Cruise Control On/Off Dash Light

I have a 2003 Ford Ranger. I have installed an aftermarket cruise control system that is essentially the OEM system. It is made by SCS Frigette for Ford and came with the FOMOCO instructions. My vehicle never had the cruise control wiring harness so I hard wired this system in as per the instructions. It works great but lacks one feature, the cruise indicator light in the dash does not work. The light bulb is there (I checked) but it does not come on when I activate the cruise. I phoned SCS Frigette and they would not tell me how to wire in the dash light and said that the system never intended to activate the light. I have managed to get a Ford wiring diagram and it shows a wire from the VSS to the dash panel to activate the light. It is the same VSS wire that I wired into the cruise control module. Could this be the case, that the same signal for the module also turns the dash light on? My understanding is that the VSS signal is pulsed. Could a component in the dash use that signal to illuminate the indicator light? Can anyone help?   

The VSS wire can't power a bulb. There is likely a wire in the actual factory cruise that is only designed to activate the bulb. Don't try hooking the VSS wire to the cluster as you could damage things.

-------------
sparky

Thanks for the feedback. I looked again at my limited copy of the FOMOCO wiring diagram. It shows a grey/black wire coming from the "Powertrain Control Module" (PCM) to the Speed Control Servo (SCS). There is an input signal from the VSS into the PCM as well. Tapped off the grey/black to the SCS is a wire to the instrument cluster. My hard wire cruise by-passes the PCM, but the same grey/black wire from the VSS is still there. In fact the VSS signal wire to the Generic Electronic Module is where I tapped off the VSS wire.All this is also shown in my factory wiring diagram copy. I agree it seems strange that the VSS signal would be used to light the dash light but that's what is shown. If anyone has access to a 2003 V6 Ford Ranger factory manual I would appreciate some info as to what is shown there.   

Ok, I've done some more investigation on my vehicle. It seems that the cruise control module #1 harness wire is the wire that turns the dash light on when "Set/Accel or "Resume" is pressed. I hooked this wire to a DMM and went for a drive and found that when the Set/Accel/Resume button was pushed I got a constant 30mv signal, and when the cruise was cancelled the signal went to 0v. Now I'm not sure why this signal would only be 30mv, it's not enough to turn a light on, but it might be enough to switch some kind of relay in the computer. I have tried to buy a 12V relay that will switch with 30mv but so far I cannot find any. If anyone here has any ideas or input I would appreciate it. What would really help is if someone could use a late model ford with factory installed cruise to confirm what I have found on my Ford aftermarket one. If someone could check the harness and see how many wires are on the harness and their color and if there is a wire on #1 pin location, the bottom wire. If someone could take a pic of theirs and email me that would also help. The wire may go into the EEC computer??   

I have been following these posts with interest as I have a similar situation. I have a 96 F-150 XLT w/cruise, but no indicator light...this seems to me kinda shortsighted on Ford's part. Anyway, I would like to install an LED in the system, but am not sure which wire to tap into. I belong to FordF150.net and folks there say that an answer is available on crownvic.net as someone there has done it. I just registered with that site this evening, so will research when the Administrator opens my account.

Brett, I've been all over the internet trying to solve this, believe me it's not out there. I think the crown vic info will only say pin #1 is the dash light wire, but won't say where to hook it up. Do you have a wire coming from the #1 pin? Do you have factory installed cruise? If not what cruise system do you have? The 96 may not have had the dash light option. If you have factory cruise you will first have to use a DMM to see what voltage is coming from pin #1 and when. You should be able to use a paper clip to insert into the #1 pin position on the harness. Make sure you have contact with the connector inside and tape the paper clip to the wire to hold it in place. You will then need to go for a drive and actuate the set/accel/resume/cancel buttons on the steering wheel and observe the voltages. You will need a helper to do this safely.

This Ford set-up is a little dumb since why do you need a light to tell you the vehicle is driving along without your foot on the gas pedal. I'm really trying to do it because it's a challange and I'm a little anal. Ford does not provide a way to tell when the system is on. The on/off circuit is always hot with about 7-9 volts, pushing "ON" only sends a momentary 12V signal to the module to get it set for cruise mode. When "OFF" is pushed to de-arm the cruise the voltage momentarily drops to 0V then back to 7-9 volts when the button is released. I have not been able to find a relay that will ony activate at around 12V but stay unswitched at 7-9V. If anyone on this board has some ideas on this I would appreciate feedback. I would prefer a light that says the system is armed, rather than a light that says it on cruise control mode.     

Hi pcpc,
I have the factory cruise on my 96. Like you, it's more of a challenge to do it. I agree, too, that it isn't hard to tell the cc is activated!!!lol

Well, lets keep at it and hopefully one of us will be successful!!!

In the interim, I'm going to attempt to install a remote starter. That should be fun!

Thanks to the response to my post!

Brett

"it shows a wire from the VSS to the dash panel to activate the light"

What does it show to make you think the VSS to the dash panel is for the cruise light, and not for the speedometer?

Mike

Ok here's what I came up with.. Look at the diagram below for the wire that would make the OEM cruise light come on. From what I can find the ORANGE / black wire goes to one side of the cruise bulb, and the ORANGE / light blue wire goes to the other side of the bulb. The ORANGE / light blue wire is the wire that actually turns the bulb on. Test the ORANGE / black wire to see what it reads. Then turn the park/headlights on and see what it reads. If it stays at 12volts the whole time, a ground to the ORANGE / light blue wire should turn on the light itself. How you are going to use the cruise to turn this light on, is still up to you. The OEM servo sends the signal directly to the bulb on that wire. And again, stay away from the gray/black wire it is not what you need to mess with. Good luck,

Mike

Mike

Thanks for your work on this NowYaKnow. At least now I have the dash panel wiring setup. I usually buy a factory manual set (including electrical) but this truck is not out of warranty yet. You are right of course about the VSS wire, I made that assumption because the place I bought the cruise from used a mechanic contact to get that little diagram that showed the VSS going to the dash, I did finally figure out it was for the speedo not the light. I could easily use what you sent but I still don't know which wire from the cruise module to hook up to the the Org/LtBlu. When I tested the #1 pin position for voltage I also tested it for continuity to see if it was a ground switch. I got not difference in ohm readings, On or Off. Maybe I'm testing wrong?? Maybe the 30mv is just "in the loop" voltage, because I can't figure an engineer actually intending it to be that? Is it possible for you to get a diagram of the cruise module harness connector? That would really help as well. And thanks again from NowIKnowHalf    

Also did you hard wire the whole cruise, or was your truck prewired? We do those same kits you installed and usually the servo gets plugged in directly to the OEM cruise harness if the truck is prewired. Some of those kits do turn the dash indicator on, and some of them don't depending on the vehicle. If you are not getting any usuable reading on pin 1 from the servo, then I would say the aftermarket doesn't have that feature built in. From everything I can see it looks like the switch to turn on the indicator is internal in the OEM servo. Try setting your meter to read a ground instead of voltage on that pin #1 wire and see what you get when pushing set/resume/etc. Also here is the pinout of the OEM cruise servo. Good luck,

Mike

Mike and pcpc,
You guys have been great to figure this out!!! I have the factory cc in my 96, so will look at the harness and servo unit to see if I have those wires. Assuming I do, do you think an LED light from Radio Shack would be adequate to function as an indicator?

PCPC, talked myself out of the remote start for my manual trans. We don't use our ebrake here in the winter, too risky for the cable snapping in severe cold weather or the brakes freezing with any moisture. Plus, the shutdown routine would take some getting used to. Would have been a fun project tho!

Brett

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your info NowYaKnow. I did try a continuity test on Pin1 but only got zero ohms, switched or not. I can't believe the cruise mfg'r makes some with Pin1 hooked up and some not. It's all in the harness. My unit was a total hardwire as I had no dangling harness. My Pin1 was blanked off. I modified the harness (drill/Dremel) and installed a connector on Pin1 with a wire coming out, looks factory. I still don't know why I get 30mv??? I will re-test. Maybe I will try a test light, LED from battery and small fuse to see if Pin1 lights it. I've got to be careful, I don't want to blow the module with input power in the work place.

Brett, I'd be careful with NowYaKnow's diagram, I'm sure the Pin #'s are OK but Ford changes their wire colors. You will have to test as I did. Let us know.

Signing off for now, NowIknowMore

Brett, also you may have to take out your instrument panel and see why the light does not come on. Did you check bulb? Dumb question? I'm surprised with the factory unit not having the bulb working unless there is no bulb hookup.

There are no dumb questions! When I had my truck in for the cruise control recall, I asked the service manager about the cc light and my year has none. And, even tho I have pwr windows and locks, my XLT didn't come with remote keyless entry, only the XLT Lariat.

Sooooooo, I decided to install a remote keyless entry, but decided to go one step further and add in an alarm system.

Thanks for the advice re the wiring diagram! I was just thinking about that this morning, if all years were the same. NowIKnowMore!!

NowYaKnowMore, thanks for the help with diagram, That is definitely helpful.

Well, I'll definitely let you all know what happens

Brett In Alaska

Solved! Ok today I hooked up a test LED I purchased from Radio Shack. I bought one that had a resistor in it that limited the voltage to 12V as I was not sure how this would work and wanted to limit any possible damage to my cruise module. The first thing I did was wire the LED to the #1 pin position with the LED + to the #1 pin and the LED negative lead to ground. I did this first as it was the safest test. Took the truck for a drive and clicked the cruise - No light.

I then attached the + of the LED to battery and the negative to the #1 pin on the harness. Went for a test drive, clicked the cruise on - and there it was the light turned on. The cruise worked ok, no blips, and the light was on when cruise was engaged and off when not engaged. So that's the factory hook-up. The light ON is not a simple switch but is activated by the internal engagement of the cruise. For instance stopping would auto disengage the cruise, so the light would go off as well. I was right in that all these modules are made the same with #1 pin as the cruise light activation wire but the harnesses are different depending on the truck model and options. So now with the wiring diagram I got from NowYaKnow I can locate the appropriate instrument panel wires and hook up the factory installed dash light, assuming the wires are there. I believe they will be as all the instrument panels are made the same, it's just the harness hook-up that's different. This will take me pulling out the instrument panel and making sure the wires are there and testing them for power and negative. For those that don't want to trace those dash wires or do not have an in-dash light I would suggest a separate LED be installed in the dash with the power wire taken from the ignition switch ON position and the negative wire from the LED attached to the #1 pin in the cruise harness. I will tap into the power wire that I hooked up from the ignition to my cruise. Now my harness came with #1 pin blanked off. I had to do a mod. on the harness and install a correct female connector I was able to get from a wire that was tied back during the installation of the aftermarket factory cruise. The connectors are the narrow type but this modification is not for everybody. I used a drill and a dremel to adapt the plastic around where the connector is held into the harness. It may be possible to purchase the correct harness with the Pin #1 already wired or even find one at a wrecker. A friend has a 98 Ford F150 and it has the exact same cruise module that I purchased for my Ranger, with the exact same harness, except the #1 pin is wired on his harness. I would also imagine that SCS Frigette would have the harnesses available as they manufacture the Ford cruises. But a separate LED wired in will look OK, I just want to try and make mine look stock.    

Today I wired in the cruise engage dash light. As NowYaKnow said the OG/BK wire was the hot wire for the cruise light. I snipped the OG/LB wire behind the instrument panel and hard wired it to the #1 pin on the cruise module. This is not recommended for everyone as it is quite a job getting the instrument panel out. Before I put the instrument panel back I bench tested the light with the OR/BK and OG/LB to make sure it worked. If NowYaKnow reads this maybe you can tell me if any other wire in the system behind the dash is OG/LB. I started out snipping this wire down by the firewall but could not get continuity with the instrument harness, it is disconnected somewhere in the wiring. I don't think it controls anything else and everything is working OK despite it being snipped. But if you get a chance to check it I would appreciate it. What would be easier is to wire a separate light.

There's probably a bunch of ORANGE / light blue wires throughout the vehicle that do different things. Just checking quickly I see another one used in the turn signal system, but who knows offhand what the one you cut is for. As long as you put it back together and everything works, I wouldn't worry about it.

Mike