Huntsman06
Member
- Joined
- February 7, 2017
- Messages
- 47
- Reaction score
- 2
- City, State
- UT
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2004, Explorer XLT
Hi all,
I was poking around a junkyard for various things for my dad's Tacoma (which I didn't find. sad day) and I came across a 2003 mountaineer with the better steering wheel controls for a whopping $4 per switch. I currently just have the cruise control buttons in my Explorer and I picked them up hoping I could upgrade to the new switches.
According to this thread: (Is 03 Explorer Prewired for Radio controls on Steering Wheel?)
My 04 XLT is pre-wired for those better controls. I have the OEM radio (6CD changer) so I was expecting everything to just plug in and just work. That thread mentions a plug behind the radio that I have seen many times and its plugged in. I was always told it was for steering controls I didn't have.
Anyway, the new switches don't work. Now it is partly my fault for not getting all the wiring harness at the yard (that is not my picture btw, thanks google!) because the truck at the yard had an un-popped airbag which made me chicken out and not wrestle the wheel too much; Unplugged the switches and left the rest.
That being said, the switch on the right (so the HVAC and music controls) plugs in all just fine. Lights up with the dash, all is great. But no response. No music controls, I have manual HVAC anyway so those buttons don't do anything obviously, and they don't even work as cruise buttons when I tried. They turn on but that's it. The switch on the left has a slightly smaller connector for some reason and I cannot plug in (again, my bad for not getting the wiring harness at the yard). So I cannot verify if the 2nd switch works, does the same thing, or maybe fixes all my problems.
I'm not really bummed since I spent a whole $8 on the switches and I'm sure I could go back for the wires and be out for less than $5, but I'm curious why they wouldn't work in my Explorer. Aside from that one thread I listed earlier (which is for a 2003 but I can't imagine the 04 changes much if at all) I cannot find anyone who has really messed with these switches in a gen 3. I would consider just getting the harness and trying risking a few more dollars, but I'm still scared of screwing with the airbag.
Any thoughts (or instructions to properly remove enough of the wheel to get to the controls w/o messing with the airbag) would be appreciated.
I was poking around a junkyard for various things for my dad's Tacoma (which I didn't find. sad day) and I came across a 2003 mountaineer with the better steering wheel controls for a whopping $4 per switch. I currently just have the cruise control buttons in my Explorer and I picked them up hoping I could upgrade to the new switches.
According to this thread: (Is 03 Explorer Prewired for Radio controls on Steering Wheel?)
My 04 XLT is pre-wired for those better controls. I have the OEM radio (6CD changer) so I was expecting everything to just plug in and just work. That thread mentions a plug behind the radio that I have seen many times and its plugged in. I was always told it was for steering controls I didn't have.
Anyway, the new switches don't work. Now it is partly my fault for not getting all the wiring harness at the yard (that is not my picture btw, thanks google!) because the truck at the yard had an un-popped airbag which made me chicken out and not wrestle the wheel too much; Unplugged the switches and left the rest.
That being said, the switch on the right (so the HVAC and music controls) plugs in all just fine. Lights up with the dash, all is great. But no response. No music controls, I have manual HVAC anyway so those buttons don't do anything obviously, and they don't even work as cruise buttons when I tried. They turn on but that's it. The switch on the left has a slightly smaller connector for some reason and I cannot plug in (again, my bad for not getting the wiring harness at the yard). So I cannot verify if the 2nd switch works, does the same thing, or maybe fixes all my problems.
I'm not really bummed since I spent a whole $8 on the switches and I'm sure I could go back for the wires and be out for less than $5, but I'm curious why they wouldn't work in my Explorer. Aside from that one thread I listed earlier (which is for a 2003 but I can't imagine the 04 changes much if at all) I cannot find anyone who has really messed with these switches in a gen 3. I would consider just getting the harness and trying risking a few more dollars, but I'm still scared of screwing with the airbag.
Any thoughts (or instructions to properly remove enough of the wheel to get to the controls w/o messing with the airbag) would be appreciated.