cruise control not working

2000 Windstar v6 cruise control is not working. Owner's menu lists fuse number 10 to check but the fuse is o.k. Any suggestion where should I start to check?

Sorry, it is 3.8 V6.

A VERY common cause of the cruise control not working is a leaking brake pressure switch.
This part is located on the bottom of the brake master cylinder.
FORD has issued a recall for this part......
The leakage causes a problem with the contacts inside the switch (can actually catch fire) and indicates a closed condition (which indicates that the brakes are being applied) with will disable the cruise control.

Thanks for the quick reply. You are right on the money, just received a letter from Ford about the defect today. Will take it to the dealer for repair.

Not sure on a Windstar if it is the same, but on another vehicle I had the brake fluid level go low. The low fluid level switch disables the cruise control. I also had one where the parking brake switch was not adjusted properly, and was disabling cruise control.

Thanks for the input. The brake fluid was low and I refilled it to the max. Did a test run on the highway and the cruise control was not engaged. Will take it to the dealer.

If you have not taken it to the dealer yet.....I would recommend that you unplug the electrical connection to the brake pressure switch on the bottom of the master cylinder.

A leaking brake pressure switch can cause the vehicle to catch on fire....even when it is turned off....and parked.
Unplugging the switch will prevent this from happening.

Just got back from the dealer. Did a test run on the cruise control, it is still not engaging. What else could be wrong???????

Here is what was written on the invoice:
Concern 40 09S09 speed control system modification
Cause 09S09 speed control system modification
Correction INSTALL UNIVERSAL JUMPER HARNESS
Part Number PO # Note Description
FMC 8W7Z 14A411C Wire ASY
Parts: Count 1.00 Allowance: $2.98

Fail code: A99 Cond Code: 82
Fail code: A99

Parts: $10.42
Mechanical laber $19.05
Total Charge for Concern $29.47

That sounds strange......the brake pressure switch and harness should be covered under the Recall.......

They charged you for it.....and never checked on your original complaint?

One thing, other than the brake pressure switch.......if enough brake fluid leaked out....and it dripped down onto the Cruise control servo......it could have burned that out.

Another cause......did they check the fuse for the brake pressure switch (I think it is fuse #10)?
I would check the fuse FIRST......as it is about the cheapest thing.

Another possible cause would be one of the switches in the steering wheel.
ON/OFF, Set......

If it was the BOO (Brake On, OFF) switch.....then you would not be able to shift out of PARK with the motor running.
Is is not uncommon for one of the wires to the BOO switch to break off.
You then have to shift into Neutral, then start the car.....
HOWEVER, you will have NO BRAKE LIGHTS on the back of your vehicle.

They charge Ford for the $29.47. I call them about the cruise control problem and they relied that they already fulfilled the recall order. The cruise control would be a separate issue. What puzzles me is only 1 part was replaced. Is this harness including the switch? I may have to go the another dealer to find out. When I receive a servey from Ford I will give this dealer a poor rating. I checked the #10 fuse and it was good.

When I read my recall information.....it looks like they only replace the switch if it is leaking, but replace the harness on all vehicles.

I would check that fuse first...(I know.....you checked it...but give it another look...post repair)...as that would be the easiest.
Also look at the switch...and see if there is dampness on it.

If the switch is damp with brake fluid....then it would be sending a constant signal that you have the brake applied.......which would prevent the cruise control from working.

After that.....it gets down to troubleshooting....checking for voltages, switches, ett.

Will check the fuse again. I will look into the repair this weekend in the day light hours. Been working long hours and loosing day light during the week days. Will report back later and might ask for troubleshooting tips here.

The dealer did not replace the pressure switch that was attached to the brake master cylinder. It still has brake fluid around it. They replaced the old wiring harness with a new one that has a fuse in between. That is all they have done to the recall. I unplugged both ends of the harness and cleaned up the fluid. Measured the resistance of the pressure switch which read 47k ohms. I also measured the other end which read 1M ohms. I shoud have measure the voltage to the switch which I did not. Will do that next time.
For troubleshooting, I will unplug the harness from the pressure switch and short out the 2 wires to see if the cruise control is back or not. Any suggestions from the group?
Will report back again.

If the switch is wet with brake fluid, I would buy and replace the switch.....it is a cheap part....and very easy to replace.....so not worth fighting with the dealership over.
The switch being wet with brake fluid would move it to the top of suspected causes of no cruise control.
I wonder if the dealership was out of them?

I bought the switch from the same dealer and they have plenty in stock. I measured the 2 terminals of the switch and it read zero ohms. Will report back after the installation.

I bet that switch fixed it. It fixed it on mine..... when I was privileged enough to still drive it. :) Post back.

I installed the switch and the cruise control is back in order.

First, thanks you all for the advices on the cruise control problem that I had.
Here is a bigger problem; while driving down the street, my 2000 Windstar 3.8 died in the middle of the street. I just had enough time to pull it to the side. There were no sparks on the plugs. I looked for the fuse (no. 20) under the hood to the high voltage coil module. It was blown. I replaced the fuse and was blown again. The wire had a short. I wonder if this wire goes straight to the module only or also connected to other devices? Does anybody have any idea? Does anybody has a wiring diagram?
Thanks in advance.

from the fuse it goes to pin 4 of the ignition coil and to pin 71 powertrain control module
(pcm) the colar of the wire is red

I dug out the van under 2 feet of snow and replaced the ignition coil and the van fired up right the way. Thanks to fy171 for the diagrams. It helped a lot.

Again, Thank you, fy171!!!!!!!!

Usstitanic

usstitanic glad you have it fix

My cruise control too is not working.

My master cylinder brake switch seemed a bit "wet" so I pulled the connector off thinking that would produce an OPEN. (NOTE: the connector was also somewhat wet and there appeared to be grease on the contacts.)

Still no CC.

I'm off to check fuse #10...
...and its OK.

Steering Wheel Buttons? (NOTE: ABS light on but that never interfered with CC.)

The owners manual for my Windstar 00 3.8 says in order to activate cruise control all i have to push is the "ON" button on the steering wheel. this doesn't work.

I found that if i push the on button, then push the + button (increase cruise control speed) on the right hand of the steering wheel Cruise Control will turn on and works great :)

The question is does disconnecting the brake pressure switch cause the CC not to come on? In other words, when starting the car, does the CC detect that the BPS closes when you have to have the brake on to get out of Park.

Both switch modules look OK under the stereo microscope. They was some dirt in them which I removed and I also gave all the contact surfaces a polish with a pencil eraser.

I'm up around 160k and wonder if the wires in the steering wheel/column could be breaking?

The brake pressure switch has zero resistance until there is pressure.
This is a "normally closed" contact switch.
When you unplug it, the circuit sees high resistance, just like the switch was activated.
In other words, you will have no cruise control.
However, it will not cause a fire while you get a new, non leaking switch.

Thanks wiswind,

I was wondering if the switch was NC (normally closed).

Somewhere I seem to recall someone "jumpering" the connector to simulate a NC switch at zero hydraulic pressure.

Would you agree that jumpering would be a good way to verify the switch is the problem?

Thanks
Tom
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I guess I'm really confused about the fire problem. One would have thought that a NO switch would never cause a fire since no current, and that a Failure would mean going NC all the time which would produce current all the time perhaps even when vehicle is just sitting there.

But if the switch is NC, I don't see the mechanism for starting a fire. Even if the brake fluid melted all the wire insulation so that there was a short, this is only a "control" current which is small and does not have enough amperage to damage any gauge of copper wire.

I think that would work, but keep in mind when you're testing that the CC won't disengage with application of the brake anymore.

You'll have to turn off the cruise to disengage it.

SOLVED: It was the master cylinder pressure switch.

What is interesting is that this switch appears to offer redundancy in case the brake light switch fails.

I test drove the car with the MCPS harness humpered and I had cruise control that disengaged when I stepped on the brake pedal.

What is also interesting is that it appears I have the old style switch but I have the extension harness with the 2 in-line fuses. (both fuses were good)

So I don't need the kit - only the switch.

So far Advance and NAPA is not available. Autozone can order it. RockAuto has the kit.

Since the switch is so expensive ($20), I'm tempted to get a universal one and crimp some new connectors on the extension harness. We'll see. I really hate to do stuff like that.

Will report when done.

Thanks
Tom
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Interesting: The switch is also called a Torque Converter and Cruise Control Switch. Wells 1S5287 looks like the original switch. 1S5288 looks like the new switch with the little adapter cable and a pull tie.

PepBoys can get the 88 switch only. I think I'll just check Ford tomorrow AM.

SOLVED: It was the master cylinder pressure switch.

What is interesting is that this switch appears to offer redundancy in case the brake light switch fails.

I test drove the car with the MCPS harness humpered and I had cruise control that disengaged when I stepped on the brake pedal.

What is also interesting is that it appears I have the old style switch but I have the extension harness with the 2 in-line fuses. (both fuses were good)

So I don't need the kit - only the switch.

So far Advance and NAPA is not available. Autozone can order it. RockAuto has the kit.

Since the switch is so expensive ($20), I'm tempted to get a universal one and crimp some new connectors on the extension harness. We'll see. I really hate to do stuff like that.

Will report when done.

Thanks
Tom
___________________________

Interesting: The switch is also called a Torque Converter and Cruise Control Switch. Wells 1S5287 looks like the original switch. 1S5288 looks like the new switch with the little adapter cable and a pull tie.

PepBoys can get the 88 switch only. I think I'll just check Ford tomorrow AM.

Here are a couple ford sites that you can look it up on:

www.tascaparts.com (http://www.tascaparts.com)

http://www.fordparts.com/Landing/Motorcraft.aspx

you can enter your vin number which helps.

$20.76 at Ford garage: XW7Z*9F924*BA "MC7D KIT - BRAKE"

Consisted of new style switch, short wiring adapter and a cable tie.

Cruise Control now works.

SOLVED.

...or so I thought: CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON !(*$#&*

Have to check the "other end" of the nylon line I had to R&R from the air cleaner bellows when accessing the master cylinder.

Driving car after battery unplugged (removed and cleaned cruise control buttons) was pingy lean. It has trimmed, but I suspect that was the check engine light.

Could be a dirty injector or perhaps more intake manifold problems - I did ONLY the isolator bolts 30-50k miles ago (155k now).

Oh well, I'll get the codes, post them here and if warranted start a new thread.

Oh Joy,
Tom

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Great, the dreaded P0171 & P0174...

Regarding codes, I was hoping I forgot to put the "vacuum" line on the back side of the rubber bellows between the throttle body and the air clearner.

YES, I forgot.

Its back on. Lets see if the codes clear eventually by themselves.

Will cruising up hill damage engine? Is cruising advised for flat (non-hilly) roads?

Will cruising up hill damage engine? Is cruising advised for flat (non-hilly) roads?

Up Hill:

I suppose you could damage engine if low on oil or water - the real weak link is the transmission.

Also, there is added stress to drive train when going up hill. This is exacerbated by grade and speed. So if steep enough or fast enough, you can damage everything.

As far as "advised" for flat roads you have to be more specific: advised for what purpose?

Regards,
Tom

Thanks
I meant if cruising is suitable only for non-hilly roads?
AzharJ