Hi all!

New guy here. I bought a 1991 Honda Accord Lx about 8 months ago. Automatic Transmission. I have an intermittent issue with the cruise control. I push the dash button in, I get the green light on the switch. I get up to speed, and push the set button. I get the green light on the dash. And all is good.

But if I hit a good bump, the cruise control turns off. I still have the green light on the switch, but the dash one goes out. If I push the steering wheel control button to set the speed (again) sometimes it will re-engage, other times it will not re-engage and seems to stop working till it decides to start working again.

The other day to try to do some testing I loosened the steering wheel lock that let's you tilt the steering wheel up and down. I got the cruise control engaged. I moved the steering wheel up and down slowly and gently. No issues it stayed working. As it seemed to go out due to hitting a bump, I did the steering wheel up and down thing again. But this time I let it bump or hit the end of its travel with a small bump. Bingo cruise control goes out. I tried to get it to come back on by moving steering wheel up and down, but no luck. About 20 minutes later when I tried it... It was working again.

All testing by moving steering wheel up and down was done at speed. About 40 to 45 miles per hour.

Speedometer stayed working just fine at all times.

I'm sure I have a bad connection in the steering wheel. Could be a loose connector. Or a bad wire, or an issue with the steering wheel mounted switches.

But I have no idea where to start looking other then just pulling the steering wheel and digging in.

I have a Hayes shop manual but on the cruise control info it is worthless. Just says to let a professional look at it! No, that's what it says!

The horn honks reliably, so I don't think the issue is in the clock spring.

So any info or advice would be of great help.

I have a bad wiper washer switch that needs replacing so I need to go digging in that area (wipers do there own thing independently of where the switch is set.


As always, I thank all for the help!

 

The issue could be the main/steering wheel switches, wiring/connectors, the cable reel, brake pedal switch, a bad ground, or the control unit. The only way to verify is to back-probe at the control unit and see if you start missing voltage/ground.

To narrow down the problem, does the main on/off switch work when the cruise control is not working? Can you look to see if your brake lights are on when your cruise control is not working? I also can't remember if the 91 had a separate switch on the brake pedal to disable the cruise control or one switch with 4 wires. Do you notice any other strange issues when the cruise control is not working?

 

The vehicle is an Automatic Transmission. That really is the only information I left out.

I can't back track or check any of the wiring or components as I have, ero information on the wiring or location of components (as stated in my original post).

You stare it could be such things as the brake sensor or components under the hood. Can you explain how it could be one of those when as I stated the issue has been trouble shooted to something (a loose connection, connector, bad solder joint, and so on) in the steering wheel or maybe steering column.

Can you tell me how to go about trouble shooting any further without any information on the circuitry or component location (as stated in my first post)?

Your advise I'm sure is well intentioned and therefore appreciated, but I must ask if you read my full post and took note of the trouble shooting I did, and so on.
If you have information on the circuitry that is what would be of great help.

I do appreciate the assistance, but in reading your response I wonder if you read my full post as your answer to it gives the impression you read a small amount of it, and just fired off a very generalized response. When my posting was looking for more specific information on the wiring of the circuitry.

In any event have a good day, and keep injoying your ride.

 

I read your post and provided feedback as I've doing for a very long time on this site. I gave some simple tests to narrow down potential wires..

The questions about what lights/cruise control buttons work when you can't set the speed was going to help me give you wires to test.

Hitting the brake pedal turns off the cruise control, so hitting a bump may engage the brake lights and disable your cruise control.

If you want to dig into the steering column, find the cruise control unit under your dash and follow the wire harness up to your steering wheel controls. Unplug and look for obvious corrosion or loose fitting pins.

Good luck.

 

Does your speedo stop working when the CC goes down? If so, suspect the VSS (Vehicle speed sensor).

 

Good thought, thank you. I should have included the info that the speedo works fine.

I will add that info.

Thank you.


Obviously I have offended you. No intention to do that. But my post made it clear on things like did the light on the switch stay on....

So your responce tell me you did not read or retain my post in full.

Your response to my post about your answer tells me you are thin skinned.

I have no intention of pulling my car apart to fix it.. Not until I get information on the wiring diagram and component location.

I know it could be the wires, or the switches, or the clock spring (the thing you call the "reel"), or more.

I don't need to be told what it could be. I need information on the wiring diagram and components location.

 

For wiring diagram and component location, google search 1991 honda accord service manual. You'll get a link for workshopservicemanual.com where you can get a 91 shop manual that is pretty organized and have the info you seek. The 91 manual I had from a long time ago was individual pages that took forever to locate information. This version is much better and will help.

 

Thank You So Very Much!
Your help is 100 percent spot on!

I followed the link and downloaded the manual. I opened up the download. I found the wiring information and component location. As an added bonus was information on testing each component!

Again, thank you so very much!

I appreciate responce such as yours. Responses that not only show you read my post in full and saw what I was asking for.

I posted the same topic in other forums and only got very general information on the cruise control system. Responses that other then being connected to the topic of Cruise Control had nothing to do with helping me.
When I posted basicly complaining of getting none responsive responses, I was told that the nonresponsive response was done to help new bees looking for information on the topic of cruise control and where not actually aimed at helping me!

To me that's just b.s. I but that's just my opinion. I even was threatened on one forum that I would be band forever becouse I used the word "buttercup"....

Anyway I digress... Just rattling on to let you know how much I truly appreciate receiving your answer. An answer that Not only was 100% spot on for what I was asking but an answer that would help anyone looking for help/information on not only Cruise Control, but anything that could be in what looks to be a really great shop manual!

THANK YOU!