mark1500

Well there are no special tools needed, the worst part of the whole deal is laying on you back in front of the drivers seat to get the switch out, but this may be easier for some as I am a big guy(6'6" 270). To get the switch out is simple, you take a small flat bladed screw driver and pop a clip off that holds the switch to the brake pedal and master cylinder rod, and then un-clip the harness. The switch can then be removed from the vehicle. I took it in the house at this point to take it apart. There are four tabs that hold the top of the switch body, just pry those open with your small blade screw driver and the top comes off. There is a white plastic part with a spring you can then remove followed by a white slider, that the first part fits into that can be removed, just remember the orientation. I then was able to pop out the four contact pad sets(pry up gently on them and the will come out of slots in the body that hold them) and clean them off with the sand paper, again remember the orientation(only the two top ones on mine had black marks on the contacts, but I still cleaned them all). I then cleaned everything will rubbing alcohol and reassembled. Total time was about about a minute to remove, a half an hour to clean and 30 seconds to put it back in the truck(no tool need to put the clip and harness back on.

SUV Blogger

I think the set of controls on the left are out. You might be able to replace that part by itself.

Fish

HUGE props and THANK YOU to marc1500 and 84camaro for directing me to this issue!!!! MANY MANY thanks!!

My 2008 K1500 Suburban lost cruise control about 6 months ago. Thought it would be a dealer issue. Have not been to this site in a while but came here and found a lot of folks have this problem. Common issue is the "stop lamp switch" on the brake pedal (located under the dash on the inside of the brake pedal at the attachment point of the push rod to the master cylinder. Held on by a single 10mm hex head screw and a clip). Part number 15861245. $23 from the dealer. Bought it and replaced it myself and that fixed it.

Took the old switch apart. marc1500 said he fixed the problem by cleaning the contacts. That didn't help me. Inside the switch there is a rotating cam that activates the switch. When pressure is applied to the brake, it rotates. Mine had worn to the point it was not rotating enough to activate the contacts. New switch fixed it. Parts manager said this is a BIG problem and they keep LOTS of those switches on hand.

By the way, this DID NOT affect my tail lights or brake lights. The brake lights were working fine. Only affected the operation of my cruise control.

GMPartsDirect had it for $10. Easier for me to go 1 mile to the dealer and put it in myself.

Nasboat3

I had the same intermittent Cruise Control problem on my 07 Avalanche LTZ. It would work for a while, then just stop engaging. It would start working next time you started up the truck... for a while.
I saw postings in here that it was the brake switch. I tried trouble shooting it... when it was working, I just tapped side of brake pedal and sure enough it tripped it off. I bought a new brake switch rom Chev Dealer ($32.00) and changed it... pretty easy to do.
I noticed that the white grease from the original line installation seemed to be getting into the button on old switch... likely the root cause of the whole problem.
Thanks to others in here for all your help!

Spyder31

It may be just as easy to go ahead and call the dealer to ask about the warranty. Chances are it's something electric and won't be covered by your factory warranty.

73shark

Why would he want to check w/ his dealer re: warranty since he already fixed it?

SabrToothSqrl

this seems to be a quite common problem... go GM quality!

Spyder31

guess I didn't read the last post in the thread. My apologies. Perhaps other people are having this issue and want to know if it's covered under warranty. I was pointing out that it's usually faster and more reliable to just call the dealer and ask rather than trying to interpret the language of the warranty yourself.

I don't know why my posts keep getting caught in moderation.

Airspeed

2008 Suburban LT (LT1 package) 77000 miles.
Cruise Control went from intermittent to almost never. The only remedy was putting your shoe under the brake pedal and pulling up and jiggling a little. I was so successful on this forum in researching and ultimately saving myself hundreds of dollars on the check engine light issue I had that I looked this problem up. Once again, with the help here from Mark1500, I have now successfully fixed my cruise control for FREE! I love this place! Sorry for the nube outburst. Anyway, attached are the photos I took to help in the location and procedure that Mark1500 outlined above. Hope this helps. Thank you all for your contributions.

in2pro

Airspeed excellent follow up with the pictures... just like a thousand words...

My daughters Chevy Cobalt had a similar issue with the signal indicator not turning off after a turn.. I pulled the switch and opened it up, cleaned it up, greased it and tweaked the spring and it now works like a charm...all for a few minutes of time...