Messing around the steering column of my '98 Explorer. Found that the little
contact which senses key presence to make the annoying ding-dong sound is
loose. It will go back into its hole, but nothing seems to hold it in there,
and it readily slips out a bit, touching the cylinder and starting those
ding-dongs even if the key is not in. The plastic shroud on this thing has a
tang, but I can't see anything that it would engage. Can I just glue this
thing in place? Or am I better off leaving it out and becoming
ding-dong-deprived for the rest of my life?
By the way, an inoperative cruise control started all this. Went through the
entire test procedure. The switches, clock spring, harness, etc, all are
fine, but it won't even give me an error code. Clearly a failure of the
controller board. In the good old days the controller was separate from the
servo. In a way it still is, but they are bolted together, and neither can
be purchased separately. So I am going to shell out the $200 for the
complete unit, just to replace that circuit board. Any takers for a
perfectly functional, clean as a whistle servo unit?
Oh, and here is one more wonder. As soon as I disconnected the harness from
the CC servo, my horn stopped working. Took a long time to figure out that
contrary to what the EVTM shows, the horn switches don't have a dedicated
ground, and they receive it through the CC servo (not the harness -- the
servo itself). Seems that when they added the option of controlling the EATC
and entertainment system controls on the steering wheel (this is the
'Limited', with the fancy version of the steering wheel), they ran out of
clock springs and they hijacked the horn ground for the new functionality.
So now no CC == no horn. Cute.
Jim Warman - 05 Nov 2006 19:33 GMT
The little brush for key in sense is hgeld in place by the little plastic
clip attached to it..... extremely easy to break... Glue has been tried in
the past with extremely disappointing results, IMHO.
The odd part.... the brush can be obtained as a pigtail... but I don't think
that the pigtail is listed for your EX - only the harness is listed.... Our
partsmonger did find a listing for it in (IIRC) the E-series parts
manual.....
I will try to remember (extremely heavy on the "try to") to ask on Monday...
Happy Traveler - 05 Nov 2006 20:19 GMT
Thanks, Jim. You are a saint!
Don't see anything broken off that plastic clip, but my vision is not what
it used to be...
Now on to find a source of the CC servo assembly for less than an arm and a
leg... Does anyone repair those things? My guess is that the motor, gears or
clutch are much more likely to fail than the circuit board, so there should
be a pile of usable circuit boards somewhere.
> The little brush for key in sense is hgeld in place by the little plastic
> clip attached to it..... extremely easy to break... Glue has been tried in
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> I will try to remember (extremely heavy on the "try to") to ask on Monday...
Jim Warman - 15 Nov 2006 07:53 GMT
Happy... just a note to let you know I haven't forgotten about your
request.... well, I did but then I remembered again.... Head partsmonger was
on a few days off but "supposed" to be back tomorrow.... I'll try to
remember that part number for you...
> Thanks, Jim. You are a saint!
> Don't see anything broken off that plastic clip, but my vision is not what
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
>> I will try to remember (extremely heavy on the "try to") to ask on
> Monday...
Happy Traveler - 15 Nov 2006 09:00 GMT
Thanks, Jim. You are a blessing!
I looked carefully, and sure enough, the plastic clip has a broken tang. I
swear that it's not of my doing -- this vehicle had a previous owner for
about a year before it got in these loving hands. In the meantime the
ding-dong 'brush' is held by electrician's tape wrapped around the cylinder
housing. So far, so good -- dinging when it should and not donging when it
should not... For the benefit of those who may need to pull this little
'brush' out: make sure to remove the lock cylinder first. There is no way to
pull this thing out without breaking it, if the cylinder is still in place!
If I may vent a bit, two other electrical problems are driving me crazy:
1) The CC servo has an electrical failure. Nothing wrong with the servo
itself, just some logic on the attached circuit board (it won't even
self-diagnose). Why should I toss a perfectly good motor, clutch, gears --
whatever is in that box -- because of a failure in the circuit board?
2) Even more annoying. The PCM has an intermittent short to ground on the
ACT sense line. With a decent schematic I would probably be able to find the
solder splash or a piece of debris that's causing it, but of course, these
schematics don't exist in the public domain. So now the PCM has to go. But
it doesn't end there. In this model the PATS relies on matching code with
the PCM. So not only do I need a new PCM, but it also has to be installed
and programmed by the dealer. Something is telling me that I will also be
stuck with a fee for diagnosing the DCT that started all this: testing the
ACT sensor, harness, connectors, etc. And why would they take my word for it
anyway?
Jim Warman - 16 Nov 2006 02:51 GMT
See if your dealer can get you an XL3Z-11A128-AA....
These things are fragile... I'll almost swear that they can break simply
taking the lock cylinder out...
Happy Traveler - 17 Nov 2006 07:21 GMT
I appreciate the effort, Jim! Now, how may I reciprocate for this gesture? I
seriously doubt whether I can help you with anything automotive. Need some
advice on electronics? Photography? Correct pronunciation of proper names in
a couple languages that most people haven't even heard of?
> See if your dealer can get you an XL3Z-11A128-AA....