Cruise Control

[Grumpy]

Hi all

 

My cruise control seems to work fine (and has done so for the last 7 months) but now after dissengaging it it wont resume.

 

Anyone have any sugestions?

 

Nick

[Ivor_E_Tower]

you mean just that it won't resume? You can reset it and it is OK, or not ?

[Grumpy]

Hi

 

Once you have braked and want to resume, its about 50:50 wether it will resume or if not you have to accelerate back to the desired speed then re-set it, it does seem a bit of an intermittant fault. Once it is engaged it seems to work fine untill you dissengage it.

 

Well wouldnt you know it, it worked fine every time today

[neiluk]

My cruise control works fine except that I've never got it to Resume. I suppose you don't miss what you've never had, but it does sound like a useful feature.

 

Neil.

[Grumpy]

To resume mine I have to briefly move (flick really) the switch on the stalk away from the wheel, this works as long as you are going more than 20MPH (or thereabouts)

[El Dingo]

This sounds like the switch might be worn out. Have you tried a quick squirt of contact cleaner? (Now don't tell Ron I suggested this...).

 

I have seen these switches fail on other VAG cars, leading to replacement of the stalk assembly.

[Grumpy]

The resume switch also allows you to increase speed if you slide it out and hold it there, if this is working then I would guess that the switch is OK

[mumof4]

Now me being daft, thought that if you were useing cruise control, and you braked,i thought that cruise control disengaged?..am i right in thinking that if you only brake slightly it should reengage, but if you braked..say from 70 to 50..it switches off and doesnt re engage??

[Grumpy]

The cruise disengages when you touch the brakes (and the clutch in a manual I think). You always have to manually re-engage it.

 

New modern systems (on posh cars!) will allow the car to match the speed of the one in front (up to the set speed) so you shouldnt have to dis-engage it.

[El Dingo]

The resume switch also allows you to increase speed if you slide it out and hold it there, if this is working then I would guess that the switch is OK

 

Good thinking, and from your reply I assume that you've tried this?

As yours is a diesel, I believe it's an electronic system (not vacuum like the Ford engined jobbies). So you might have a sticky or worn out switch under the brake or clutch pedal?

[neiluk]

The resume switch also allows you to increase speed if you slide it out and hold it there, if this is working then I would guess that the switch is OK

 

I had a chance yesterday of trying this but I forgot exactly what you said, so when cruising I pressed the 'set' button on the end and this increased my cruising speed by about 3 to 4 mph every time. Great I though, untill I tried to resume after braking and the car continued to slow.

 

Later in the day I was taking the family to mid Wales and thought the brake peddle was needing to be pressed harder to disengage the cruise control. Five minutes or so later I had quite a shock when trying to break from cruising again I found the brake peddle MUCH firmer than usual (almost didn't move at-all initially) and needed 2 very firm presses to disengage the cruise. By this time I was rather closer to the car infront than I felt confortable! I haven't tried it since :16:

 

Has anyone had similar experiences or know what might be the problem?

 

Should I risk trying it out again ona quiet road? I assume it would still disengage if I pressed the clutch.

 

Thanks, Neil.

[Neils TDi again]

Sounds like you have a faulty brake light switch, it has two switches built in one for the ecu for CC and one for the brake lights input into the body control module.

 

Try a new switch before it becomes a real safety issue.

CC should always drop out if the brake or clutch is activated, on some models even sharp steering movements cause the CC to stop.