Cruise Control Bulbs Write Up

[Sbyrne97]

so my cruise control lights went out and then one came back on but didn't light up well :thumbdwn:. So I went to other write ups and threads, which helped out a lot I owe my gratitude to them (http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54734) Thanks to JDraper as well. But, they didn't have any pics so i thought i help out anybody trying to do this by uploading pictures. Hopefully this will help anybody in need.
FIRST OFF!!!: sorry for caps, but remove positive and negative battery cables and wait for at least 5 mins. Then go about doing this. No one wants a airbag in their face

Pic One: Remove plastic caps, then bolts (8mm) from steering wheel on the side. This will unlock the air bag/horn.


Pic two: Pull air bag/horn from steering wheel, and rest it on bottom half of the steering.


Pic three: Remove connectors from actual cruise control switches, and then unscrew the two screws connecting the switch from the actual steering wheel.


Pic four: Disassemble the switch into 3 parts: Switch holder, rubber cover, and circuit board and remove bulb from the board using needle nose pliers.
Pic five: Bulbs from the contour (black) and explorer (blue) and the rubber blue cover (careful don't rip this)



Reassemble the switches, screw it back in (don't forget to reconnect the ground wire to the bottom screw). Put the airbag/horn back in, and screw the bolts back and put the plastic caps. Reconnect the cables and bam your done.

Pic five: LIGHTS LIGHT UP!! , this is very easy to accomplish and your lights will light up now.


Hope this helps and thanks again to everyother thread out there that helped me.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Great job- a lot of people ask about these things...

 

[MustangP51]

Great work! This will help alot of people.

 

[HUA99XLT]

Thanks for doing this write-up as well as posting the link for the other one. I need to do this to my Explorer soon because my RSM/SET ACCEL/COAST buttons don't light up anymore, and I'm OCD so it bothers me.

 

[Turdle]

Thanks for the writeup!!

 

[5.0]

Good job, and thanks for the pics! One side of mine doesn't work, so I'm just going to unhook the other side so neither work.

 

[TheJackal]

This is good to know. My Explorer doesn't have a DRL connector :fire: so I burn out dash lights at a frightening pace.

Could you elaborate on how you disassembled the actual switch?

Do you think the light bulb itself could be removed from the base and exchanged with a new one purchased at RadioShack? (This is how I fixed my headlight switch and rear defrost switch illumination.)

Where can you get a new blue (or in my case, green) light bulb cover if yours was hopelessly stuck to the bulb?

 

[Sbyrne97]

to actually disassemble the switch its fairly easy.
First you have to get the switch off the steering wheel, then just pry off the rubber cover (on/off or coast/set accel/rsm). You will see the circuit board and the bulb. From there you have to pull the rubber edges apart and the circuit board will fall out, try not to pull on the board as its fragile. After that you can replace the bulb.

I'm sure radioshack sells a bulb just like the one in the picture as they are used in a variety of places, dashboards and the like. But, make sure you get the right size because if its too long it will rub aganist the plastic casing and too short it won't lights up well enough. As for the rubber cover, sometimes bulbs come in shades of blue and green, there was a thread on here who had a link to colored led lights ill try and find it.

 

[Nocturnall]

Those look like regular 194 bulbs which can be purchased at any auto parts store.

 

[budwich]

they aren't 194's ... they are mini-bulb with external leads. IIRC, the comment about the radio shack replacement / surgery for the head light switch is the same "technique" here.

 

[Joe Dirt]

They're very small bulbs, maybe the pic makes them look larger... Here is a comparison of some I had laying in my house:

Left to right- Dash Bulb (not idiot lights), Cruise Bulb, Rear Wiper Bulb, Headlight Switch Bulb, Fog/Rear Wiper Bulb

 

[frickea86]

Awesome write up...

Where did you happen to pick those bulbs up? I'm guessing just at the ford dealership?

 

[Sbyrne97]

look at this thread it shows you the pic of the bulbs and the parts number

 

[john n]

do you have the ford part # for the cruise control lights ?

 

[The Amazing Anni]

Thanks so much for the photos, description, and the all caps about the battery. I didn't know about the 5 minute wait time.

We'll get them on tomorrow with this help.

The Amazing Annie - Orlando, FL

 

[bp1506]

I always thought you had to wait half an hour for the air bag capacitors to drain. I could be wrong though.

 

[Capt Marvel]

Light bulb part number?

On a previous thread the bulb part number given was:
F32Z-13466-H. Can anyone confirm that number? I wished I returned back to that thread because I was almost ready to solder up a homemade version like JT624 did earlier.

Just in case someone out there can't find the above part number I have a workaround. A '98 Ford Contour clock bulb is nearly identical. Part number E5RY-13466-BA. The base depth is a fraction higher but the bulb screws in fine and doesn't interfer with the switch at all. That was my solution. If you rip or lose your little green condom, you can get a near replacement at Partsexpress.com $1.70 for ten, but the real cost is in the shipping. (Hats off to the Ford Contour forum for that tip)

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=070-092&CFID=14890826&CFTOKEN=98936582

It's a tad bluer than the original but I guess you could replace both bulbs covers while your at it so they'd match.

 

[sehaare]

If you rip or lose your little green condom, you can get a near replacement at Partsexpress.com $1.70 for ten, but the real cost is in the shipping.

My first post here and it's an answer instead of a question, how often do you see that?

I found what appears to be the same condoms and the shipping is about half what it is at the other site. Here you go:

http://idigitech.com/product_info.php?products_id=105230

Steve

 

[tiresize33]

hey i am doing this to my vehicle and i want the change all the color of the bulbs to blue, on the instrument panel, the cruise control buttons, four wheel drive and the heater. how can i do this

 

[warrior_on_edge]

Where can I get the on/off set rsm/cst rubber covers lights work just need to replace the covers.