wolfie98

When it is about 45 degrees or colder, the cruise control will engage when i push the button and it will work fine but after i press the set button to set the speed, it will accelerate anywhere from 3-5mph higher. When it reaches that point, it will drop to the original setting point then go the 3-5 again. It seems like after the motor gets warm and has been ran for about 45min. to an hour, it will work like it came from the factory. Does anyone have any input on what I need to do other than just to not use it anymore?

wolfie98

bump

wolfie98

bump. Does anyone have any input?

wolfie98

Someone has to have an idea?

scootibum

mine does the same thing, hasnt done it lately since last winter, I would also like to know ...

Frickr

mine does the exact same thing, and the same on our pickup, and my friends honda. i assume its just the vaccume that is used to engage it. maybe the cylinoid thats used to engage it isnt fully closing, or once it gets closed the air thats trapped in the vaccume resivor shrinks up just a tad bit more due to the colder air outside. most of the time its better to not use the cruise control when its cold outsdie do to ice on the road. but that isnt always the case.

Syndacate

Fifth and sixth generation civics ('92-'00) have an archaic (but functional) cruise control system. Don't worry about it, just ignore it if you can.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Frickr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">mine does the exact same thing, and the same on our pickup, and my friends honda. i assume its just the vaccume that is used to engage it. maybe the cylinoid thats used to engage it isnt fully closing, or once it gets closed the air thats trapped in the vaccume resivor shrinks up just a tad bit more due to the colder air outside. most of the time its better to not use the cruise control when its cold outsdie do to ice on the road. but that isnt always the case. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't know about that first part, with the vacuum 'n all. I'm pretty sure the cruise control in those year civics work off a VSS signal - as if you look at a wiring diagram of a VSS, one goes to the ECU, one is ground, and the other goes to the cruise control. That combined with the power/signal harness it goes into (to control TPS) would lead one to believe it's an independent electrical box, not vacuum actuated in any way. Though i'd be lying if I said I knew for sure. If I had to take one guess on why it trips a little bit when starting I'd say it's due to the FITV (if you're 92-'95) messing with it.

Is your car 100% warmed up (temperature gauge almost half way between H and C) when you turn it on?

Though like I said, it's a very very old kind of cruise control system anyways, it's nowhere near as accurate as others made today, so I wouldn't worry about it - maybe chalk it up to the tech level in '92.

wolfie98

It does it sometimes when it is warmed up and sometimes when it is not warmed up.

fastrc2

that can be the speed compensation if the tranny fluid is getting too cold. if the tranny was nicen hot, but when you set cruise control it applies the torque converter lock up clutch, and the tranny wont make nearly as much heat if it isnt actuall passing through the turbines in the converter. so if the fluid cools too much while in cruise it takes out the torque converter and the engine has to compensate for the resulting 500-700 rpm increase. i guess this whole thing relies on are you noticing a 500-700 rpm difference in the engine speed when this happenes as well?

wolfie98

Yes, I can notice the fluctuation b/w rpms. It can be very annoying.

bniel

i have a similar problem on my 98.
when cold it accelerates a fair bit above the set speed to trop down to the set speed and keeps going like that. up,down,up,down.....

so far into my search for an answer the only logical solution seems to be the vacuum solenoid in the actuator unit.
I still haven had the chance to pull it apart to test it, but i know other vehicles with this setup has several valves that close to create vacuum(speed up) and opens to vent(speed down). If one of these valves does not open when it is supposed to i can imagine that the cruise control would speed the car up above the set speed and keep accelerating until the larger valve opens to decelerate from the excessive speed, then when it gets to the set speed this larger valve closes again keeping the loop going and the car accelerating and decelerating continuously.

any thoughts?