Steering wheel cruise control

[badgett]

My lights went out on my cruise switches on my steering wheel. Does anyone know how to change the bulbs ?

 

[badgett]

anybody ?

 

[Mutineer]

Ive owned 6 Ranger BroncoII/Mountaineers and several other vehicles and Ive never had that happen to me.....???

My guess would be they are LEDs internal to the switches and youd have to:

remove battery Cable
remove the screws that hold the back of the steering wheel on
replace the switches.

Ive had to replace the switches several times because the one on the right breaks off (I tend to get rough with the resume button lol )

Best guess here, but since they are internal to the switches youll have to replace the switches.

Also check the wiring, it may be a short to ground or Open in the circuit.

I hope this helps you

Daniel

 

[badgett]

thank you , since my first post one of them works sometimes. The left side light works about 50% of the time. The right one has no light at all.

 

[Mutineer]

NP... Sometimes noone sees the post because it falls off of the new posts screen before it can get answered, especially on a busy day.

If you need any help with the replacement, let me know. its pretty simple tho...

two screws hold the switch to the steering wheel assembly, but you cnat get to them unless you take all the covers off.

Daniel

 

[DR98]

I replaced both cruise control switches on my 98 Explorer. You have to disconnect the battery and wait about 10 minutes, before removing the air bag. A screw on each side of the steering column and then lift it out and disconnect it from the wiring harness.

Next unplug the cruise switches. The hard part, I found is unpluging the main wires that plug into each switch. I used the original cruise control harness because I couldn't remove it from the steering wheel.

You really have to carefully pry the harness off the old switches. I spent an hour on this.

If the bulbs are burned out you have to replace the switches. I bought my set from Rock Auto at a great price.

Just take your time.

A good habit to have with new switches. Is to put a finger behind the one your pushing to support the assembly and not stress the switch screw flanges that break off.


Dean

 

[badgett]

thanks guys , I guess I'm going cruise switch shopping now. One thing after another :

 

[rollinstone]

Wait! Don't buy new switches. You can replace the bulbs. They're tiny, but replaceable. Take one in to your auto parts store to get the right size. It's like an LED and just slips into place.

As stated earlier, be sure to dissconnect the battery before messing around with the air bag/horn package...give it a 10 minute wait, because the air bag can deploy even when power is momentarily lost to the system. I believe there's some kinda fail-safe capacitor in the system. If you don't use caution, you could get a broken neck while working around the steering wheel.

 

[toypaseo]

My Ford mechanic neighbor suggested disconnecting the battery for ten minutes, and pushing the brakes to make sure to kill off all the power. He said there was some sort of capacitor associated with the airbag system.

 

[cgriffin_5139]

You dont need to take the airbag out to replace the bulbs, all you have to do is pop off the top and they come off. Then go to the Ford dealer and get new bulbs becase there dealer item only, there like 14 bux each though.

 

[toypaseo]

Be careful if you pop off the top. There are two "fingers" that hold the circuit board in the control unit. You might be able to finesse out the "rubber" cover from around the circuit board to avoid breakage.

 

[badgett]

Thanks for the great info guys. Getting ready to put her out of service to do timing chain and tensioner replacement. I will do the switch bulbs while I have her down.

 

[Mutineer]

Good deal, Im glad they elaborated on my post, it was vague....Thanks Yall.

Good Luck Brother!

Daniel

 

[badgett]

Thanks alot , I'll need it

 

[mcoleman80]

I replaced both cruise control switches on my 98 Explorer. You have to disconnect the battery and wait about 10 minutes, before removing the air bag. A screw on each side of the steering column and then lift it out and disconnect it from the wiring harness.

Next unplug the cruise switches. The hard part, I found is unpluging the main wires that plug into each switch. I used the original cruise control harness because I couldn't remove it from the steering wheel.

You really have to carefully pry the harness off the old switches. I spent an hour on this.

If the bulbs are burned out you have to replace the switches. I bought my set from Rock Auto at a great price.

Just take your time.

A good habit to have with new switches. Is to put a finger behind the one your pushing to support the assembly and not stress the switch screw flanges that break off.


Dean

I followed Dean's directions and even got my switches from Rock Auto and I had great luck. It's not nearly as difficult as you might imagine.
-Michael