Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:00:23 -0800
Reply-To: Zoran Mladen <zmaninco@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Zoran Mladen <zmaninco@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Cruise Control
In-Reply-To: <151e01c39e61$65c71cb0$6f00000a@onepipeline.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hey Chad,
You are correct...the cruise control has two release
systems in place when you tap the clutch or the brake:
one is electrical and one is vacuum. There are two
systems for safety reasons, so if one fails you still
have the other. Now that you have disconnected the
vacuum, you are down to one system.
You are also correct that somewhere along the line
leading to the pedals you have a small leak. It could
even be the vacuum switches on the pedals themselves.
Z
--- Chad Morris <chad@ALLMORRIS.COM> wrote:
> Hoping someone can give me some help understanding
> how the factory cruise control works.
>
> The cruise control on my automatic '89 Carat was
> acting up. When I tried to use it, the speed of the
> van would gradually decrease, even on flat roads.
> Forget trying to use it going up hills. I looked
> everything over, readjusted the linkage from the
> diaphragm to the throttle, with no appearant change.
> After giving it more thought, I surmised that the
> problem must be due to a vacuum leak somewhere in
> the system. To test my theory, I disconnected the
> hose that runs to the valve on the brake pedal. In
> other words, my cruise control setup now had only a
> single hose running from the diaphragm to the vacuum
> pump. I took the van for a test drive, assuming
> that I risked the cruise control not switching off
> if I tapped the brakes, which meant I would have to
> be sure to manually switch off the cruise control.
>
> The results of my test: Cruise control works great!
> It even maintains speed going up-hill when the auto
> tranny downshifts. So I have concluded that the
> vacuum loss is definitely somewhere in the hose that
> goes from the vacuum pump to the valve on the brake
> pedal.
>
> What I am still puzzled about: What surprised me
> was that when I tapped the brakes, the cruise
> control switched off, even with the hose going to
> the valve on the brake pedal disconnected. My
> question, therefore, is why do I need to have the
> valve on the brake pedal connected? Is it some kind
> of backup safety system in case the cruise control
> malfunctions? I would appreciate your input as I
> see no point in reconnecting the hose going to the
> brake pedal valve when everything works great as is.
> "If it aint broke, don't fix it."
>
> Chad Morris
> '89 Carat
> looking for a 7 passenger Westy Weekender
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