I just replaced the four steering wheel control switches in my '05. Everything went fine - there are a lot of YT vids on how to replace these switches. However, when I finished, none of the backlights worked for any of the switches. After about 3 hours of searching documents for the possible problem, I came across an "instrumentation lighting diagram" that shows a 2 amp fuse in line with the power from the dash light dimming switch. Spoiler Alert: There are no 2 amp fuses in any of the fuse panels! After another hour of looking in and around the H2, I found the fuse, in its own in-line fuse holder, taped to the steering wheel wiring harness up under the dash. The fuse was not visible at all until the black tape was removed. To get to it requires removing the lower dashboard cowl (again, lots of YT vids on how to do this). Once the cowl is removed, the fuse looks like a little black box about 5/8 inch wide by about 1 1/4 inch long and maybe 1/2 inch deep, completely covered with black electrical tape which also tapes the fuse holder to the wiring harness. At first glance, the tape is so thorough that it looks like the steering wheel wiring harness actually goes through this little tape covered box.

Technically, this is the "Steering Column Fuse Holder" and is described as being located "In the steering column harness approximately 26 cm (10 in) from inline C202 near the base of the steering column." C202 is a black 52 pin connector that is attached to the transfer case shift control bracket.

Note: The fuse blew when I cut the wiring harness to the lower left switch in the steering wheel without realizing the park lights were on. The wiring harness for the lower left switch is really, really short and it is almost impossible to install the electrical connector to the new switch without first lengthen the wiring. The wiring for all four switches can be found behind the airbag. I have replaced all four switches successfully on other H2's and GM's without ever removing the air bag however, on this one truck, the harness was just too short which required popping off the airbag and extending the wiring to this one switch.

 

Good info! I am sure everyone on here appreciates this.

 

I was looking all over for this fuse...so its the box..i thought it would be like a fusible link..but now i know what im looking for