Cruise Control quits working randomly

[iowabucks]

Hey everyone, I'm sure this topic has been covered before, but i did a search and most threads were similar but had another variable or two involved. So i thought i would start my own just to get on the right track.

My 05 Grand Am has about 75,000 miles on it. It has been a good car minus the occational strut mount replacement and front wheel bearing assembly. This cruise control problem has been going on for a couple years now.

It will just randomly quit while i'm going down the highway. Sometimes it wont do it for weeks, or sometimes do it 10 times in a 30 mile drive. Sometimes it will resume after i press the button once, sometimes i can hit it many times, sometimes it just seems to quit for a minute or two.

The wife and i took a 3 hour roadtrip this weekend and i was fuming after hitting the resume button dozens of times. We had alot of interstate traffic to dodge, alot of people on my butt. Thats not the greatest time for the cruise to be having problems.

She had it at the dealership right before the warranty was up and they said they "think" they know what it is, but their insurance company wont let them just change out $500 parts just because they "think" it's that part. I didn't hear about this at first from her or we would have made them fix it. What good is a warranty if they wont fix the problem you have?
I was hoping this is a common occurance with an easy fix. I am pretty good at working on my own vehicles so i can check certain parts if need be.

What seems to be the most common problems to check when your cruise control has these problems?

[gmtech1]

Without being able to monitor live data when the problem is occuring, its really just guessing. It's possible there is a problem with the brake switch, more likely a problem with the cruise control module. The ecm is also a factor in this system. I know this isn't much help, but those are the possibilites.

[thephantom1492]

Without any error code... it's hard to figure out.
Beside the cruise control module that could be defect, it also could be lots of things.
Could be the "off" button that is defective.
Could be the brake switch.
Could be one of the ABS wheel sensor.
Could be TPS or gas pedal sensor (depend on vehicle)
Could be any other sensor fault
Could be the wiring

Basically, it can be tons of things. If one computer think that you pressed any pedal, it will disable the cruise. If it think that a wheel spin, it disable. If it think that there is a speed gain/lost it can disable. If it think there might be an engine problem, it disable. If it think there is a module fault, it disable.

I hear of someone that had a faulty spark plug, that was causing some misfire, not enought to throw a code, yet enought to disable the cruise.

[goodoldpapa]

I had a problem with my cruise control about 6 years ago, and for me it turned out t obe the cruise control switch at the bottom of the steering wheel. There is also a fuse for it on the passenger side fuse panel. Mine wouldn't engage at all, the light would come on, but that was it.

[GMCustomerService]

Originally Posted by iowabucks

Hey everyone, I'm sure this topic has been covered before, but i did a search and most threads were similar but had another variable or two involved. So i thought i would start my own just to get on the right track.

My 05 Grand Am has about 75,000 miles on it. It has been a good car minus the occational strut mount replacement and front wheel bearing assembly. This cruise control problem has been going on for a couple years now.

It will just randomly quit while i'm going down the highway. Sometimes it wont do it for weeks, or sometimes do it 10 times in a 30 mile drive. Sometimes it will resume after i press the button once, sometimes i can hit it many times, sometimes it just seems to quit for a minute or two.

The wife and i took a 3 hour roadtrip this weekend and i was fuming after hitting the resume button dozens of times. We had alot of interstate traffic to dodge, alot of people on my butt. Thats not the greatest time for the cruise to be having problems.

She had it at the dealership right before the warranty was up and they said they "think" they know what it is, but their insurance company wont let them just change out $500 parts just because they "think" it's that part. I didn't hear about this at first from her or we would have made them fix it. What good is a warranty if they wont fix the problem you have?
I was hoping this is a common occurance with an easy fix. I am pretty good at working on my own vehicles so i can check certain parts if need be.

What seems to be the most common problems to check when your cruise control has these problems?

I see that you are planning on addressing this yourself if you can, and that you're getting some helpful feedback from other forum users. I just wanted to let you know that I'm available to assist if you were to decide up on taking your vehicle into a dealership for this, or if you had any questions.

Regards,
Sarah
GM Customer Service

[Tech II]

When you say dealership, was this a GM dealership that was "guessing"?

[iowabucks]

Originally Posted by Tech II

When you say dealership, was this a GM dealership that was "guessing"?

Yes it was a GM dealership. A pretty big one for my town of 25,000. It sounded to me like they just didn't want to try this part, (as expensive as it was) and not have it fix the problem. Maybe they were trying to save costs, or have had that happen to them a few times.


Sarah. Thank you for your offer. I do appreciate it. But they did not want to try and fix it under warranty. I'm sure now that the warranty is up, they would be more than happy to try it, as i would have to pay cash for the repair, whether the part fixed it or not.