1st Gen Cruise Control Works Intermittently

[srvblues00]

I have a 94 X with a 5spd manual tranny.. 148,000 miles on the clock. Cruise control works sometimes. If the X has been siting for a while, even as little as 1 week, the cruise will stop working. Once I drive it for a while on a daily basis, it will start working again. I checked the hoses on the servo, and they look good - they are all there, connected, and not cracked. The BOO switch appears to work - all 3 brake lights come on when I hit the brake pedal. So... sounds to me like something electrical. What do you think? What are the resistance tolerance values for the components of the cruise systems? Are there other common problems with the 1st gen that cause the cruise to quit working? I am getting ready to sell it, so I really would like to get it working.

 

[Brain]

Have you checked the vehicle speed sensor (VSS) to see if it is loose? It is the electrical connection where the spedometer cable comes out of the transfer case. Intermittent problems are sometimes a SOB to track down.

 

[Jason94sport]

The servo could be going bad. Mine was totaly dead & had to be replaced. Might also be a faulty switch on the steering wheel.

 

[Brock94]

Mine was working intermittently and it turned out that the clutch position switch wasn't snapped on all the way.

 

[srvblues00]

A few months ago when I replaced the speedo drive gear, I checked the VSS, and it seems to be working. I should pull the codes just to make sure.

It's pretty possible the servo is going bad, I guess. I don't know how to test it, though. I guess I could give it a good whack and then drive it and see what happens. A while ago I test the switch on the wheel, and it seemed good, but I might check it again.

Ah.. the clutch position sensor. I am pretty sure that might be messed up. My clutch pedal will travel towards the driver quite a ways. Over a year ago I remember hearing something break under there, but I couldn't tell any negative side effects, so I didn't bother to crawl under there and check it out. I bet that's probably the problem. Good point!

Thanks for the suggestions, that helps.. Hopefully this weekend I'll have time to check them out.