8valve

The steering wheel tilt is blowing the cruise fuse. If I leave the steering wheel in normal driving condition the cruise works as normal. When the steering column is tilted up, or moved, the cruise fuse blows.

The problem area must be right at the tilt joint, contacting or pinching the 12 volt fused line.

I have the FSM, but it does not go into any detail on repairing a shorted wire in the joint. I am wondering if I unplug the cruise cable at the bottom of the steering column, is there anyway to simply pull up some spare wire, make the repair and pull the wire back down ? I realize the steering wheel etc must be pulled.

I am looking for a easy quick repair.

Thanks
8Valve

bogus

I am assuming 1991 or newer?

There is a plastic cap on the back of the bulge where the turn signal goes into the column.

The bad wire is going to be there. Good luck fixing it, tho... not a lot of room to work with. you may want to remove the column.

WVZR-1

The wires for the cruise lever actually connect behind the end cap of the lever housing near the tilt lever, turn indicator lever and pivot. At that point it becomes part of the wiper pivot harness that goes down the column. Your issue seems to likely be in the wiper pivot harness.

In this Amazon image you can see the short pigtail where the cruise connects at the top behind the end cap and then becomes part of the complete harness, you can also see where at the column base you can see where it then becomes a cruise connector again.




It would be foolish to consider removing the column. You could undo the connector at the top and effectively trouble shoot the problem. You could possibly stuff the harness further up the column or move it around under the shroud and if you get it to a position where the fuse doesn't blow then just anchor the harness to the column with tape or a cable tie.

You asked for cheap and easy and it gets no easier. There's plenty of room to move the wiper/pivot harness around if that's your intention.

8valve

Thanks for both replies and the picture link. Does that hump piece of plastic on the side of the column come off the column so you can see in there ? If so, how is it removed. I brought both books in tonight to study for surgery tomorrow. My apologies, I did not mention the year. Its a 1995 Coupe.

Thanks
8Valve

8valve

Update;
I found in the FSM how to remove a piece of the shell/hump at the Multi Function switch. I can only see the connector for the cruise wires. CAn not see any the the wires going down the column.

WVZR-1; you suggested;or move it around under the shroud and if you get it to a position where the fuse doesn't blow then just anchor the harness to the column with tape or a cable tie.

Ok, I can see how I can push up on the cruise cable end at the bottom of the column. But how are you suggesting to move the cables around some and cable tie/tape as I see no further access near the tilt joint.

Many Thanks
8Valve

WVZR-1

With the column in 'full up' I believe you can get a non-metallic probe in the gap and move the harness to either side somewhat. Not ever needed to but I'd think that gap exists and the harness maybe accessible. You should also be able to move the harness at the top most point just using your finger as a pressure device. You shouldn't need to move it much to make your issue go away OR you could do as you mentioned, remove the steering wheel and components to gain access then pull the harness up the column and reinsert it down the column.

I mentioned securing with a cable-tie or tape and the issue with that could be the cable-tie or tape needs to be routed under the dimmer rod, and the ignition rod so as not to bind them up.

Just see if you can push both the turn signal switch and wiper switch harnesses up the column from below. It may be easier to push both vs. the wiper switch only.

You mentioned yours is a '95 so don't buy the switch I linked to. That's thru '93 only. The switch was changed in '94+ columns.

Did the cruise fuse only blow if you attempted to set it or would it blow regardless just using the full up or moving the column?

8valve

The fuse would blow with any movement of the Tilt column, full up was ok.

Its all fixed now and working fine. The repair took less than 30 minutes. But, removing the seat the bolster to get my body under the dash, took the time.

I totally eliminated the B+ wire from the 4 cavity plug up the steering column to the connector under the removable cover. I ran a wire from the 4 cavity plug (from memory) C235. The wire is hidden in the dash and exits right at the column where the removable cap is. The wire is encased in split loom. The loom being black just disappears behind the removable cap.

But its not fun working one self under the dash, even with the seat out ha ha ha. The General did good on giving us room.

8Valve