PDMichael

Hello to all that read this and thanks for your time and input (in advance),

PREFACE: My service engine light has been on for a EGR issue, but that's not what this post is about.

- Two weeks ago, in my '95 SC300 - I swapped out a brown steering wheel for a black one (same style), which came out of a 1998 SC.
- Yes, I disconnected the (-) terminal of the battery ... and reconnected when everything was in place.
- The service engine light and the air bag light immediately came on and after driving the car, the horn and the cruise control would not work.
- Therefor, I found a quality-used clock spring and replaced that.
- After replacing the clock spring and connecting everything - AGAIN, the service engine light and the air bag light IMMEDIATELY CAME ON
- Usually as we know, if you disconnect the (-) battery terminal, it will turn off the service engine light for about 50 miles
- The horn now works ... BUT, the cruise control still does not.
- When I turn the car on and/or start it, the cruise control will not turn on if I naturally press the button to turn it on.
- BUT, if I press the cruise control button and HOLD THE BUTTON IN, the green 'CRUISE' LIGHT (in the cluster), BLINKS (5) TIMES and then STOPS.

** I'm assuming the airbag light is on because I replaced the airbag and the steering wheel
** But can someone please explain why the cruise control is blinking?
** Do I have another bad clock spring?

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Weird, that shouldn't have happened. There's no difference between the '95 and '98 steering wheels. ('99-00 got the 3-spoke wheel and different airbag connector.) Are you sure it's actually a '98 SC wheel? Someone could have put something different in that car before you got to it... Maybe something wasn't right with its CC stalk, or someone had re-pinned its horn/CC connector for who knows what change in functionality?

As far as troubleshooting, always start by undoing the known piece that you changed that initiated the problem. If you put the old wheel back on and it goes away, you know it was nothing to do with the clockspring or airbag disconnection. From there, you can try the black wheel again, swap over your old CC stalk, check the wire order matches, etc.

PDMichael

Thanks t2d2!

It's ironic what you wrote, because I was actually thinking about putting the brown one back on, but I decided to post here and I wanted to see if any messages could be a solution. I'll keep you posted after I do it. Thanks again!

PDMichael

UPDATE & PROBLEM SOLVED: I took out the cruise control from the brown '95 steering wheel and put it in the black steering wheel, which I didn't have to take off (again). After putting the (-) terminal back on letting the car sit for 3-4 minutes, I started the car. The CEL light and airbag light immediately came on (again), but when I pressed in the cruise control button the green light on the cluster came ON just like it did when it was with the brown steering wheel ... and when I drove it on the highway, the cruise control worked just like it always did!

I don't claim to be a Lexus expert by any means, but although some parts look the same they are not always interchangeable. I remember doing my research and noticing that the '95 steering wheel had a different part number than the '98 ... but since they looked the same, I assumed it would with work no problems. This is definitely true with climate controls! Only use/replace 92-94 and 95-96, with the same year(s). If you do not, the fans will work irregularly. I'm not sure about 97-2000. But, going back to the cruise control ... there still may be a problem with the cc from the '98 steering wheel, but the guy that I bought it from said it worked fine when I bought it. Regardless, I'm glad it worked out.

Photon440

iTrader: (3)

Sorry to hear about all those difficulties. I put a 2000 three spoke wheel bought from ScottURnot on my 1995 and had no issues with the airbag - I did re-use my original cruise control so that part worked fine too.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

HVAC units definitely differ by year, but that's the first I've heard of the CC stalks possibly differing, as well. At least you got it working!

perfctreig

FWIW, I put a GS430 wheel on my '99 SC. The main difference was that the GS steering wheel had two connectors for a dual-stage airbag. The airbag on my car only had one. Hopefully it will work.