I have a 2002 F-250 7.3 automatic four-wheel drive tjatt the cruise control does not work on. I have owned the truck for a little over a year, and it has never worked. I tried the self test with the steering wheel controls, the light on the dash does not illuminate. I did the HEC test and when I got to the bulb test, the cruise control light did not come on with that either.

​​​​​​Before I get too far into what I have done trying to diagnose this, and I have found a ton of stuff that was messed up, is there any reason other than a burned-out bulb that it would not illuminate during the HEC test?

Thanks

 

 

HEC test does not really do anything to diagnose cc, but does do some other very cool functions, one of which is a bulb test that should tell if the cruise control bulb is working when you try to enter the cc test mode. That is what I am trying to find out here.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/719925-hec-test.html

 

Does the horn work? Do you have the airbag light on the dash? Those are indications of a clockspring failure and is the most common cause for the loss of cruise control.

If it is a cruise control system problem here are a few (fairly) recent ones:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...e-control.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ue-solved.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...trol-inop.html

 

Well it's kind of a long story, that I didn't want to get into... So here you go.
Going down the list of things that I found wrong with the truck starts with somebody installed the wrong ignition lock cylinder in the steering column, so I had to drill that out and replaced it with the correct one. While I had the steering column apart I replaced the clock spring and the turn signal switch, I replaced the turn signal switch because it was broken and would not cancel the turn signals, now all that works correctly with the exception of my intermittent wipers which I will be working on soon enough. Next I found the PRNDL switch connector only had about three wires actually connected to it, so in went a new motorcraft connector for that, and wallah now I have reverse lights. Next I tried checking the brake pressure switch, I found had the recall harness on it but was connected to nothing in the wire harness of the vehicle. Finally I found the wiring harness connector tucked away in another part of the main harness to the vehicle, the part that has a little blank connector for to plug into. Next I found that the harness connector that would plug into the brake pressure sensor was getting ready to fall apart, so then I cut the connector off and twisted the wires together in order to complete the circuit. Next I went and tried the self test on the steering. Next and still didn't get any cruise control light dashboard. That's when I stopped working on it because was time for me to get back to work, which pushed me aw I'm a truck for about a month.
After I twisted the wires together on the brake pressure sensor circuit I did try to enter the cc test mode with the steering wheel controls, but found no cc light illuminating. I never did try to test drive the truck not knowing that the bulb maybe burned out. I did not find the HEC test until I got back to work, at which point I walked out to my truck and tried it . finding that in the bulb test portion of the HEC test the cruise control lamp did not come on.

Which brought me to this post, is there anything that will cause the cruise control lamp not to illuminate during the HEC bulb test?

I hope all that makes sense, like I said it's a lot of crap that I found wrong with this truck. Oh and answer your question the horn does work, there is no airbag light on, if I press the on and coast button on the steering wheel the horn will blow. So at this point I am at a total loss, unless it's just as simple as the bulb in the dashboard is burned out and the connection at the brake pressure switch was the problem all along.

Thank you for the links!

 

So does anyone have any input on the cruise control bulb?

 

Have you even bothered to pull the cluster and check the bulb?

 

Well of course I haven't
If I could, I would but unfortunately I the way my work is is that once I am on the job I don't have access to my truck (or land for that matter) for a number of weeks. I was trying to get some insight as to whether or not there was anything, short of a burned out bulb, that would not allow it to light off; some other failure within the cc system.

 

You already ran the bulb test and it failed.

Next....

 

Yeah that's what I know...my question still is, is there anything ELSE within the cc system that would cause the bulb not to come on, short of being bad. If not, move on to remove cluster, replace bulb.

 

Well, it could be the cluster itself in which the bulb is installed....

Eliminate the most likely first....

 

True, hopefully unlikely, but true. Electronics are not my strong suit. I'll check back in on this when I return, hopefully with the solution.

After this I move on to why the intermittent wipers don't work properly (on this truck and my OBS F350) and an electrical problem on my Ex, yay Ford.

 

 

Thank you, I failed to mention that I did have an ABS light on when I first purchased the truck and I knew that would cause the cruise control not to work. I replaced that sensor prior to all the other stuff that I had found and fixed.
At this point I'm just hoping that the bulb is burned out and I have found the last remaining problem, the brake pressure switch had been unplugged the whole time.

 

Better make certain that recall 05S28 was completed before hooking that up. Disconnecting the switch was an interim step while switches were on back order.