This was an old thread I dug up and I noticed other people had problems with their lights on the Cruise Control buttons going out. Unfortunately I only got as far as removing the bulb. I took it to Ford and they don't sell the bulbs, they said I'd need to purchase the switches. They come as a set of 2 for the right and left side (On/Off and the Resume/Set Accl one) and are about $75...I said no thanks and that I'd go to Radio Shack or the junk yard first. The only tricky thing is that the bulb sits in the blue plastic piece and two wires come out of the back and are soldered onto the metal tabs that contact the circuitry of the switch. Anyway, here's how to get to it. Maybe someone has more time than I do to do find some bulbs and solder them up.
First disconnect your ground on the battery and let the truck sit for 20 minutes. Since dealing with moving the airbag around it might be a good idea to not have it go off. It might sting a little.
Pop out the plastic bolt cover on either side of the steering wheel.
Remove both bolts behind the plastic covers.
The airbag is now free and be sure not to pull on it too much, there are wires connected to it. It should fall out and you can rest it on the lower part of your wheel.
Disconnect the harness of the switch you need to get at, it pulls right out....not up.
That's the only thing holding the switches onto the steering wheel. You can use your fingernail and pop the front half of the switch off by pulling back towards you.
The green thing is a bulb condom that gives the switch the green glow.
You can pull back the black rubber part to seperate the switch.
Now you can easily twist the entire blue piece to remove it from the board.
I kept messing with the bulb (investigating as I like to call it) and broke the two wires that came out the bottome and were soldered to the metal, but I figure no big loss since the filament was broken anyway.
I know it's not much of a "How To" if it doesn't fix the problem, but maybe someone else can take it from here as far as replacing just the bulb and not the entire $75 buttons. If not, then at least it shows how to replace the entire thing.
First disconnect your ground on the battery and let the truck sit for 20 minutes. Since dealing with moving the airbag around it might be a good idea to not have it go off. It might sting a little.
Pop out the plastic bolt cover on either side of the steering wheel.
Remove both bolts behind the plastic covers.
The airbag is now free and be sure not to pull on it too much, there are wires connected to it. It should fall out and you can rest it on the lower part of your wheel.
Disconnect the harness of the switch you need to get at, it pulls right out....not up.
That's the only thing holding the switches onto the steering wheel. You can use your fingernail and pop the front half of the switch off by pulling back towards you.
The green thing is a bulb condom that gives the switch the green glow.
You can pull back the black rubber part to seperate the switch.
Now you can easily twist the entire blue piece to remove it from the board.
I kept messing with the bulb (investigating as I like to call it) and broke the two wires that came out the bottome and were soldered to the metal, but I figure no big loss since the filament was broken anyway.
I know it's not much of a "How To" if it doesn't fix the problem, but maybe someone else can take it from here as far as replacing just the bulb and not the entire $75 buttons. If not, then at least it shows how to replace the entire thing.
