willy2
Active Member
- Joined
- April 15, 2009
- Messages
- 81
- Reaction score
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- City, State
- Raleigh, NC
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '98 Sport, '02 Sport 4WD
How to Install an Aftermarket Cruise Control in a 1998 Ford Explorer Sport Manual 2WD
After a few days of testing I am very happy with my new cruise control, so thought I’d post this howto. I am writing this mainly because all the information I found online (the12volt.com and rostro.com) on locations of things were wrong and in the service manual was incomplete so I’m passing on the correct information. It’s really easy to install once you know where everything is.
I chose the Audiovox CCS-100 because it was the cheapest and was widely used with good reviews. I bought mine at carparts.com for $85 shipped, but there are various forum posts on the web indicating it has been on clearance for a while at various places for as low as $30. The reference manual hasn’t been updated since 1995, so newer model vehicles have a little more work to do. I guess that is why it is on clearance.
There is another post here by Evan on a Ford Ranger installation that I found useful in doing mine.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2184515#post2184515
Actuator programming
The settings I used were:
PPM: 8000, Speed Signal: VSS&Tach, Sensitivity: Medium, Control Switch: Norm. Open, Tach Source: ECM
Actuator mounting
The OEM cruise control mounts right behind the window washer fluid reservoir, so that is where I mounted mine. Make sure you set the dip switches and splice into the OEM Speed Control Harness before you mount because they are hard to get to later. There are already mounting holes in the body that you can use.
This is a picture of the actuator mounted.
Hidden behind the actuator is the connector to the OEM cruise control. It is terminated into a hood on the body. You will be able to get two signals from here, and is easier to splice into those wires before you mount the actuator.
Vacuum source
There is a union in a vacuum line nearby, and there is a tee included with the kit will directly replace the union. It is easily connected to the actuator. It is a little loose, you might want to secure it with zip ties
Throttle connection
There are many different pieces included in the kit for various throttle connections. There are a few that will work. I chose to use the Ford specific connector, even though it didn’t fit properly. The throttle cable was bigger than the mating part in the fitting, so I used a zip-tie to hold it in place.
The manual says to avoid pulling the throttle against the stop at full throttle. So I connected the bead chain so that there was one bead of slack at full throttle then used the adjusting nuts from there (not in this picture).
Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS)
The VSS signal is on the grey/black wire in the OEM Speed Control Harness. There is a two wire cable coming from the actuator - the grey wire connects to the VSS wire using the red splice from the kit, and the black wire isn’t used in this case.
Tach Sensor
The tach signal is apparently generated by the PCM for the tachometer and is a Tan/Yellow wire, and needs to connect to the blue wire from the actuator. My truck service manual called out a tach connector on the driver side of the engine compartment, but I was never able to find a pinout and there was no T/Y wire there. Instead I found the Tan/Yellow wire on Connector C148 which is the top of three bulkhead multi-connectors. A blue splice from the kit connects the blue wire from the actuator to the tach signal.
You can also connect to the negative side of the coil which might be closer and easier to find but Evan reported that he had noise issues when connecting there so I chose the tach.
Wire Routing
The Brown, Green, Yellow and Red wires need to go through the firewall into the cabin. There was an unused hole and grommet underneath the steering column that I used this picture shows the approximate location on the firewall. You just have to pull up the carpet and pad inside the cabin to see it. The hole faces down, so you don’t have to worry about water coming into the cabin along the wires.
I cut an X in the grommet, pushed the wires through, then reinstalled the grommet. There wasn’t a lot of extra wire length, between the actuator and the firewall but just enough.
Panel Switch Mounting:
I wanted to be able to operate easily with my stick hand, so mounted just left of the radio. There was nothing in behind the panel. I taped the wires to a long antenna and pushed them through like this:
And they came out here which was perfect:
Brake Signal
The red and purple wires from the actuator are supposed to connect across the brake switch to stop the cruise control when the brake pedal is pressed. If you have a manual transmission like I do, it’s also good to have a switch watching the clutch (If you don’t, and you press the clutch when engaged, the cruise control will disengage when the revs shoot up, but this is slower and less efficient). Luckily there is a signal in the OEM Speed Control Harness that comes from the brake and clutch switches in series that will switch when either is depressed.
It’s the T/LB wire in position 4 and gets spliced to the purple wire
According to the manual the red wire is supposed to connect to the 12V supply to the brake switch, so I passed that through the firewall and hooked it up to the Brown wire on the hot side of the brake switch here:
Panel Switch connections
Orange wire (12V power): Needs to connect to a switched power connection. I tried a few wires under the dash (was looking for the Y/R supplies to the instrument lighting) but was unsuccessful so finally just went back through the firewall and spliced into the red power wire to the windshield wiper motor.
Black wire: Chassis ground, I just connected to the frame under the dash.
Grey wire: connects to parking light circuit and controls backlighting. You can splice into any of a bunch of Red/Black wires:
Hope this saves somebody some time...
One thing I found in testing that I was especially pleased with was downshifting with cruise engaged... The clutch switch dis-engages the cruise before the clutch does it's thing, so there is no rev increase or other noticeable reaction.. Then one press of resume, and the cruise re-engages at the same speed in the different gear, very nice..
After a few days of testing I am very happy with my new cruise control, so thought I’d post this howto. I am writing this mainly because all the information I found online (the12volt.com and rostro.com) on locations of things were wrong and in the service manual was incomplete so I’m passing on the correct information. It’s really easy to install once you know where everything is.
I chose the Audiovox CCS-100 because it was the cheapest and was widely used with good reviews. I bought mine at carparts.com for $85 shipped, but there are various forum posts on the web indicating it has been on clearance for a while at various places for as low as $30. The reference manual hasn’t been updated since 1995, so newer model vehicles have a little more work to do. I guess that is why it is on clearance.
There is another post here by Evan on a Ford Ranger installation that I found useful in doing mine.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2184515#post2184515
Actuator programming
The settings I used were:
PPM: 8000, Speed Signal: VSS&Tach, Sensitivity: Medium, Control Switch: Norm. Open, Tach Source: ECM
Actuator mounting
The OEM cruise control mounts right behind the window washer fluid reservoir, so that is where I mounted mine. Make sure you set the dip switches and splice into the OEM Speed Control Harness before you mount because they are hard to get to later. There are already mounting holes in the body that you can use.
This is a picture of the actuator mounted.
Hidden behind the actuator is the connector to the OEM cruise control. It is terminated into a hood on the body. You will be able to get two signals from here, and is easier to splice into those wires before you mount the actuator.
Vacuum source
There is a union in a vacuum line nearby, and there is a tee included with the kit will directly replace the union. It is easily connected to the actuator. It is a little loose, you might want to secure it with zip ties
Throttle connection
There are many different pieces included in the kit for various throttle connections. There are a few that will work. I chose to use the Ford specific connector, even though it didn’t fit properly. The throttle cable was bigger than the mating part in the fitting, so I used a zip-tie to hold it in place.
The manual says to avoid pulling the throttle against the stop at full throttle. So I connected the bead chain so that there was one bead of slack at full throttle then used the adjusting nuts from there (not in this picture).
Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS)
The VSS signal is on the grey/black wire in the OEM Speed Control Harness. There is a two wire cable coming from the actuator - the grey wire connects to the VSS wire using the red splice from the kit, and the black wire isn’t used in this case.
Tach Sensor
The tach signal is apparently generated by the PCM for the tachometer and is a Tan/Yellow wire, and needs to connect to the blue wire from the actuator. My truck service manual called out a tach connector on the driver side of the engine compartment, but I was never able to find a pinout and there was no T/Y wire there. Instead I found the Tan/Yellow wire on Connector C148 which is the top of three bulkhead multi-connectors. A blue splice from the kit connects the blue wire from the actuator to the tach signal.
You can also connect to the negative side of the coil which might be closer and easier to find but Evan reported that he had noise issues when connecting there so I chose the tach.
Wire Routing
The Brown, Green, Yellow and Red wires need to go through the firewall into the cabin. There was an unused hole and grommet underneath the steering column that I used this picture shows the approximate location on the firewall. You just have to pull up the carpet and pad inside the cabin to see it. The hole faces down, so you don’t have to worry about water coming into the cabin along the wires.
I cut an X in the grommet, pushed the wires through, then reinstalled the grommet. There wasn’t a lot of extra wire length, between the actuator and the firewall but just enough.
Panel Switch Mounting:
I wanted to be able to operate easily with my stick hand, so mounted just left of the radio. There was nothing in behind the panel. I taped the wires to a long antenna and pushed them through like this:
And they came out here which was perfect:
Brake Signal
The red and purple wires from the actuator are supposed to connect across the brake switch to stop the cruise control when the brake pedal is pressed. If you have a manual transmission like I do, it’s also good to have a switch watching the clutch (If you don’t, and you press the clutch when engaged, the cruise control will disengage when the revs shoot up, but this is slower and less efficient). Luckily there is a signal in the OEM Speed Control Harness that comes from the brake and clutch switches in series that will switch when either is depressed.
It’s the T/LB wire in position 4 and gets spliced to the purple wire
According to the manual the red wire is supposed to connect to the 12V supply to the brake switch, so I passed that through the firewall and hooked it up to the Brown wire on the hot side of the brake switch here:
Panel Switch connections
Orange wire (12V power): Needs to connect to a switched power connection. I tried a few wires under the dash (was looking for the Y/R supplies to the instrument lighting) but was unsuccessful so finally just went back through the firewall and spliced into the red power wire to the windshield wiper motor.
Black wire: Chassis ground, I just connected to the frame under the dash.
Grey wire: connects to parking light circuit and controls backlighting. You can splice into any of a bunch of Red/Black wires:
Hope this saves somebody some time...
One thing I found in testing that I was especially pleased with was downshifting with cruise engaged... The clutch switch dis-engages the cruise before the clutch does it's thing, so there is no rev increase or other noticeable reaction.. Then one press of resume, and the cruise re-engages at the same speed in the different gear, very nice..
