It is rare, but occasionally a set of the steering wheel control buttons will fail to operate as they should. The buttons use a set of resistors to send the correct signal to the radio and if corrosion occurs on the contacts it will throw off the expected resistance.
Testing for the correct resistance is quite easy and can be measured from the connector beneath the air bag or at the base of the steering column.
With a multimeter set to resistance attach one lead to the Terminal A of the connector (Yellow Wire) and the other lead to Terminal C (Light Green Wire). Press each switch individually to see if the correct resistance is shown.
| Volume Up | 1270 Ω |
| Volume Down | 1564 Ω |
| Mute | 2387 Ω |
| Seek Up | 3102 Ω |
| Seek Down | 4282 Ω |
| Preset | 13632 Ω |
Schematic for the Steering Wheel Controls is below for reference.
If the resistance measured does not line up with the schematic it is very likely that the contacts are corroded. With some disassembly they can be cleaned up and restored for many years of use.
1. Pry with a small screwdriver as shown in picture above and remove the upper tab. The plastic holding the tab in place might stretch or crack, but they still hold well with minor damage.
2. Slide the screwdriver along the slot that is opening up towards the bottom tab before prying slightly. This whole side of the button assembly will now be loose, and the button assembly can be removed easily. There will be 3 plungers that are loose and can fall out, so make sure to work in a contained area, but they drop right back in for assembly.
3. Press out the circuit board with the screwdriver through the connector opening. Should pop out without much issue.
4. Pull off the gray rubber cover as shown in the picture above.
5. There are copper discs on the bottom side of the gray cover as shown by the q-tip.
6. And also round discs on the circuit board in 3 places that line up with the discs as shown in the picture from step 5.
Sand both sets of discs gently with a 3M scotchbrite pad to clean up any corrosion or buildup. Then use a q-tip, spray it with electronics cleaner, and wipe all of the sanded surfaces down to make sure they are clean.
7. Reassemble and the buttons should work great. This has given consistent results when used to repair buttons here at The Ugly Truckling.
As always feel free to message us with any questions you may have and check out our inventory of Steering Wheel Control Kits and more. Even if an item is out of stock we are often able to source it with a 10-15 day lead time.