The Cruise Control is quite fickle.

The day after my last post, I tried the cruise while riding down the highway and it worked. Surprisingly, it worked correctly the entire ride and kept me at a constant speed easily. However, the next day, it didn't work. So I don't know if I want to try and bypass the cruise control or just leave it be and use it when it will work.

My highest priority right now is getting the A/C working correctly. It has apparently been converted to R134a judging by the fittings on the hoses, however, there are no stickers denoting this conversion. The problem with it right now is that it will not stay charged. I have successfully charged the system with one or two cans of refrigerant, but it won't hold a charge for more than a few days. Not very eco-friendly, but more importantly not very wallet friendly. Especially at $6 per can of R-134a.

I am debating whether I should I try and repair the system myself, or just take to someone and let them do the work. Honestly, I trust my work the most, but I don't know if I have all the tools necessary to do the work. First, I think I will price out the parts and see what it would cost me to do it, then shop around for the work.

Cruise Control Thoughts

While changing my oil, I inspected the rest of the engine compartment for any trouble or problems. I'm also still learning about this car, so I traced wiring and followed connections here and there learning about some of the wiring under the hood.

One interesting connection was the cruise control plug. It comes from the throttle controller at the front of the engine and runs to a plug just behind the glow plug relay. This would be a good spot to tap into the cruise control motor and manually control it.

My cruise control stopped working shortly after I got the car. Even when it did work, it was unreliable and surged with the blinkers on the interstate. I think the switch in the steering column is most likely to blame, but the analog amplifier is another common failure point.

Either way, I would like to be able to just set the throttle and it hold there. A load based cruise control, not speed based. I'm researching it now, and will have more info when I get it.

First step, figure out the pin-out for that plug under the hood. Second is to figure out the working range (voltage and current) of the plug and motor.