Remote radio cluster switch problems

[tripletdaddy]

Ever since I have owned my 95 Taurus Lx in 99, the cluster of switches in the upper part of the dash board near the steering wheel that control the radio do not work or work very well. The Ford dealership said they would not cover it under the terms of the sale or the 30 day used car warranty. Has anyone else had problems with it? Any clever fixes? Get Ford to fix it? Thanks

[shorod]

The tact switches internal to the remote switch cluster are probably dirty. If you are comfortable removing and disassembling the switch assembly, you can use some electrical parts cleaner and probably restore functionality.

If you have a good electronics components store in your area, I'd highly recommend Caig brand De-Oxit to clean the switches, following by an application of Caig brand Preserv-It.

-Rod

[tripletdaddy]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking along those lines too, just not happy about doing it as I have tried that sort of cleaning with mixed results. What surprises me is that this switch was not working at 30k miles when I first got it?! It may be awhile before I can motivate myself to open up the dash to do that. Thanks

[shorod]

I don't remember having to open the dash to remove it. My recall is it was either just snapped in place or there was one screw in the instrumentation area. I also have a recall of taking the upper center vents out (above the radio) to access new cabling that I ran when I modified the switch assembly to work with my aftermarket JVC Kameleon head unit.

-Rod