Cruise Won't Turn On

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Hey guys. 2011 Libby Sport here.

Got a funky little problem that started appearing a few days ago and just got worse today. Cruise control refuses to turn on. For the past few days to a week, I noticed occasionally that it wouldn't turn on when I first hit the button, but after a few minutes if I tried again it'd turn on, allowing me to set it.

Well today on my way home from work, Cruise would not turn on at all. No matter how much I hit the button on my wheel during my 30-40 min highway drive, it refused to turn on at all.

I've no CEL currently (And confirmed it works) and while I tried looking at the fuses, none are clearly labeled as being the cruise control fuse.

A search shows Cruise Control issues for a lot of the KJ models, but almost nothing related to the KK model. Anyone have an inkling of what this could be? Could the button just be dead? Could a wire be bad somewhere that I'd have to trace? Could it be related to the TIPM (Which someone suggested to me for my quirky rear wiper once)?

Any help is appreciated. While the vehicle is fine and driveable otherwise, having cruise is nice so I don't let my lead foot get me in trouble.

Thanks!

Edit: Right after posting this I took my better half into work and what should happen? Cruise finally decides to turn on when I press the On/Off Button. Seems like when it comes on the first time, it can be turned on and off fine. It's just getting it to turn on the first time that's up in the air.

 

[Billwill]

Could be the "Clockspring" at the top of the steering column is starting to fail. This carries the status of the Horn, Radio Controls, Air Bags and Cruise Control down to the various Modules while the Steering is able to turn side to side.

The flexible copper tracks in the Clockspring can develop cracks over time giving intermittent faults!

If the problem gets worse you may need to replace it......you have to be careful as the Airbags could go off while you are working in that area and could de-capitate you! Always disconnect the battery completely and strap the positive and negative leads together for 30 minutes to drain any stray capacitance.

I had to replace this on my 2002 Export KJ.

 

[lfhoward]

I replaced the clockspring in my 08 two years ago. They do wear out. Mine was causing an airbag light that would come on while cranking the wheel to parallel park.

I suspect the clockspring like Billwill does. If you had ESC/traction control and ABS lights on too, I would suspect a wheel speed sensor. But you didn’t mention that.

If it were the TIPM you would have a host of unexplainable problems with the automatic locks, windshield wipers, speedometer, and other things. So most likely not that.

 

[Johnny O]

A bit late to the game, me, but this sounds like a dirty/failing cruise button…if it’s intermittent, always check the cheapo switches.