Cruise/Wipers intermittent

[SueRVEd]

Been quite a week, so the cruise and wipers have always acted up by working on and off over the years.
Today I decided to dig in and was ready to blame the VIP controller card.
However, before running diagnostics on the VIP card, I checked the clock spring in the steering column.
I performed a simple continuity check on the four wires from the the Smart Wheel switch thru the clock spring to the other end of the harness.
Three of the four wires had continuity but the fourth did not.
Thinking I may have just had a bad connection of the multimeter probe on the contacts I rechecked them again.

This time, two of the four showed open on the ohm meter.
I rotated the clock spring and wiggled it around and it showed life.

It was determined by me that the clock spring was bad.

I found a new one at Freightliner for a mere $500. (It’s coming Wednesday)

So I’m a tinkering kind of guy and right away started digging into the clock spring. Turns out, there is a ribbon cable in there that is probably 3-4 feet long. Just a guess, I didn’t measure it....but how could it go bad?

A little more digging and eureka, the ribbon cable was broken or almost broken in all 6 areas near the connector. Still not sure how that could have happen other than just a poor design.

My part number was 455068 but the new replacement was redesigned and is now part number RGT 455089.

I wanted to share as I see others do have similar problems but this appears unique when I dissected the clock spring itself.
Attached is a picture of what I found.

Good luck everyone!