Cruise control steering wheel switch replacement

[Vallan]

Alternate way

Thanks for the great info! I modified this slightly and had great results.

Accessing the switch
I only needed to replace my on/off cruise switch which for me was located on the left side of my steering wheel. Wiring harness was ok. I did NOT disconnect the battery cable, but did wear safety glasses. Why? Because I never disconnected the air bag. Popped off both plastic plugs, removes both bolts (horn honks when you unscrew, warn the spouse in advance ). I used a bungee cord to lash the air bag module out of the way but didn't disconnect it or pull on the connector hard. My rationale, I'm not removing it or making changes to an electrical connection it uses. USE YOUR OWN BEST JUDGEMENT

Easier Way to Remove Connectors
Forget wiggling the connector hoping your fingers don't slip off and pull the wires out of the connector. There is a small curved area at the bottom of the connector. With a small screwdriver, you can pry it up a bit on one side, then the other. Repeat until the connecter is free from the socket. Takes about 10 secs. See pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10991599@N05/

 

[KevN2009]

Just replaced both cruise control switches on my '99 Explorer, it was super easy thanks to the info I got here. And the old switches were so bad that they crumbled apart to the bare circuit board, so the harness just was on the bare pins of the old switch and slid right off. Took about 20 mins, thanks for all the great info!

 

[buckwill]

wearing safety glasses wont save your newck!!!!,, if that airbag goes off in your face it can and has broken peoples neck,, please for the sake of your remaining family, dicconnect the battery, takes just a few seconds, u can easily innitiate that airbag poking around in there with a screwdriver,, i worked for the engineer that developed the propellant,, rocket fuel that is used in those airbags, long time ago,, theres a reason the warning is in the work instructions, buck

Thanks for the great info! I modified this slightly and had great results.

Accessing the switch
I only needed to replace my on/off cruise switch which for me was located on the left side of my steering wheel. Wiring harness was ok. I did NOT disconnect the battery cable, but did wear safety glasses. Why? Because I never disconnected the air bag. Popped off both plastic plugs, removes both bolts (horn honks when you unscrew, warn the spouse in advance ). I used a bungee cord to lash the air bag module out of the way but didn't disconnect it or pull on the connector hard. My rationale, I'm not removing it or making changes to an electrical connection it uses. USE YOUR OWN BEST JUDGEMENT

Easier Way to Remove Connectors
Forget wiggling the connector hoping your fingers don't slip off and pull the wires out of the connector. There is a small curved area at the bottom of the connector. With a small screwdriver, you can pry it up a bit on one side, then the other. Repeat until the connecter is free from the socket. Takes about 10 secs. See pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10991599@N05/

 

[buckwill]

mine on off switch cover broke out, i found switches were fine but plastic gets hard in sunlight,, i had very hard time finding good one in boneyard but did find one broken in wreck but had flexible cover,, its easy to open swithch so i just changed the cover,, there are two switches that look very similiar in 98 but have diff mounting,,, , they changed from flex cover to paddle switches i suspect just for this reason,, buck

 

[longgunner]

Thanks to all those who have posted on their DIY efforts. Bought my Cruise control replacement switches on amazon, as suggested, and installed them in about 20 minutes. Would never had attempted until I read this site. Thanks guys!

 

[greywolf79]

So if the damage on my vehicle's cruise control is the buttons part of the steering wheel... How hard is that to repair/replace? And how expensive?

Vehicle is a 2000 Ford Explorer XLT with V8 5.0L engine.

 

[buckwill]

not hard at all,, two screws on the back side of steering wheel that u access by poping plug out of steering wheel cover,, that releases crashbag, which u disconnect or just lay back over the wheel, then unplug switches and unscrew from wheel,, be sure dosconnect battery

 

[VyperHasTheLead]

I've got the same problems that YGOFAST had with improper connections ("the green "Speed Cont" light on the dash began flashing when we turned the car on, and the "OFF" button on the switch honked the horn (well, actually, for me it was the "SET" button.) Can you tell me how you decided which wire connects had to go where?

 

[danx111]

lost the photo I took at beginning of task. Have cables off replacement parts but not sure which goes to on/off side. Question: the new cable assembly has a short wire on one side near the connector - does this go on the on/off side?

 

[VyperHasTheLead]

Is that the side with the ground wire? If so, it should run to a grounding screw, which I believe is on your left (if you have the steering wheel turned straight/right-side-up).

 

[danx111]

got it, thanks

 

[Ourobos]

Could someone put a pic of the connectors actually connected to the switches, showing proper orientation when installed?

 

[leoJr]

Received a used pair of switches in the mail today!

The swap of the On/Off was easy. Using a feeler gauge ( .020" was tight but worked great) is a great tip!

The buttons on the other switch had been pried off breaking the retainer prongs and the mounting tabs were broken too. (All of this was known when I purchased them.) I drilled a hole at each end of the old switch body thinking I could use a small screwdriver and push the prongs to release my old crinkly buttons and press on the replacement. Unfortunately the prongs need to be pushed from the inside of the switch outwards to release. Knowing this now I might have drilled holes on the back side (away from the driver when installed) to try to release the buttons. But I didn't...

The prongs keep the button from coming out of the switch body and are not critical to the operation. The clicky action of the button is between the circuit board and the rubber itself, the big plastic shell simply provides a surface for the circuit board to be pressed against as the rubber surface is pushed. What I noticed was that the rubber cover over time and use gets pushed and wrapped around the circuit board too much and seems to limit the movement. I trimmed the surfaces of the rubber that looked like they where interfering and a lot of clicky switch movement was restored. If I had some super glue I would have glued the circuit board to the plastic shell but I didn't and reinstalled the switch onto the steering wheel. The buttons sit just fine in the shell and don't try to pop out.

If you no longer have clicky action I suggest prying the buttons off of the shell and investigate as I suspect the rubber cover has pushed around and is limiting the movement. Besides, presumably you would have the replacements handy in case you can't fix them.

Thanks for everyone's contribution on this thread! It made this job a lot less intimidating!

 

[ScottM56]

Cruise control switch replacement

Thanks to discovering this forum, I just replaced the deteriorated cruise control switches on my 2001 Ranger in just about 20 minutes! The pictures and tips were extremely helpful and so thanks to all for making this replacement job go smooth and quickly.

As with everyone that replaced only the switches, it was a bit of a challenge getting the connectors from the wiring harness off of the old switches. I used the end of a butter knife to gently wedge in to the top of the connector opening and wiggled the connectors until they came off. I'm sure it may have been said before, but to those who are going to do this simple replacement, definately leave the old swithches mounted on the steering wheel before trying to remove the connectors. It acts as a "third hand" and makes it much easier to get the connectors off.

Thanks again everyone ..... this went way easier than it would have if I had gone in without finding this forum.

 

[Napu(StrongWave)]

Yes done! What i did to my switches was crumbled the old switch with pliers carefully not destroying the original wiring harness. Plugged up the new switches and bam....new switches!!!

 

[jkfoote]

Thanks to all

Great thread - thanks to all the contributors. Took me about an hour, but that's because I'm crazy slow on just about everything. Most of the time was spent documenting progress as recommended. Turned out not to be needed but it might well have saved my bacon so it was time well spent.

The only add I can make is on reassembly: I found it best to hand tighten the two screws for the cover/airbag unit, then adjust the unit out (away from the engine), then tighten the outboard screw, then the inboard. If you tighten the inboard first it tends to torque the unit down and make the horn contacts touch which makes for a start when you reconnect the battery.

'Thanks again.

 

[Thuggsy]

just got done replacing my switches w/harness in my '97.

was very easy to remove the steering wheel even with a cheap $15 puller.

dont be afraid to pull the wheel, its much easier then struggling with the wires


completed pic...

 

[Jose A.]

Gentlemen, Ladies, this thread is great.

I need help with something related:

I have a 1997 Ford Aerostar; (my Third Aerostar), I wanted to replace the steering wheel with a F-150 style steering wheel, (same as in F-250/350/450/Expedition), AND I wanted to eliminate the air bag, I don't want an explosive anything pointing at my face. So I removed it from the F-150 horn assembly, (only the actual bag, the rest of the assembly is intact and in its place).

Ok; steering wheel replaced; Wonderful steering now, the character of the van has changed, steering is now more positive, WHY? the F-150 steering wheel is closer to the dash; It DOES make a difference. I love it.

OK 2: both the Aerostar and the F-150 steering wheels have the same Cruise Controls on the same places; The only difference is that the F-150 switches have a light bulb, otherwise identical Cruise switch fiunctions.

The Problem? I am having trouble matching the F-150 6-wires of the Cruise and Horn switches to the Aerostar's 3-wires of the Cruise & Horn switches, but there must be a way....the colors of the wires are somewhat different in each harness....

does anybody know if Lite blue with Black stripe, Lite Blue with Red stripe. Green with Orange stripe, and Black wires, are Hot or Ground ?

thanks for any help.

 

[bigdog2205]

Excellent pictures and Ideas to fix cruise!

 

[laterider]

just did my 96 after work with OEM switches I got off ebay for $100.

everything works great! Great thread!