This forum has helped me with a previous problem, for which I am very greatful,but since my car is not new I still have other issues to deal with.The cruise control in my'93 Park Avenue is very eratic. Sometimesyou can drive for quite a while with the cruise engaged and other times only go a few miles before it disengages itself. When this happens you may be able to re-engage for a little while but most of the time it will not take hold. I can turn the cruise switch off and later in the day it will work again. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the roughness of the road or weather conditions or temperature. When it is working it acts exactly like it should, very smooth. Can anyone give me an idea of the most likely cause for this problem. I have already done a check for vacuum leaks but have found none.


Thanks

 

Often it's the wire in the arm on the steering column... if not you certainly have a electrical plug on the cruise actuator. Check if any worm or bad contact.

On mine I had to use some water repellant stuff to correct the problem. The seal in the plug is leaky

 

Would you expect the wire to be bare and shorting out, or broken inside of the insulation and losing connection?

 

Wires in the arm often broke near the stearing column. Mostime they are just broken inside their insulation but I also see naked wired making short circuit on the arm.

You can also check near the throttle body, you will see a electrical plug on the cruise module, it me be also worn.

Sorry for my bad english. Don't hesistate to ask if is still unclear

 

I work on buicks everyday and I've seen alot of brake switches cause the very problem your talking about. The brake switch has several contacts in it. Even if your brake lights work it doesn't matter because the cruise uses different contacts in the switch. The brake switch is what feeds power to the servo so if there were some kind of a problem pressing on the brake would remove all power from the cruise servo. The contacts get burnt and have high resistance. You should be able to remove the switch and then you can take it apart and clean the contacts. You might need to bend one of them to make it have a tighter connection. I usally just replace the switch but if it was my own car I would save the money and just clean the contacts.

 

I want to appologize. I just reallized that I posted this in the wrong forum. I had thought I posted in Park Avenue but must have scrolled before clicking on another selection.

 

I have checked out the brake switches and found them to be in excellent condition. I was hoping this is where the problem would be since it seems that this was easier to check and fix than the wire to the cruise switch. I will tackle the wire next. If this doesn't reveal the problem I will be back to ask for more suggestions.


Thanks

 

I would make sure that they are clean and bend the contact so it puts more pressure on the contact.


If the brake switch is good then it is hard to say what it might be. Posibly the servo, switches, or wires. The PCM is what controls the cruise on this car so I suppose that could even be the problem but I doubt it. If you have a scan tool you can see the cruise switches in the data display and see if they are working or not.That would be easier than pulling apart column.