UPDATE: Problem solved!
Read post #29

New owner here. Working on getting all or most of the issues out of my 2001.
Cruise control ON/OFF switch seems to have power and red light comes on when ON. But I get no response from steering wheel controls. Would like to get this going.
Thoughts?
I did notice that my lower tab on the steering wheel feels different then the top tab. Maybe it's a bad switch, keeping the Set tab from activating. ??

Thanks

 

More likely it's the actuator unit in the engine bay. There are several vacuum lines on it that have a tendency to crack and cause the system to stop working.

 

Check and see if someone changed the rear brake light bulbs to LED. If LED, change them back to old school filament bulbs. Bought my wife's 03, cruise didn't work (but switch lit up like yours), changed LED bulbs back to original style...works great now.

Brian.

 

Things to check:

Vacuum Line from the pump
Brake Light Switch
C/C ECU (passenger side kick panel)
Vacuum Pump
C/C Fuse
Clock Spring
C/C Switch on steering wheel

When driving faster than 35MPH if you hit set you should hear a click from the passenger kick panel C/C ECU. If you do at least you'll know the C/C switch on the steering wheel works then it's probably pump or vacuum line related. If you get nothing check fuses, brake switch, or steering wheel switches, or C/C ECU.

 

Yes, previous owner switched to LED. I'll try. Thanks

 

I keep hearing about the LED bulb issue, but I have the Sylvania Zevo LED's in two of my D2's and the cruise control works great on both of them. I've learned to stay away from those Pilot Branded LED's or no name wonders for issues like that.

 

Kinda watching this as I've got an '01 with cruise that doesn't work either despite the light working on the dash. I've checked the pump under the hood and verified it is working and all the tubing is in good shape as well as the joints.

I'm thinking it's either the switch or the clock spring. I'm leaning to the clock spring as the horn doesn't work either despite me just changing the buttons out fully and making sure that system is functional. I've decided to be lazy and am going to have Great Basin Rovers do it for me, and I'm dropping it off tomorrow so I'll let you know in a few days what they come up with.

 

Did you check your tail light bulbs? If they have been changed to cheap LED bulbs, your cruise will not work. The cruise module monitors the resistance of the brake light system, if it senses that there is a problem with the brake light switch or system...it will not allow the system to set. Since the brake light switch is what turns the system off while braking, the manufacturer wants to verify it working. Did a search awhile back and came up with several different LED bulbs...with several different resist levels. I just changed mine back to 1157 original style bulbs...works like a champ.

Side note...on some of our newer vehicles at work, I'm a fleet mechanic, they actually have a code for the brake system failure (electrical fault)...which if active...won't let you set cruise control. Normally, it becomes active when some of the bulbs, which there are multiple bulbs inside one tail light module on these vehicles, are burned out. You may have ten out of the twenty bulbs burned out on one tail light assembly, and that is enough to change resistances levels and throw the code, which disables the cruise.

Brian.

 

Well, after pulling of the tail light I discovered that they were NOT LED replacements. So, now onto the next thing.
My steering wheel may be the issue? I know one of my horn buttons, the right one, is hung up, and I feel like the bottom switch on the cruise control feels weird. Anyone do testing on this system? If so, let it be known. I'm pretty good with a multimeter.

 

Don't feel bad...this easy fix (bulbs) was the only easy fix I've ran across on both of our rovers.