it was stock. Probably due to the added power creating more torque steer events that the computer was constantly intervening. made the car fee LESS powerful except in a straight line in higher gears on the highway.

I was considering adding a switch to the pink wire or the sky-blue wire as mentioned in the posts above --but in my 2013 with tech package it appears all I need to do is hold down the stability control button for 8 seconds and voila!

car is completely different now and wants to tear the rubber off the tires all the time.

I want to thank those who pointed out about the button-holding strategy. simple but amazing.

[JgamB]

Once you get tired of depressing the button every time you start the car...

KP Technologies

Item FM20

[brucetopping]

I'm intrigued by idea of the KP technologies product. sounds perfect.

I feel embarrassed to ask this question:

how do I wire it up? is it similar to the walk-thru at the beginning of this thread? from reading the manual that comes with the KP technologies product it says:

"1. Black – Ground – Connect this wire to a suitable ground source, at switch if possible.
2.Orange – Switch In/Out – Connect this wire to the (-) output of the switch.
3.Yellow – Ignition Power – Connect this wire to a true ignition signal that reads
12vdc when the key is both in the ‘ON’ and ‘CRANK’ position. This wire can
typically be found in the vehicles main ignition harness, near the ignition key
cylinder, at the fuse box, or at the brake pedal. Remember to verify with a
voltage meter. "


(so I think I can handle the ground wire - I just feel intimidated about step 2 and 3 without a picture or walk-through.)

[JgamB]

Originally Posted by brucetopping I'm intrigued by idea of the KP technologies product. sounds perfect. I feel embarrassed to ask this question: how do I wire it up? is it similar to the walk-thru at the beginning of this thread? from reading the manual that comes with the KP technologies product it says: "1. Black – Ground – Connect this wire to a suitable ground source, at switch if possible. 2.Orange – Switch In/Out – Connect this wire to the (-) output of the switch. 3.Yellow – Ignition Power – Connect this wire to a true ignition signal that reads 12vdc when the key is both in the ‘ON’ and ‘CRANK’ position. This wire can typically be found in the vehicles main ignition harness, near the ignition key cylinder, at the fuse box, or at the brake pedal. Remember to verify with a voltage meter. " (so I think I can handle the ground wire - I just feel intimidated about step 2 and 3 without a picture or walk-through.)

It was a simple 2-wire splice - black/ground was bottom left and yellow was top right (the DSC wire), and then ACC ON power came from the top right vacant fuse panel spot in the driver's door cubby. Took about 20 minutes with some telephone butt splices (the type you crimp down).

[brucetopping]

Will from Purple Drank tuning was telling me that "there will be a point where the 8 second button press will not work" once I cross a certain threshold of torque.

though if it is still working for you with all the mods in your sig it would seem it should work for my less modded car. hmm. I'm running corksport turbo and supporting bolt ons.

[JgamB]

I guess 390wtq isn't enough, keep trying. And tell Will that Jason said he's a choad swilling clown and I can produce a better tune with my ass after a few Murican light beers.

[brucetopping]

I'll let him know to watch out for your ass after its had a few light beers... lol

[Captain KR]

Originally Posted by JgamB I guess 390wtq isn't enough, keep trying. And tell Will that Jason said he's a choad swilling clown and I can produce a better tune with my ass after a few Murican light beers.

The only thing you tune is the stroke speed of your male lover as he destroys your various holes. Your bud light ventures make you gayer than a parade in germany with rainbow flags and dudes blowing each other in the alley ways.

with love,
daddy drank

[texasissouth]

I was browsing all of the tons of SWAS threads and this one seemed the most detailed for the Gen2. I was wondering if anyone found a way to trick the swas sensor without just disabling everything.
I looked at the diagrams on Page 2, and it seems like there are 4 signal wires coming from the Swas itself, do we know which affect power steering and which are used for traction control? If we could isolate the traction one, would it be possible to put a diode between the traction control line and the ground (pink), with a breakdown voltage of .75, preventing the swas from sending a voltage higher than the 'steering wheel centered' voltage?

[Fonsi]

To clarify this: When disabling the SWAS with a switch, does this disable the AFS too on a tech-packaged gen2?

[El Beaner]

Originally Posted by ibcrusn Installed a switch yesterday similar in design to what @08cosmic3; used mounted under the steering column so it was somewhat out of sight if the car goes back to the dealer. I went the unlighted route since the LED would only illuminate when the switch it 'On' which is all the time. Rather than install the switch inline with the SB (Sky Blue) wire I chose the P (Pink) because it's the ground for the SWAS switch rather than input power. I'm not a Mazda tech and I've never dealt with a steering angle sensor before but as has been mentioned on the Gen1's and some Gen2's the power steering drops off at slow speeds and I figured power going in and possibly going out elsewhere via a different connector for that system would be good to maintain. That said when it came to the ops check I noted much the same as everyone else but I need to perform some additional checks. When in the 'On' position everything is a-okay If selected 'OFF' prior to starting you get the steering wheel and skid lights and the DSC switch does not function at all. If selected 'OFF' after the car is started the same lights as above come on and the DSC switch has no affect. When switching from the 'OFF' position to 'ON' while running the lights stayed on. (I need to perform and extended ops check to verify because I would expect the skid light to go out) If the DSC switch is 'OFF' prior to switching 'OFF' the SWAS I got the steering wheel and DSC lights and no skid light. (One has to assume traction control isn't operating regardless) In the 'OFF' position I did not experience and drop in power steering performance, mind you I checked it in my garage with a painted floor and on my concrete driveway but all was good. I did not check the various buttons on the steering wheel that might be affected (volume, mode, etc) but I'll check today. On my brief drive to dinner I noted no appreciable difference in performance but with wif and sleeping 7 mon old in the car it was a no-no, will check today. Lastly I have not taken any logs yet. Pics just for good measure. Edit.....added pic that @El_Diablo; originally loaded in post #60 to keep all the pertinent info in one location for those interested in adding a switch.

I'm most likely gonna catch hell for bumping such an ld thread but I am about to do this very soon(waiting on switches to arrive from Amazon). I know you said you went with the pink wire. Is the wire color the same on the 12+ tech? I saw somewhere through the thread that someone mentioned a white wire for the power on a 12. If your method keeps my steering wheel controls, I'd rather tap ground than power.

[ChaunceyM]

The engineer in me really wants to tap into those lines, figure out what the signals are for 0 degrees steering, then just create an emulator that constantly tells the ECU that the steering is at the neutral point.

Unfortunately it's just not a high enough priority to do any part of that. My tune has SWAS disabled sufficiently for track use and that's all I need.
If someone happens to know the signals maybe I'll get motivated enough to take it the rest of the way...

[El Beaner]

Originally Posted by ChaunceyM The engineer in me really wants to tap into those lines, figure out what the signals are for 0 degrees steering, then just create an emulator that constantly tells the ECU that the steering is at the neutral point. Unfortunately it's just not a high enough priority to do any part of that. My tune has SWAS disabled sufficiently for track use and that's all I need. If someone happens to know the signals maybe I'll get motivated enough to take it the rest of the way...

read the thread and a few pages back, someone was talking about the signal wires being around .25v and varying up to .75v (based on the wiring schematic).

Here is the post regarding that
How to: Install a switch for SWAS enable/disable

[ChaunceyM]

Oh shit! I missed that when I read through all this previously. Maybe I'll add that to my winter project list. Although if it's a straight DC voltage that's really easy to emulate. But my guess is that it's s square wave with varying duty cycles. That would show up as a DC voltage on a multimeter and would require an oscilloscope to get the actual signal.

[ibcrusn]

Originally Posted by El Beaner I'm most likely gonna catch hell for bumping such an ld thread but I am about to do this very soon(waiting on switches to arrive from Amazon). I know you said you went with the pink wire. Is the wire color the same on the 12+ tech? I saw somewhere through the thread that someone mentioned a white wire for the power on a 12. If your method keeps my steering wheel controls, I'd rather tap ground than power.

I honestly don't know without looking through the W/D. I'll take a look when I get a chance.

For me it's now moot because Versa Tuner has a means to disable the torque limiting aspect without messing up the power steering, so for now I leave it switched to normal mode and have zero issues.

[camsny]

I have been debating doing this for a few weeks and finally took the dive today. However, it looks like I have a shit ton more wires on that white plug than others. Is it just the angle I am looking at it compared to others? 2011 speed 3, non tech I believe. I have the little 3 or 4 inch screen with nav but a very basic stereo system. Any help would be appreciated.

[El Beaner]

Originally Posted by camsny I have been debating doing this for a few weeks and finally took the dive today. However, it looks like I have a shit ton more wires on that white plug than others. Is it just the angle I am looking at it compared to others? 2011 speed 3, non tech I believe. I have the little 3 or 4 inch screen with nav but a very basic stereo system. Any help would be appreciated.

Go back and look at the first post. The plug you're taking a pic of is the wrong one.

[El Beaner]

I'm Ok went to do swas switch today and ran into a snafu, I don't have a sky blue wire or a pink wire wtf?

Which one do I cut?this is on a 2012 Tech package

[MS3Shadow]

Originally Posted by El Beaner Ok went to do swas switch today and ran into a snafu, I don't have a sky blue wire or a pink wire wtf? Which one do I cut?

Maybe the blue wire is the sky blue and the red is the pink one. It could be faded.

Sent from my Pixel XL

[El Beaner]

Originally Posted by MS3Shadow Maybe the blue wire is the sky blue and the red is the pink one. It could be faded. Sent from my Pixel XL

Have you done this on yours? From reading, the tech package can cause wire colors to be different than standard model?

[Stafford0620]

Did you ever find out which color wire it was for the 2012 tech package car? I have the same car and would like to know as well. Comparing the plugs with the initial post pictures I would guess the white wire would be the white one but again I'm not sure.

[flyhigh]

I have the 2012 tech and did this recently. I cut the wire as shown (blue, I think) and lost power steering at slow speeds as well as the ability to connect Bluetooth devices and my headlights don't turn with the car anymore. Also, the switch does nothing so I may have screwed up the connections there.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[kTaLgsTo]

I don't think this is a good idea in the first place, but if I were to do this, I would take the extra time and put a switch in to connect all the steering angles to appear at center position.
This way you don't get nerfed in a corner, but you also will not get any dash lights...
Just my two cents...

[Stafford0620]

After reading up more on this I think I'm just gonna leave it as is. I read earlier that if you hold the traction control button down for 8 seconds it disables swas and other traction bs. I tried it last night and WOW what a difference! I just wanted that extra bit of power for autocross tomorrow and this button technique will work wonders for sure.

[VoodooJef]

Originally Posted by kTaLgsTo I don't think this is a good idea in the first place, but if I were to do this, I would take the extra time and put a switch in to connect all the steering angles to appear at center position. This way you don't get nerfed in a corner, but you also will not get any dash lights... Just my two cents...

One step ahead of that. Had a circuit designed with voltage regulators that would keep all four wires inside the "steering wheel straight" parameters, but the steering angle switch is on the canbus as well so it`s just not gonna happen.

[5doorsoffury]

The switch is where its at. You want it fully disabled this is not an area to try and trick the ecu. If the ecu thinks the car is going straight and you start to slip in a turn it will freak out and brake the wrong wheel and fuck you.

As far as the wire i would trust pin position over wire color.

[El Beaner]

Originally Posted by Stafford0620 Did you ever find out which color wire it was for the 2012 tech package car? I have the same car and would like to know as well. Comparing the plugs with the initial post pictures I would guess the white wire would be the white one but again I'm not sure.

Yes, I used another MS3 for guidance, I ended up cutting the brown wire. Worked as it should

Originally Posted by flyhigh I have the 2012 tech and did this recently. I cut the wire as shown (blue, I think) and lost power steering at slow speeds as well as the ability to connect Bluetooth devices and my headlights don't turn with the car anymore. Also, the switch does nothing so I may have screwed up the connections there. Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

If you had a brown wire, then that is the one to go for.