Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Calling all Electronic Guru’s, here’s on for ya. Hope you can help.
Steering Wheel Radio and Cruise Don’t work. Over the years (owned since 5/01) the buttons on the face and behind the steering wheel have gone out. Initially the radio buttons worked whacky: left top volume up would change channel, volume down would increase volume, left channel up would increase volume, etc. All buttons would just inconsistently work out of order and/or not at all. The cruise would and wouldn’t work. I’ve replaced the clock spring twice with success for a period of time and it would sometimes work depending on the position of the tilt wheel. The last clock spring I replaced everything worked perfectly... at least while running in the driveway = radio controls and cruise on off (light on dash would come on and off when “on button” pressed. Once I placed the tilt wheel in a lower position and placed in “D” the cruise light went out and the radio controls ceased to function. I removed the plastic covers to access column as well as the covers on top and below the wheel, removed the wheel (of course after disconnecting both batteries) and inspected the wiring = removing all the factory tape and inspecting wires for insulation breeches or loose / bad connections at the top of the wiring where connections to turn signals, ignition switch, clock spring and etc. as well as the bottom of the column where the wiring connected to the several large and smaller junction plugs and the connections beyond the lower plugs. The result was always - all good. Most recently I thought I found the problem, I lightly pulled on the wires going into the ignition switch connection and a red wire seemed a bit weak. I pulled this wire, once again lightly and it let go = it seemed as if just at where the wire krimped to the spade connector (I used a tool to remove all the connectors from the terminal plug) the wire was cut, so it seemed as if there “could” be an intermittent connection or lack there of. I thought this would explain why sometimes things worked or not depending on the location of the tilt wheel. As you tilt the wheel up or down the wiring harness would slip along the shaft of the column, this red wire seemed to have the most stress during up/down tilt. I move the wire so it wouldn’t have as much stress, after removing pieces from the spade connector and inserting, re-krimping and soldering the wire to the connector. I thought I had “finally” found the culprit = nope, same old same old.
At this point I’m wondering if the Central Time Module that, according to what I’ve read in the Dodge Ram Shop Manual (not a Chilton’s = the factory manual, which I purchased thru Geno’s Garage probably June/July 01) this CTM sends signals to all the various systems, including; radio and cruise functions. Another little tidbit, recently I moved my daughter from home (Levittown, PA) to Marysville, WA, with her 02 Merc Sable on a U-Haul Auto Transport, both car and bed of truck loaded (BTW: what an awesome trip with just she and I, and the truck did an awesome job) as we exited the PA Tpk continuing west I said “it would be great if the cruise worked”. I found that if I pressed the cruise button immediately after a warm start it would work, if you waited till all the after-start dash lights went out the cruise light wouldn’t light, but if you immediately pressed it before the lights went out it would “usually” stay on and work. Sometimes I’d have to start and turn off the engine multiple times to get the light to stay on. Very, very odd, but I usually always seemed to get the cruise to function.
So, I’m at a point where I’m at witts end. Does anyone have a clue if the CTM (or possibly ECM, or PCM, or all 3) could be the culprit? Or am I totally missing something? All the radio and cruise buttons test out good and I’ve cleaned all the little contact points within these switches. If the CTM, ECM or PCM are the problem(s) can they be re-flashed or replaced with new or remanufactured???? I love the convenience of the radio controls and it’s really nice to have cruise too.... I just want things to work correctly = again.
Thanks,
Joe Mc
Steering Wheel Radio and Cruise Don’t work. Over the years (owned since 5/01) the buttons on the face and behind the steering wheel have gone out. Initially the radio buttons worked whacky: left top volume up would change channel, volume down would increase volume, left channel up would increase volume, etc. All buttons would just inconsistently work out of order and/or not at all. The cruise would and wouldn’t work. I’ve replaced the clock spring twice with success for a period of time and it would sometimes work depending on the position of the tilt wheel. The last clock spring I replaced everything worked perfectly... at least while running in the driveway = radio controls and cruise on off (light on dash would come on and off when “on button” pressed. Once I placed the tilt wheel in a lower position and placed in “D” the cruise light went out and the radio controls ceased to function. I removed the plastic covers to access column as well as the covers on top and below the wheel, removed the wheel (of course after disconnecting both batteries) and inspected the wiring = removing all the factory tape and inspecting wires for insulation breeches or loose / bad connections at the top of the wiring where connections to turn signals, ignition switch, clock spring and etc. as well as the bottom of the column where the wiring connected to the several large and smaller junction plugs and the connections beyond the lower plugs. The result was always - all good. Most recently I thought I found the problem, I lightly pulled on the wires going into the ignition switch connection and a red wire seemed a bit weak. I pulled this wire, once again lightly and it let go = it seemed as if just at where the wire krimped to the spade connector (I used a tool to remove all the connectors from the terminal plug) the wire was cut, so it seemed as if there “could” be an intermittent connection or lack there of. I thought this would explain why sometimes things worked or not depending on the location of the tilt wheel. As you tilt the wheel up or down the wiring harness would slip along the shaft of the column, this red wire seemed to have the most stress during up/down tilt. I move the wire so it wouldn’t have as much stress, after removing pieces from the spade connector and inserting, re-krimping and soldering the wire to the connector. I thought I had “finally” found the culprit = nope, same old same old.
At this point I’m wondering if the Central Time Module that, according to what I’ve read in the Dodge Ram Shop Manual (not a Chilton’s = the factory manual, which I purchased thru Geno’s Garage probably June/July 01) this CTM sends signals to all the various systems, including; radio and cruise functions. Another little tidbit, recently I moved my daughter from home (Levittown, PA) to Marysville, WA, with her 02 Merc Sable on a U-Haul Auto Transport, both car and bed of truck loaded (BTW: what an awesome trip with just she and I, and the truck did an awesome job) as we exited the PA Tpk continuing west I said “it would be great if the cruise worked”. I found that if I pressed the cruise button immediately after a warm start it would work, if you waited till all the after-start dash lights went out the cruise light wouldn’t light, but if you immediately pressed it before the lights went out it would “usually” stay on and work. Sometimes I’d have to start and turn off the engine multiple times to get the light to stay on. Very, very odd, but I usually always seemed to get the cruise to function.
So, I’m at a point where I’m at witts end. Does anyone have a clue if the CTM (or possibly ECM, or PCM, or all 3) could be the culprit? Or am I totally missing something? All the radio and cruise buttons test out good and I’ve cleaned all the little contact points within these switches. If the CTM, ECM or PCM are the problem(s) can they be re-flashed or replaced with new or remanufactured???? I love the convenience of the radio controls and it’s really nice to have cruise too.... I just want things to work correctly = again.
Thanks,
Joe Mc
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