Cruise Control kicked off

cherrington17 · 10-22-2009, 08:37 PM

when i say kicked... i felt it *SLAP* against the bottom of my foot, like someone kicked the back of my gas pedal...

i was driving down a highway at dusk. Cruise was locked in, but i keep my foot hovering near the pedal incase i need to brake or gas it (idiot people who swerve w/o looking piss me off)

As the sun went down, my night lights kicked on. (interior leds, gauges, door lights, HIDs) and my pedal kicked back HARD. My cruise control shut off, and wouldn't re-engage. I turned cruise off completely, and back on, to no prevail. Hit "cancel" "set coast" "resume accel" nothing... no cruise at all.

So i turned the whole system off for a bit.. drove for another 5 min... tried again.. nothing still. Tried all combinations of buttons.

Tried 5 more minutes later (actually... i totally forgot in this amount of time that it wasn't working, and engaged it w/o knowing) and it turned on and stayed on.

wtf?

Is my car haunted? Why would it turn off violently, and stay off for several mintues. Then be able to be turned on without shutting the car off...resetting anything...etc?

Nate's Alero · 10-22-2009, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherrington17

when i say kicked... i felt it *SLAP* against the bottom of my foot, like someone kicked the back of my gas pedal...

i was driving down a highway at dusk. Cruise was locked in, but i keep my foot hovering near the pedal incase i need to brake or gas it (idiot people who swerve w/o looking piss me off)

As the sun went down, my night lights kicked on. (interior leds, gauges, door lights, HIDs) and my pedal kicked back HARD. My cruise control shut off, and wouldn't re-engage. I turned cruise off completely, and back on, to no prevail. Hit "cancel" "set coast" "resume accel" nothing... no cruise at all.

So i turned the whole system off for a bit.. drove for another 5 min... tried again.. nothing still. Tried all combinations of buttons.

Tried 5 more minutes later (actually... i totally forgot in this amount of time that it wasn't working, and engaged it w/o knowing) and it turned on and stayed on.

wtf?

Is my car haunted? Why would it turn off violently, and stay off for several mintues. Then be able to be turned on without shutting the car off...resetting anything...etc?

sounds like the worm drive solenoid type thing is on its way out, that little box near the surge tank... it can wear out.. and it's also the "brain" for the Cruise system, it might have gotten wet?

Ian 2000GL LA1 · 10-22-2009, 09:12 PM

did u try to hold the crusie down mine went funky for no reason once and the switch just went bad but if i held it down it worked.

cherrington17 · 10-22-2009, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian 2000GL LA1

did u try to hold the crusie down mine went funky for no reason once and the switch just went bad but if i held it down it worked.

wouldn't make sense if it did re-engage normally, later on.

or why there was such a violent kick back on the pedal, the nanosecond my night lights kicked on.

i'm confused.

a4d2a0m · 10-23-2009, 10:36 AM

I had a similar problem... if it ever happens again check if your horn works.

There is a little black box bolted to the inside of the driver side fender, (by stock airbox)with 3 or 4 wires going in. check to see if it is loose or there is any corrosion on the mating surfaces. From what i can tell it cut out my cruise wiper fluid pump, horn and blinkers(they blinked fast like the flasher was gone.)

I was driving to toronto and lost my cruise, same as you started working a while later. did it again on my way home.

Mine was loose cleaned/tightened fixed all prob.

Just a thought!

cherrington17 · 10-23-2009, 11:04 AM

thanks adam... i'll check that.

Nice to know i'm not the only one who experienced this issue. Its odd, since its been pretty dry here lately. (3 days w/o any rain) of course today it is... but that wouldn't affect it back them.

lonnie · 10-23-2009, 11:43 AM

Tell your man that you refuse to put your legs on the dash anymore...LOL

cherrington17 · 10-23-2009, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonnie

Tell your man that you refuse to put your legs on the dash anymore...LOL

what the hell were you TRYING to say?

Nate's Alero · 10-23-2009, 01:54 PM

Check the ground thing on your inner fender, by the stock airbox location, speaking of this, mine kicked off hard today alero, no horn or anything, cleaned and greased that little box's connection with the car, and everything is good

cherrington17 · 11-06-2009, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate's Alero

Check the ground thing on your inner fender, by the stock airbox location, speaking of this, mine kicked off hard today alero, no horn or anything, cleaned and greased that little box's connection with the car, and everything is good

its still doing this. not so much, kicking off now...but more so, won't turn on.

if my headlights are on, my cruise won't turn on, for a while. like.. 5 minutes. then will. Its not a button issue... when the headlights are off, it works flawlessly.

I checked my cruise fuses (2 on the passanger side) they are fine.

I checked that ground on the inside of the fender. Unscrewed the bolt.. and PANG! head broke off. so i make-shift made a ground connection to connect to the battery, and watersealed it, until i can get enough free time to fix it, properly.

This started when i added HIDs and disabled my DRL.(bent the pin in the relay) Is there any reason why that would happen? anyone want to check the wire diagram for a 2003 and see if the headlight relay has any possible connection with the cruise control?

any other possible reasons? Its definitely linked to the drl deactivating and headlight activating circuit. Why in gods name would that temporarily disable cruise control?????

DansGen1Alero · 11-06-2009, 07:51 PM

My only guess is an electronic surge that caused it, and the car needed time to recover before kicking back on???? mine had slowed down as in felt like it was gonna die when my HIDs kick on sometimes and if my stereo is pumping, and my ac is on or turning hard or even coming to a stop. maybe a higher alternator....just a thought

cherrington17 · 11-06-2009, 08:46 PM

i have a high output alternator WITH an overdrive pulley. on highway, i'm at a consistant 14.8 volts, with my stereo pumping and HIDs on.

DansGen1Alero · 11-06-2009, 08:53 PM

Well since you think it may be an indirect result of the DRL disable, try to reenable the DRL to see if it still occurs.

Another thought....I havent looked at the manual or my fuses in quite some time, but the cruise control im assuming is a relay? Maybe it is about to go up?

Nate's Alero · 11-06-2009, 08:55 PM

No relay on cruise,

i say revert the change to HIDS and the DRL disable, and then if that fails, change the cruise box.

a4d2a0m · 11-06-2009, 09:02 PM

what was you make-shift ground?? possibly not strong enough..

The bolt snapped on me to.. i used the hole in the fender right beside it. ground of the paint and a used a short 3/4" #12 metal screw.

cherrington17 · 11-06-2009, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a4d2a0m

what was you make-shift ground?? possibly not strong enough..

The bolt snapped on me to.. i used the hole in the fender right beside it. ground of the paint and a used a short 3/4" #12 metal screw.

sanding the metal corrosion off the ground splice, and wrapping a 10ga wire around the open loop. coating in dielectric grease, and wiring directly to the ground on the battery.

DEFINITELY good enough.

Thanks for the size though. I'll go grab one of those... thats easier then grinding out the old one.

I'll see if i can reactivate the DRL. (my poor HIDs will take a beating though) but i'm not taking them out. Increased energy pull would blow a fuse, not make something else act up... that doesn't make sense

and nate, how could it possibly be the cruise box? w/ my HIDs on at night, cruise works fine. when they are off during the day, cruise works fine. its only when it kicks on, while i'm cruising. (the other day during a storm, it was a PITA. drl on, drl off, drl on, drl off. cruise didn't work at all, since i never overcame the "time limit")

possibly the pcm? if my computer gets jacked up because of it?

a4d2a0m · 11-06-2009, 10:35 PM

Would pulling the drl fuse make a diff?? since the signal would never be sent?

cherrington17 · 11-06-2009, 10:47 PM

probably not. i'll try that first... since its easiest.

DansGen1Alero · 11-06-2009, 10:48 PM

Wait, how would your HIDs take a beating from the DRL reenabled?

cherrington17 · 11-06-2009, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DansGen1Alero

Wait, how would your HIDs take a beating from the DRL reenabled?

being on all the time.... my drl's ARE my lowbeams.