EDIT: We found the problem, the cruise control cable was broken on the servo end. If anyone's parting out an NA 7.3 IDI truck and you don't need the cruise cable, send me a PM and let's work something out

The mandatory: '92 F-250, E4OD 4x4, 7.3 IDI, XLT trim if that helps.

My project for 2014 is to get the cruise control working again, I'm a lazy man and I like my cruise control.

So far, this is where I'm at:

- Replaced the center thingy on the steering wheel for the horn and cruise on/off, I forget the name offhand. No change.
- The vacuum coffee can looks perfect, no holes or anything that I can see.
- As best as I can tell, there are no vacuum leaks, but I haven't formally tested that. (Would a vacuum leak even be as obvious on a diesel as it is on a gasser?)
- Horn works, all exterior lights work (no third brake light on '92's) other than the front corner light.
- Speedometer works, but it's 3-5mph fast and bounces a little bit.
- No codes

The previous owner told me that the cruise died once before, and they fixed it by replacing "something behind the steering wheel," he didn't know the name of the part. From what I've read so far, for other model years that would appear to be the "Airbag clockspring", but when I search for that part for a '92, nothing appears ('92 obviously didn't have airbags, so maybe the part has a different name?). Also from what I've read, when it's the clockspring, the horn often stops working too, but my horn works perfectly fine.

So, where should I go from here? Anyone know what that mystery part behind the steering wheel is? Anything I can check, lube up, hit with a hammer or yell at?

 

My cruise went out when one of the tail lights went. Didn't see the connection until I changed the light bulb and the cruise came back as a result...

:wierd

 

The thing behind the steering wheel is the clock spring.

 

This info from Steve83 should help you out: 1983 Ford Bronco 90-25-12 Vacuum Cruise pictures, videos, and sounds | SuperMotors.net

The vacuum servo cruise control system is quite a bit different from the electric servo version that Ford started to use in 1993. Although the button operation is exactly the same between the two.

 

The same thing happened on my Bike. When a tail light bulb went out I lost my cruise on my Goldwing. I changed the bulb and my cruise came back. Not sure how that works

 

Any idea about where I could buy one? I've looked at O'Reilly's, Napa, Ebay, Amazon... nobody seems to have it, it's not even on their lists.

Thanks for the link! Looks like I have a couple things to check out. Before I start digging through wires, I have a spare vacuum servo I can swap over. I'll give that a shot, and if that fails, it looks like I'll be learning how to use a multimeter

 

The 92 does not use a clock spring. It uses slide pins in the column and a contact ring on the back of the wheel. There is no replacement for it anywhere. I looked when I changed my wheel for the later style out of curiosity. Pull the wheel, clean all the contacts and the ring and apply a light film of dielectric grease to the ring.

 

Its not weird, it's a safety thing actually. It keeps a runnaway cruse from happening.

The cruse control module looks for when the brake lights are on. With out the brake lamps on, that cruse control module will send a low level voltage out to the brake lights(not enough to light them) to check if the lamps are good. If the lamps are bad, then the cruse control will think the brake lights are on and not engage.

IF you changed out your tail/brake lamps to the LEDs ones, it will confuse the cruse control in thinking the lamps are bad. LED bulbs do not have the low resistance like a regular light bulbs so they will not pull down the cruse control "test" voltage.


Other problem could be the PSOM(speedometer) is not sending out proper speed info to the cruse control module.

 

Figure I'll update this rather than make a new thread. Nobody likes it when someone asks a question and never reports back.

We found the issue! Or we think we did. When me and my friend went to replace the cruise vacuum servo, we found that there was a cable going from the throttle on the IP to a plunger-like thing in the servo. The cable on the servo end was broken, and it looked like it had been bad for a while

Not exactly good news, but at least I can stop guessing now. Apparently nobody in the world sells the cruise control cable anymore, so my only options are junkyard or ghetto rigging. Considering that I've never seen a 7.3 IDI in a junkyard (damn things don't die, come on! I need parts!!), I'll report back if we come up with a ghetto solution. I'm thinking generic accelerator cable, JB weld, and a nut...

Thanks guys for the help! If nothing else, I at least have a better understanding of the cruise system now