2000 Lincoln LS Cruise Control not working!

[seawolf18]

I have a 2000 Lincoln LS 3.9 with 105K miles. When I was driving to work this morning I tried to use the cruise, but it would not work. The cruise light comes on, but it would not hold speed. When I drove home I tried it again, and this time it accelerated and held speed. After about 30 seconds, it stopped working again. The cruise light on the dash is on the whole time, telling me that its supposed to be on.

When I got home, I checked the cable to make sure it was connected to the throttle body. It was hooked up. I followed the cable into the driver's side wheel well, and removed the inner fender liner. the cable goes to some sort of computer box\electric motor bolted in the inner fender. I checked the cable connection at the box, and it was connected. I thing twisted the assembly to make sure the cable was not bound up. The cable moved freely, and I could hear the throttle body blade moving as well.

I then pulled the electrical connector off the computer box. The connector was full of dirt ( a lot of gravel roads around here). I cleaned the harness connector and the connector at the box side with contact cleaner. I then tested the pins on the connector to make sure the wiring was still good. I got 12 volts of power from the orange wire, and the green wire at the other end of the connector. The rest of the wires had not power. This was key on engine off. I then tested the continuity of the wires and found no open circuits.

I road tested it again and got the same results, cruise light on but cruise not working. I came to the conclusion that the cruise control box is bad, unless there is something else I am missing? I didn't find any cruise control fuses in the three fuse boxes either.

 

[joegr]

Sounds like a reasonable diagnosis.

 

[pragmatic]

Mine did that a year and half ago. Light worked as though the cruise was working but no speed control. I was all set to buy a new control box when it started working. It worked fine until yesterday (18 months after the last failure). I'm busy until next month so if it does not start working before then I'll buy a used box and see if that is a more permanent fix.

 

[seawolf18]

Right now I'm cruising the bone yards looking for one. Ford wanted $400.00 for a new one.

 

[Dino'sLSdeuce]

Yeah, here too. I think. If I remember correctly it's may be describe in a TSB. Something pertaining to the
soldering of the wiring (in relation) to either the actual (on/set/resume) cruise control buttons. Although I
miss setting it on the freeway, I've lived without it going on 4 months when it first started going buggy.
First I couldn't disengage the "off/cancel" cruise control button unless I pressed on the brakes. Then I
couldn't control the acceleration/reduction. So now I said, ehhh.... not really a priority. I'll leave it to santa
and put it on my wish list.

 

[joegr]

Yeah, here too. I think. If I remember correctly it's may be describe in a TSB. Something pertaining to the
soldering of the wiring (in relation) to either the actual (on/set/resume) cruise control buttons. Although I
miss setting it on the freeway, I've lived without it going on 4 months when it first started going buggy.
First I couldn't disengage the "off/cancel" cruise control button unless I pressed on the brakes. Then I
couldn't control the acceleration/reduction. So now I said, ehhh.... not really a priority. I'll leave it to santa
and put it on my wish list.

In your case, it's more likely that your problem is the clockspring.

 

[LS4me]

Yeah, here too. I think. If I remember correctly it's may be describe in a TSB. Something pertaining to the
soldering of the wiring (in relation) to either the actual (on/set/resume) cruise control buttons. Although I
miss setting it on the freeway, I've lived without it going on 4 months when it first started going buggy.
First I couldn't disengage the "off/cancel" cruise control button unless I pressed on the brakes. Then I
couldn't control the acceleration/reduction. So now I said, ehhh.... not really a priority. I'll leave it to santa
and put it on my wish list.

In your case, it's more likely that your problem is the clockspring.

EXACTLY my symptoms when my clockspring failed. After a few months of this intermittent failure I started getting an intermittent airbag light. Replacing the clockspring cured both issues.

 

[pragmatic]

If I remember correctly its a fairly common unit used on multiple Ford vehicles (02, 03, or 04 Ford Explorers fit First Gen cars according to most ebay sellers). I have not found a cross reference for Second Gen cars.

 

[joegr]

... I have not found a cross reference for Second Gen cars.

The 2nd Gen LS does not have any cruise control module. The PCM already has full control of the throttle. Cruise control on gen II is just some extra software running on the PCM, plus the light and the switches (now connected to the PCM).

 

[seawolf18]

I found a junk yard unit, and put it in. Still does the same thing, except the cruise light turns off almost immediately after setting the cruise. The airbag light came on today as well. Looks like I need to replace the clock spring. Of course, it can't be a simple and cheap fix.