Cruise Control relay

It's supposed to be mounted on a bracket on the inside of the firewall over the passenger's feet, above the felt kick panel. It's black, about

4" square, 1" thick.

Make sure that the pedal switches are adjusted properly and the brake lights work. There's a mercury deceleration switch on the outside passenger firewall that can get bent down when other work is being done. Also there are several unweatherproof connections in the harness between the actuator and control unit (relay).

I believe that by YM89 the cruise control unit was on the driver's side.

99% of cruise problems are vacuum related. Faulty vacuum adjustment on pedal switches or split hoses between the vacuum pump and the the servo. IIRC the vacuum servo is attached to a bracket above the accelerator pedal.

Bob

Thanks Bob! I'll take a look ASAP. I remember taking it to Apollo Garage in Toronto a few years ago and they remarked that the cruise (which had been working until a few weeks earlier) was simply disconnected so they reconnected it and it worked for a few more months and then disappeared again. At the time I thought they were telling me about the relay but I guess they may have been talking about the vacuum hose. Mine's an '83 but I'll see if it's in the same place.

Thanks again, I'll report my findings.

blurp

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 00:33:36 GMT, the illustrious radietz favored us with the following prose:

Well I found a bunch of things:

1. I found that I cannot wedge my girth in under the steering wheel without bruising my sternum
2. After removing the panels I found it very difficult to trace much by way of hoses as there's a spaghetti mess of wires and hoses with relay meatballs throughout
3. The top of the accellerator is under a plastic cover which I knew I wouldn't be able to get back on if I took it off due to the awkward angle at which I jammed myself in there. Feeling around I think I could feel a vacuum hose (thin and quite soft/pliable) but didn't do anything to mess with it.
4. One vacuum hose which enters the cabin in this area is spliced at a "T" connector which joins a yellow and red plastic piece and all connections appear to be sound
5. There is a blue plunger switch which is depressed when the brake pedal is in the zero position. At first I thought this regulated the brake lights but it doesn't seem to so I assumed that it was the switch that disengaged the cruise while driving. Since there was no audible click (only an increase in resistance) when depressed I concluded that the switch was threaded too far out and adjusted so that the brake pedal in zero position POSITIVELY pushes in the plunger. If this IS for the cruise and I've brought it in too close I can still disengage CC from the control switch on the stalk while driving. I hope.

I can hardly wait to test it out so if any of this seems obviously wrong please let me know before I go out there an kill myself.

Thanks, blurp

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 09:11:50 -0400, the illustrious blurp favored us with the following prose:

Send me your email addy and I will scan and email you a fault diagnosis for your cruise control.

Well I have come to the understanding (thanks largely to Harold's very useful "Fault Diagnosis" checklist) that there is no Cruise Control Relay. There is, however, a black box called the "governor" and it is located at the back of the passenger footwell (on the firewall under the carpet).

I had performed as many of the checks as I could before getting to multimeter tests on the governor.

I guess it's THIS that my earlier mechanic was referring to when he mentioned the cruise had been "disconnected". When I exposed this box it became evident that the multi-wire connector was not completely connected to it (!!) so I stuck the harmonica back in as far as it would go (the little plastic lock/catch wouldn't engage) and went for a drive.

No dice.

So I'll be going through the multimeter check later but what I want to know is might I need to somewhow reset this governor (especially since I plugged the connector back in while the key was in the ignition and the cruise switch was set to ON)?

The other thing I couldn't be sure of was the vacuum test. The instructions read: "Disconnect the thin vacuum hose at the throttle actuator. Start the engine and and use a finger to block the end of the hose and feel for vacuum. Release to check that the idle speed increases and becomes erratic" I did feel a vacuum but I have no idea how much is enough AND when I released it the idle speed DID NOT increase or become erratic (not any more than usual). Would this indicate a vacuum leak? With the engine off and cold disconnecting this tube reveals that vacuum is in the can and it can be heard to hiss as air enters. I am very suspicious of a vacuum leak but this seems to indicate that there is none (at least at this part of the system).

Thanks, blurp

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 18:43:23 GMT, the illustrious "Grtdane" favored us with the following prose:

I have to look into my ISP since Mike F's message (which would have saved me some time and questions) didn't appear until tonight.

Oh well...

Thanks anyway Mike F!

blurp