I need to replace my steering wheel control buttons LED's. I know I have two choices of soldering new ones or replacing the button. I just don't want to make this a huge project as I already have enough of those going. But the buttons are sure pricy. GM is very proud of their parts it seems.

Any words from those who have done this? Seems like I always do things 2 or 3 times before I figure it out.

Thanks

T

 

Soldering LEDs onto those small boards are not a big deal. Getting the button packs in and out is more of a hassle. You have to pop them forward then use something to reach behind to release the harness clip. Once out you'll notice the clips on the housings, gently pry the bottom loose and the whole pack will come apart. You can then easily solder in whatever you like. I have some general pics on my build thread if you need to take a look.

 

I just did this - I actually replaced the steering wheel too though which actually made it easier since I had everything out. My original wheel was pretty janky because a prior owner kept a steering wheel cover on it which rubbed through the wheel in places. I found a near perfect condition Escalade wheel on eBay for a $120 bucks and swapped that one in (has the wood on it which I think looks pretty classy) and its a direct fit replacement. 03 04 05 06 Escalade Denali Silverado Steering Wheel Leather Wood Radio | eBay There is almost no slack at all on the wiring to the switch pods. I know many do remove them with the airbag and wheel still in place though.

I would suggest that removing the airbag as that will at least give you access to the harness and let you get some more slack on the wiring. Removing the airbag is dead simple. Pop the hood and pull the airbag fuse in the underhood fuse box. There are two small holes, one on each side of back plastic center wheel cover poke a smallish blunt thing (I used a small phillips screwdriver) in the hole and push and that size of the airbag will release, then do the same on the other side and the whole center airbag module pops right out easy as can be. Squeeze the small clip on the wire connector on the back of it then set it out of the way.

The button pods themselves - just stick a small flathead screwdriver into the wheel beside one and pry it out of the pocket. Really easy and like LoJac said, once out they are easy to open up and replace the bulbs. Note - there are little plastic push pegs in each one for each button. Careful not to lose those...

I'm actually going to redo mine. I replaced them on the wheel I bought with red LED's but they are too bright for my taste. So I found some tiny 30ma 12v bulbs at a local hobby shop that specializes in model trains. More common on the tiny bulbs are 60ma but I think those will also be too bright. You can find the actual bulbs on eBay easy too - they are often called grain of wheat bulbs. Because I'm changing the color I also cut away the blue rubber cover part over the bulbs. Since I'm going to switch them back to incandescent I'll install tiny red silicone covers on the new bulbs I install today.

 

You can try removing the airbag, I know myself and others did not have any luck with doing so. The harnesses are simply just too short to give any extra play. Once you get one out and back in and understand how they come out, it's pretty simple.

 

Most of this thread is identical to our 03-07 H2's...

The Official L.E.D. How To Guide - How To - SilveradoSS.com

Also very handy if you are doing LED's because this guy nicely notated which is the positive pad on everything which saves a bunch of time.

I'm not sure on removing the airbag on the 08-09 models. Probably the same though. On the 03-07 it really is dead simple and easy to do.

 

Happy Easter Yall'!

Anyways - messed with mine again just a bit ago. When I swapped wheels completely I just changed the ones in the new wheel to LED's while it was totally out of the truck so getting them out and all was dead simple easy. But, the LED's were, in my opinion way too bright. The tiny incandescent bulbs I bought at the train hobby shop are the exact same size as the original bulbs and matched in intensity just right and installed easily. I already had some of the tiny red silicone bulb covers to I installed those instead of the original little blue ones.

That being said - I have not idea how so many are able to remove the button pods without removing at least the airbag. On the lower right pod on mine. There is no way, its simply not going to happen. There is not enough slack in the wires to get the pod out far enough to unplug it, it is physically impossible. Even if I were to smush enough of the soft wheel edge down enough to get a pick in there to blindly release the clip on the plug there would be no way to plug it back in to reinstall it.

Even with the airbag off I was still just barely able to wrangle enough slack to pull all 4 of them back out again. Got it done though!