Retrofitting OEM PDC system...is it possible? Anyone done it?
 

I'm well aware that the OEM system is finicky, to say the least. But, I'm wondering if anyone has done it?

Why? Just for fun :ROFL::ROFL::ROFL:?

I have the sensors in the 03 (that's inoperable at the moment) and I was OK with the functionality. And, in the 01 I currently have to change the hazard switch. Since the center panel will be out, I'm taking that opportunity to also add a PDC switch instead of the blank plug (I hate those things)...so that's what made me wonder what it would take to make the system operable.

Entirely possible, but possibly not worth it. You'd need a full wiring harness from a donor car which had PDC, and you could strip out everything for the PDC system making a note of where it joins the original harness. You'll end up with a sub-harness just for PDC which can then be put in to the 01 and joined in all the original locations.

Bear in mind you will have to have a considerable amount of the interior out to do it OEM - rear deck, boot trims, centre console, sill trims, lower dash, glovebox, cluster and front left arch liners all have to come out. You'll likely also have to add a fuse for it in the driver's kick panel fusebox. Plus, the front connector runs through the left A-pillar grommet so that wiring would have to be cut, fed through the grommet and then reattached, since the front bumper connector won't fit as-is. The rear bumper connector may require a hole to be drilled in the rear panel - not sure if that is there and blanked, or not there at all on non-pdc cars. You'll need two new bumpers as well, obviously, plus all the sensors.

It is likely to be a full day's work extracting the PDC sub-harness from the donor (with help from wiring diagrams). I would say two, possibly three days to put it back in the 01, given how much has to be removed.

I would get a reversing camera instead, much more accurate than a beeping sound

I'm wondering if there is some extent of the harness already in place. I was browsing the parts catalog and it looks like, for the front, the distance sensors share a harness with the fogs and horn. I'm thinking, even if there are no PDC sensors, the connector should be there for the horn and fog lamps. So maybe there is something there we could work with already. See the image attached.

Food for thought. I'll revisit this in the future. I bought the 01 as a "parts car" for the engine to fix my 03. The interior is SHOT....someone really did a number there. It turns out the car is in much better mechanical shape than I thought. Been driving it for almost a year. AT this point, I think I'm doing the TB service soon with OEM parts, and I bought pretty much all of the interior pieces minus seats from a junked a8. So I will tear down the interior anyways to switch all door panels, pillars, center console etc. I may take that chance to fiddle with this project.

According to Ian (IT) on here, the wiring looms after a certain year were bespoke for every single car, so for example in this instance, if the car didn't have PDC sensors then it wouldn't have that part of the wiring loom. Can't remember what year, but I think it was late 90s.

Since the front bumper is reasonable accessible, a quick search will confirm (or not) your thoughts.

My FL1 2.8 with no options simply has foglight wiring in the front bumper. No PDC wiring. The bumper wiring is the least of the challenges though - you'd hopefully get that when buying a replacement bumper with PDC :)