Hi all, I am hoping I can get some trouble shooting help. My right side steering wheel trip and Display controls went dead. This car has the hologram display that would give you and indication of the button you partially pressed on the center display. The temp control on that same steering wheel switch is working. What is the best way to go about trouble shooting? A search here indicates a cable that goes bad, but also shows that there is a separate CPU for the holographic switches. I'm leaning towards electrical. When it first broke I got it to work one more time by banging on the steering wheel, but that was a one time caveman fix. I can't reset the trip, or oil change announcement until this gets fixed. Thanks!
If banging the steering wheel fixed it, maybe replacing that component will do the trick? Or God willing: it's just a loose or corroded connection in that switch? With all this hightech cr#p we really get dropped in it when things go, eh?
It's just a guess but the clock spring wire ribbon in the steering wheel hub may be the culprit. I'm surprised it didn't set off a warning light of some kind. That could be a good thing... I guess.
That was my original thought based on research on here. It sounds like it fails in different spots, and can get progressively worse. Right now the airbag light and other things haven't triggered/failed, but I suppose that could just be a matter of time.
There seem to have been several posts from different people in this thread over time. Per the thread title and the original post, this thread is about cars that have the Touch Tracer display (where you see a glowing outline of the steering wheel buttons over the speedometer when you touch them). In that version of the car, yes, there is a micro computer built into the steering pad switch, that sends messages over the single green "STRG" wire to the combination meter, telling it which buttons are being touched or pressed. These cars have the wiring shown with (*6) here ("w/ Touch Sensor"), and not the wiring shown with (*7). When posting on this thread about another car with a similar problem, it might be helpful to include as much information as possible from the following: Do any of the steering wheel buttons work? Which ones? Does the Touch Tracer display respond when any of the buttons are lightly pressed? Which ones? Does the cruise control work? How about the passenger airbag on/off light, when there is weight in the passenger seat? (I mention those just as two easy things to check that happen to involve the same fuse that powers the steering pad micro computer.)
I just wanted to post that a clockspring replacement fixed my problem (disp, trip and tracer were not working). Also, in my case the Cruise was inop and now it works. I didn't have any lights ON for airbag and also the horn was working. In fact everything was working but the disp trip and tracer (steering controls) and Cruise Control stalk.
You can buy a cheap one on Ebay. That is what I did for $10 with zero problems. My trip button was not working and I was not able to see anything related to battery info because the oil maintenance message was there. No need to spend lots of money on a new/used OEM clockspring.
There may be issues with the horn or cruise control if you do not use a oem part for the clock spring. Having these issues on a car I am working on after someone recommended the cheap clock spring.
ANy easy solution without going to mechanic? Mine happened during jump or oil change. Not sure who did this
I have replaced my clock spring (twice) but my trip and disp buttons still do not function. Any ideas?
