I have an '02 Ford Ranger. Sometimes I'm not able to set the cruise control. Push the ON button and then hit the SET button and the "cruise control" light on the dash will just flash. It never sets it on. The next time I drive it I may not have any issues at all with being able to set the crusie control. Works just fine. Then a few weeks may pass and then the same issues. Almost seems like a loose connection somewhere or something. The lights on that side of the steering wheel for ON/OFF don't light up but I wouldn't think this would cause problems with being able to set the cruise control. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

Welcome to FTE.

May be a problem with the steering wheel clockspring contacts, maybe dirty, or broken wiring, or maybe the rear differential speed sensor, whos output the computer also uses to control the cruise control, has a problem????

SO, are you having any other intermittent problems, like with the auto tranny shifting, ABS light coming on, speed-o sticking, or jumping around???? If so, suspect the rear differential mounted ABS speed sensors PID output to the computer is corrupt, as the computer also uses the speed sensors output to control those other things too!!!! Could be a faulty sensor, or wiring to it. The clock spring, cruise control switch & speed sensor problems have been reported & the speed sensor is a common problem part, the clock spring & cruise control switch, not so much so.

If it's the clock spring, or cruise control switch & seeing as how the problem is intermittent & your reporting a problem with the cruise switch back light, maybe disconnect the battery & wait a while for everything to discharge electrically, to make the air bag safer to work around, then pull the steering wheel & inspect the wiring, or try cleaning the clock spring & the cruise control switch contacts with a plactic safe electrical contact cleaner, like CRC QD, or the like & see how it goes.

Edit: Seeing as how you have a flashing dash light, maybe have a tranny shop scan the tranny computer for trouble codes & post any code Numbers found, as they can offer up good trouble shooting clues.

Some thoughts for your suspect list, let us know what you find.

 

How about the brake pedal switch? When you tap the brakes, the cruise disconnects, but if the switch were feeling frisky, it could make contact and disable the cruise ona whim. However, I'm not sure that the light on the dash would flash if the brake switch were to close.
If you have an automatic transmission, and you find that it is dropping out of torque converter lockup all by itself, I'd be looking at the speed sensor too, as pawpaw suggested. Tapping on the brake pedal while driving, just enough to flash the brake lights, should unlock the torque converter, and the rpm's should increase without change in vehicle velocity. You can do that yourself to duplicate the effects of a bad speed sensor for comparison purposes.
tom

 

Thank you for your respones pawpaw and tomw.
I have a manual 5 speed so no issues with an automatic transmission. ABS lights never come on. Just on initial startup which is normal. But I have had issues in the winter months with a real fast "grabbing" while just driving down the road. Certain conditions have to be present to have this issue, such as temps around or below freezing and precip on the roads or in the air. Seems as thought the ABS grabbing for a split second??? I'm thinking the 2 could be related. I think I'll try the rear differential mounted ABS speed sensor first since this controls alot and maybe this is sending the wrong information to the computer. I'll also try to pull the steering wheel and look for loose wiring or bad/dirty contacts. Maybe that will fix the backlight issue with the ON/OFF side on the steering wheel. As well as inspecting the wiring to the rear differential ABS speed sensor.
Thanks for pointing me in a direction!
Michelle

 

Maybe the clockspring inside the steering column has worn out. Supposedly it carries all the signals from the cruise and if you have it, the audio controls. I would expect that it might carry the power for the switch lights also.
The switches present different resistances to the controller to allow it to discriminate which button is depressed. A worn or damaged clockspring could be sending a resistance reading it doesn't expect.
tom

 

Before throwing any parts at the problem, maybe consider running this puppy by your favorite auto parts store, for a no cost computer trouble code scan. Most will do it even if the CEL isn't on, but your having problems, as pending codes can be stored, that haven't happened enough times to aggreviate the computer to turn the CEL on yet.
Post any code Numbers found, as they can offer up good trouble shooting clues.