Hey folks,

Thanks to the existence of this forum, I was able to help my mechanic properly diagnose the torque converter problem my truck was having. After putting in a new TPS I'm back rolling smoothly!

Since that was a known issue with the truck, I'm wondering if anybody can help with another?

My 2001 1500 QC Sport Off Road has the steering column mounted radio controls....but they don't work.
Also, the key "halo" doesn't light, and I wonder if that's related?

Anybody ever have or know of any issues in the column that would cause this?

JD

 

does the cruise control work? it could be a blown fuse. or a short in one of the wires.

 

yep, all cruise buttons work, and the horn works
forgot to mention that.

 

if im not mistaken the radio controls and the cruise controls are on two seperate plugs going into your column.. could be dirty plug or like was mentioned.. blown fuse.. but more likely a wire going into the plug has been shoved back where it isnt making contact.. hope that helped.. joe

 

or some schmuck at the dealer swapped in a NON radio control radio and your stuck..

 

yeah, this is a hand-me-down company truck, and the guy that I got it from (when it had 155k on it) didn't even know the radio buttons were there! The original window sticker says it has the options, I'll have to check around for some plugs under the dash. The backlight of the headlight switch has gone intermittent now too so that's another excuse...

 

thats weird.... i put in an aftermarket stereo and there wasnt a need for my steering weel buttons... so i tapped into that harness and wired them to roll my windows up and down and to turn on my underbody neons on and off and i got 2 more bottons to use and not sure what i want to do with them... its pretty slick... i confuse alot of people when i the ride with and i roll there windows down with out them seeing me touch my drivers side dooor for the stock controls... hehehehehehehe wicked smat!!!

 

Hey fiero guy, how was your truck acting up with a bad torque converter? what did you have to do to diagnose it? I suspect a little trouble with mine, any help would be much appreciated.

 

at speed the torque converter would unlock for just a second or two, and then lock up again, bouncing the RPMs up and then back to normal. Sometimes it would happen a few times every mile. I knew it wasn't ignition or anything because the RPMs were bouncing UP. Took me a while, and thanks to searching this forum, I found out the TPS was providing a bad (noisy) signal, that the computer was translating as me tromping on the gas, and so it would unlock the converter. Long story short, new TPS = a MUCH smoother ride and actually nearly another 3 MPG on the highway according to the overhead computer.

 

here's another related question.

Are the cruise control buttons on the wheel supposed to be backlit?