The cruise control on my son's 2002 Explorer is not working. The light on the dash comes on but the cruise will not engage. After researching older post on here I read about pumping the brake pedal hard then trying it. After doing this I tried it again and it will engage using the set button or the coast button but instead of staying on the speed you set it on it goes faster & faster. Had to tap the brake to get it to stop. Is this going to be the switch that sticks out on the front of the master cylinder? I read a lot about this switch going bad in the older post. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Sounds similar to the problems I had a few years back. I replaced my cruise control switch, the one that screws into the master cylinder and just clips on the other end. Very easy to do, and very cheap... less than $20 from Rockauto.

 

So did the Cruise light on the dash only light momentarily before you pumped the brakes hard? I could understand the cruise not working because of the switch on the master cylinder, but I don't understand how that could cause the cruise to continue to pick up speed beyond the speed it was set for. That would seem to me to be more likely an issue with the "Accel" button on the steering wheel switch panel or that circuit. I'm trusting that the speedometer works reliably.

-Rod

 

Caseys, i had read your older post & that switch is what i'm thinking too. I tried the pumping the brakes sitting still, don't know why it would do anything. after that though you can feel it grab pushing either button and it just takes off. I think that part is cheap enough to try first though.

 

Rod makes a good point about the acceleration issue... something to keep researching. Also when looking at the wire connector when replacing the switch, make sure the connector you are plugging the new switch into is clean of any fluid that may of leaked into it.

Another thing I learned when going out for the test drive is that you have to be going over 20 or 30 miles per hour, something like that, before the cruise will even activate.

Casey

 

The typical speed for cruise control to activate was above 35 mph. I don't think that's dropped in recent years. It seemed pretty standard across the manufacturers so it may have been a federal mandate, not sure.

-Rod

 

My explorer is having the exact same problem. Were you able to fix the problem?