Strange cruise control behavior
07-15-2009 | 03:39 PM
#1
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: 07-14-2009
Posts: 27
From: Cincinnati, Ohio
Strange cruise control behavior
I've spent some time searching the forums and didn't find this exact issue discussed; I hope I'm not repeating something that has already been discussed.
I've discovered an idiosyncrasy in the cruise control system of my 2008 SS which seems to be unknown to the service techs at my dealership, and I'm wondering if it is unique to my car.
A few months after I bought the car there was an occasion when I tried to engage the cruise control shortly after leaving a rest stop on an Interstate highway, and it failed to engage. Nothing I tried would make it engage. Some time later during the same trip when I tried to engage it, it worked normally. I figured I had some sort of intermittent electrical problem. The situation didn't recur for a few weeks, but again it was a case of trying to engage the CC shortly after I had started the car. For reasons I can't explain I thought maybe after starting the engine the brake pedal had to be depressed at least once before the CC would engage. I tested my theory and it works every time. If I don't apply the brake sometime before trying to engage the CC it will not engage. After I tap the brake it works normally.
Has anyone else discovered this?
Bill in Cincinnati
I've discovered an idiosyncrasy in the cruise control system of my 2008 SS which seems to be unknown to the service techs at my dealership, and I'm wondering if it is unique to my car.
A few months after I bought the car there was an occasion when I tried to engage the cruise control shortly after leaving a rest stop on an Interstate highway, and it failed to engage. Nothing I tried would make it engage. Some time later during the same trip when I tried to engage it, it worked normally. I figured I had some sort of intermittent electrical problem. The situation didn't recur for a few weeks, but again it was a case of trying to engage the CC shortly after I had started the car. For reasons I can't explain I thought maybe after starting the engine the brake pedal had to be depressed at least once before the CC would engage. I tested my theory and it works every time. If I don't apply the brake sometime before trying to engage the CC it will not engage. After I tap the brake it works normally.
Has anyone else discovered this?
Bill in Cincinnati
07-15-2009 | 10:05 PM
#6
Senior Member
Joined: 11-15-2008
Posts: 1,599
From: Newburgh, NY
Shot in the dark, but do you periodically push all the fuses, relays, ckt brkrs and BCMs into their sockets? They're under the hood as well as the passenger side interior kick plate. I do this monthly and have not had an electrical issue so far. Maybe there's something to it or maybe it's just luck, but it doesn't hurt.
07-16-2009 | 03:48 PM
#7
Senior Member
Joined: 04-12-2008
Posts: 527
From: Cedarburg, WI
I've spent some time searching the forums and didn't find this exact issue discussed; I hope I'm not repeating something that has already been discussed.
I've discovered an idiosyncrasy in the cruise control system of my 2008 SS which seems to be unknown to the service techs at my dealership, and I'm wondering if it is unique to my car.
A few months after I bought the car there was an occasion when I tried to engage the cruise control shortly after leaving a rest stop on an Interstate highway, and it failed to engage. Nothing I tried would make it engage. Some time later during the same trip when I tried to engage it, it worked normally. I figured I had some sort of intermittent electrical problem. The situation didn't recur for a few weeks, but again it was a case of trying to engage the CC shortly after I had started the car. For reasons I can't explain I thought maybe after starting the engine the brake pedal had to be depressed at least once before the CC would engage. I tested my theory and it works every time. If I don't apply the brake sometime before trying to engage the CC it will not engage. After I tap the brake it works normally.
Has anyone else discovered this?
Bill in Cincinnati
I've discovered an idiosyncrasy in the cruise control system of my 2008 SS which seems to be unknown to the service techs at my dealership, and I'm wondering if it is unique to my car.
A few months after I bought the car there was an occasion when I tried to engage the cruise control shortly after leaving a rest stop on an Interstate highway, and it failed to engage. Nothing I tried would make it engage. Some time later during the same trip when I tried to engage it, it worked normally. I figured I had some sort of intermittent electrical problem. The situation didn't recur for a few weeks, but again it was a case of trying to engage the CC shortly after I had started the car. For reasons I can't explain I thought maybe after starting the engine the brake pedal had to be depressed at least once before the CC would engage. I tested my theory and it works every time. If I don't apply the brake sometime before trying to engage the CC it will not engage. After I tap the brake it works normally.
Has anyone else discovered this?
Bill in Cincinnati
I have a manual trans, and the clutch switch was doing this to me once in a while. If I pushed the clutch in/out a few times a little more deliberate, then the cruise would start working again. It has been working fine for almost a year now. I think it just took a while for the switch to free up or wear in...
If it is under warranty yet, I would tell the dealer to replace that switch.
07-17-2009 | 01:04 AM
#8
Member
Joined: 11-28-2008
Posts: 93
From: Phoenix, AZ
A few months after I bought the car there was an occasion when I tried to engage the cruise control shortly after leaving a rest stop on an Interstate highway, and it failed to engage. Nothing I tried would make it engage. Some time later during the same trip when I tried to engage it, it worked normally.
Has anyone else discovered this?
Bill in Cincinnati
Has anyone else discovered this?
Bill in Cincinnati
I too leave the cruise control on most of the time but that is because I use it. It happens out of the blue.
I found that if you come to a complete stop and put the car in park and shut the engine off it resets with the next start (reboot if you will). It does not reset if you go to nuetral and shut the car off while gliding then restart the car. (I'm sure that is a bad thing to do at some level but it was worth a try)
