I have a 2004 sport trac with 14000 miles, and the cruise control works occasionaly. I have checked the fuse under the hood and even replaced it even though it wasen't blown. Can't figure out why it works some times and then for some reason will not work. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Railroadman

 

I believe the 2004 Sport Trac, like the typical 2004 Explorer/Mountaineer, uses an electronic throttle and the cruise is incorporated into that. The first thing I'd check is whether or not your brake pedal switch for the cruise is possibly shorted intermittantly or mis-adjusted. If you have access to a professional scan tool, the datastream mode should also be able to give you a quick indication of what sensor may be preventing the cruise from engaging.

Does the Cruise indicator in the instrument cluster flash or come on when trying to use the cruise, even when it doesn't work?

-Rod

 

The indicator icon in the instument panel doesn't appear until the cruise is working. When the cruise does work i have tried tapping the brake to release the cruise and resuming the speed and it works every time. The one thing now that i think about it is after turning off the vehicle is when the cruise will quit working. When it works everything works fine but turn off the engine and it may not work when you try it again. I try reaching the minumin speed turning it back on but you have a 50/50 chance that it will work. Any more suggestion would be appreciated!

Thanks
Railroadman

 

I'm looking at my service manual for the 2002 model year, so I'm not sure how much is different between the then and your 2004. In the 2002 manual they do break out between the Explorer, the Sport, and the Sport Trac. In 2004 I think the Sport Trac was more similar to the Explorer, so I'll go off that diagram for the information below.

It appears there are numerous inputs that can cause the cruise to fail to work. If you had an intermittant connection to 15-amp fuse f1.40 in the battery junction box, the speed control actuator would not get power. I've only seen one intermittant fuse connection, and that was on a Saturn.

There's also a brake pressure switch that will deactivate (or probably prevent the cruise from turning on) if the brake pressure meets or exceeds 125 psi. This switch is also tied in to the ABS though and would probably flag an ABS light or code if it were malfunctioning.

If the clockspring assembly were intermittant, the speed control actuator may not get the "On" signal randomly.

The transmission range sensor is tied in to the speed control circuit as well, but if this were giving a false signal, I think you'd have other indications as well.

And finally, if the actuator were intermittant or any of the connectors had some choice intermittant contacts, you might see this issue.

I'm new to this forum, but have been active in other Explorer/Mountaineer forums and don't recall reading of common issues like yours.

-Rod

 

On my sister -in laws 2003 it was the switch on the master cyl.

 

Well seems like there are several things it could be, since I don't have access to the code reader I guess my only choice is to take it to a shop that has one. I guess maybe it something that not only the ford dealer can do? Will update when problem is pin pointed. Thanks Again for taking the time to reply!

Railroadman