W126 Cruise stalk
 

My cruise control stalk is very loose and it's general movement appears to be far too light with little control and direction.

Lately I have noticed when driving along that the cruise will occassionally engage without me activating it.

What should the stalk feel like when moving it around? Mine appears far too sloppy.

Anyone replaced theres?

Cheers
Matt.

Firm yet smooth. Short movement up or down.

Sounds like you need a new stalk, US they are about $30, no idea how much in NZ. No too difficult to replace, but you do have to pull the steerubf wheel and basically gut the column. If you decide to give it a go I could probably talk you through it.

Hi Mike, thanks for the reply.

I am also considering replacing the indicator stalk as the markings have almost faded completely off.

Should the cruise stalk self centre in any way?

Cheers
Matt.

Yes Matt it should return to a neutral, centered position.

Take care using it in the condition it is in. My story about a worn stalk tells what can happen. On mine the old stalk was a bit loose, I engaged the cruise a tick over 80 and tooled down the highway fat dumb and happy. When I got into heavy traffic I hit the brake to slow down, which shut down cruise and as soons as I took my foot off the brake the car accelerated back up toward 80. I couldn't shut the cruise down until I got below 25mph...very scary.

The cruise stalk is fitted to the combination switch and locked in position with a key. Not too difficult, but the wire routing can be tricky. Study your existing set up good and you'll do fine. Since you are comtemplating a new combo switch this would be a great time to kill two birds with one stone.

Thanks Mike.

I have had a couple of similar unintended cruise engagements which has prompted this.

Cheers
Matt.

cruise control engaging
 

Hi:

After having this experience on more than one occassion- for safety just shift the car to neutrel or turn of engine to prevent serious problem

nagy1106