No steering wheel controls work after replacing heater core

[mjones309]

I replaced my heater core in my 2000 Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition. Everything went back together just fine after it seemed I had to take everything apart to get to the darn thing. Anyway as part of the procedure I had to drop the steering wheel. I made sure the steering wheel was locked and the key removed. I unbolted support for the steering wheel and was able to drop it down to where it was resting in the driver's seat. I had to pull the entire dash away from the fire wall as part of the process. After putting it all back together now none of the switches work on the steering wheel. There is speed control, stereo volume, heater temperature, heater fan speed switches and of course the horn.

Seems to me it is a connector that maybe worked loose when I dropped the steering wheel, but everything looks good. I have read a couple threads around this issue but they were mostly dealing with a single switch going bad.



********* Never mind *****************

I found the problem, I will leave the post in case someone else runs into the problem. If you fail to connect the Speed Control module located in the engine compartment over by the windshield washer fluid reservoir, the buttons on the steering wheel will not work. Interesting though, when you press the buttons under this condition, the buttons will light up a little.

After I reconnected this module, everything magically worked. Darn, I thought I was being extremely careful.

 

[wddanie]

No steering wheel controls after blower motor controller & dash board lights repair

Thanks for posting this solution!

I had the same problem of no steering wheel controls after replacing the blower motor controller, radio and dash board lights. I had disconnected many cables over a few weekends and would have never remembered to check the cable to the cruise control as the root cause of the problem with bad steering wheel controls.

Thanks,

Doug