cruise control assistance needed

[Stale Trooper]

Hmmmmm, wonder about simply gently spraying contact cleaner (brake cleaner?) into the switches to clean the contacts from the front side? One would want to check with Ford or someone in a salvage yard to see if this will work or will it mess up the plastic?

[killermrob83]

That sounds like a viable option, but I do not think that I'll take that route. If it were my car, maybe so, but it belongs to my parents. I don't have much experience removing steering wheels, but can rebuild engines, so how hard can it be to pull the thing? I would think that it would be a piece of cake, unless a special tool that can only be obtained from Ford would be needed.

[Stale Trooper]

I just found this over on the CrownVic.net forum; It seems we are not alone! Look at the last 2 entries to the chat, especially the photos showing the back side of the switches. It looks as if the writer was able to simply 'pop' them out from the front (notice the steering wheel surrounding the grungy switch interior). I cannot explain the last photo in the series, but it looks like the pieces & parts off the front side of the switch.
http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/u...Number=1997368

[killermrob83]

Must thank and commend you for your efforts and tenacity in approaching this repair. The parts in the third pic from the CrownVic.net forum look foreign (cannot associate them with anything that I am seeing from a visual inspection) to me. Maybe they are from underneath the switch covers. I was attempting to remove the entire switch assembly, including the ear-shaped housings, from the steering wheel, which may be why I wasn't able to get them out on the first attempt with only having the airbag removed. I now have access to the factory service manual for this particular model year. The first step listed for Speed Control Actuator Switch removal (vol. 1, 310-03-30) is to remove the steering wheel. BUT........ the fourth step (after removal of the steering wheel cover screws, disconnecting electrical connector and wiring harness from cover, removing said cover) is to push the switches out toward the face of the steering wheel. I believe that I have enough clearance from the front, with the airbag removed, to get my finger around the backside and push them out. We shall see. Going out for a second attempt.

[killermrob83]

Ok, I've had great success with getting the switches out and servicing (cleaning the contact surfaces) them. Do not know how successful the cleaning procedure was as I have not yet driven the car. I have some good tips and pictures to post that I believe will help anyone who might have to address this same situation. I do not know how to post pics to this site, but I do know how to send them via e-mail. Can anyone help me to get these pics on the site? If so, please send me an e-mail or private message, so as not to add more clutter to this discussion. Thanks again.

[Stale Trooper]

FROM KILLERMROB83:
The first photo shows the switch housing and switches (on/off) once removed, without the covers. As you can see, the housings have ears that fit into the recessed area of the cavity in the steering wheel, as seen in the second photo. I used a small flat head screwdriver to chase around the outside circumference of the switch housing to make sure that it wasn't stuck to the wheel due to humidity or whatever else may have been spilled on the wheel. With airbag removed (WARNING: know exactly what you're doing before removing), I was then able to work a finger around through the opening, and while carefully prying the pliable rubber-covered padding of the wheel away from the housing, force the housing out of the wheel. I would highly recommend doing this while the wheel is warm (warmer weather or slowly heat with blow dryer) so as not to tear the rubber covering on the padding. In the third and fourth photos you'll see that the switch covers have nipples that they pivot on in the housing. If you look closely, those nipples are shorter on the sides of the covers that are facing toward the center of the wheel. I used the same small flat head screwdriver mentioned above, placed it in the gap between housing and cover in the location of the shorter nipple, then with a slight twist of the driver to open up the gap to gain clearance for the nipple, pry outward and the cover pops right out. If you try to pop the longer nipple out instead, you increase the risk of breaking these plastic parts, especially when cold. If I had known how the covers were held in place in the housings, I would have skipped the step of removing the housings. Once the covers were removed, I could see that there was no real access to the actual contact surfaces of the switches. I liberally doused the switches with contact cleaner, as there is a very small clearance between the switch button and switch body, and some clearance where the connection pins exit the body. Then using a small punch, I depressed the switch button to increase the gap to allow more contact cleaner to enter the switch body in hopes of getting to the contact surfaces. Once I felt that I had worked enough cleaner down into the body of the switch, I exercised (repeated cycling of) the switch to facilitate cleaning. I repeated this cleaning procedure several times to make sure that I had actually accomplished something with the efforts. Removal of the right side switches is almost identical to the left. The right side has two covers. The lower cover (set-accel/coast) must be removed first as it rests on top of the upper (resume) cover. I would highly recommend that these parts are warm enough (above 50 degrees) to prevent breakage. The factory service manual says that the steering wheel must be removed to remove these switches, because that will allow access to the back side of the switches so that they can be pushed out from the back side, after removal of the steering wheel cover on the back side of the wheel. Obviously, this isn't true, unless you want to replace the switches. This is because there is a common (not ground) wire that is hard-wired to both switches, which supplies power from the left bank to the right bank. If you're willing to splice the wires back together, you can bypass the wheel removal by cutting the wires and r/r the switches from their respective sides. Hope this helps anyone with the same issues. Rob

[ To view the pictures, click on the link, then click on the mini pic, it should make it larger, This is my first attempt to upload pix to this forum. It's a learning process!
Stale Trooper]