Rep Power: 230

my cruise control has been fine up until now. the other day i was on a new highway and went to turn it on but it wouldnt turn on. i pushed the c/c button thats beside the mirror adjustment and mirror defrost on the left, the green light came on, but my c/c wouldnt activate. anyone have any idea why? i checked fuses and everything but couldnt figure it out.

 
Rep Power: 812

does the cruise light come on in the dash?

 
Rep Power: 230

no, the one in the gauges does not turn on. when working, its normally a little green light that says 'cruise control'.

when i first push the cruise control button beside the mirror defrost and mirror adjustment, that buttons little led lights up green (like the a/c button in the climate control), but when i try to push the cruise control on the steering wheel nothing happens, and no, the green cruise control light in the gauges does not turn on either.

 
Rep Power: 812

the problem is it could be all sorts of things in the system. i can look thru the manual today and get some ideas, but it sounds like maybe an electrical or switch related issue. maybe the car thinks the brake is being pressed and locking out the cruise control.

 
Rep Power: 0

Hey unTuned, I'm from EM2AB..
Anyways in regards to your problem, from what I've read on the forums here that it might have something to do with yours/any kind of LED tail lights. I think somehow the flow of the electrical current make the cruise control module think the brake is being pressed when it actually isn't, therefore not allowing it to engage.

I can't remember who had this problem on the forum here though.

 
Rep Power: 812

yeah good catch. i didnt think he had led tails. but if he does, see this thread. i had led tails and never had a problem with cruise, but some cars do. i think the system is slightly different depending on the year and model.

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/7...ke-lights.html

 
Rep Power: 209

I had this same problem on my old Camry. (the c/c is pretty much the same type of system) It thought the brakes were being applied. All I did was top off my brake fluid (it was a little low) and that fixed the problem.

 
Rep Power: 230

em2driver, now that you mention it, i think you got it right. my c/c was always working fine until the last couple times i tried it (both were AFTER i installed my new sonar led tails).

i remember reading this entire thread too, no idea how i didnt think of this. even when i installed the new tails i was wondering if i was going to have c/c problems and completely forgot because i installed them during the summer and this problem has only come up now.

anyway my front signals are led (but ive had them forever and my c/c worked fine with them installed while using stock tails so they arent a problem) but im guessing the led tails are the problem.

if i can avoid opening up that module and soldering, i would like to, so im going to see if i can experiment by putting in a regular bulb and seeing if it works. the one guy in that thread said he was able to put a regular bulb in the 4th brake light socket to let the car know theres a bulb there and he got the c/c to work.

 
Rep Power: 230

my 2 tail brake lights are led, the 3rd brake light (on spoiler) is also led, so the only one i can experiment with is the 4th brake light (the one at the bottom of the window above the rear deck) but when i look inside the vehicle, they dont even have it hooked up. im guessing because they disable it on any vehicle that gets a 3rd brake light (spoiler). the light housing is there, and the little twist in socket for the bulb is there and twisted in place, but its bulbless. they have no harness running to it either, its just an empty socket sitting in the 3rd brake light housing.

 
Rep Power: 308

I was wondering if you had used LEDs when I read your car info.

When you install the spoiler they give you a harness that runs over to the brake light in the deck, you unplug the original light and plug it into the new harness for the spoiler LEDs.

The wire colors are WHT/BLK & BLK

You could unwrap and expose the 2 wires of the harness and tap your bulb in there. I have also heard a resistor can also be used, it might take some research to determine what value and wattage to use though.

 
Rep Power: 812

you can use a large load resistor, superbrightleds.com sells em to give you an idea, but you can prolly find em cheaper at radioshack. they are hi wattage and get extremely hot when used. so be sure to mount it on metal surface. if you only use the brakes for a minute at a time, it should be okay.

 
Rep Power: 230

well the spoiler comes factory, but yes it basically uses the harness from the 3rd brake light to power it up. so you choose either 3rd brake light, or the spoiler lights.

anyway i did the 01-03 to 04-05 tail conversion and i have a bunch of extra harnesses with bulbs because i kept trying to find the one that fit properly. ill try splicing one into the wiring running to the spoiler and leave the light just hanging in the trunk. ill see if that maybe helps. like i was saying i really would like to avoid any resistor or touching the module under the hood.

 
Rep Power: 812

just make sure the bulb is hanging in air, since it runs very hot. but yeah a 21w bulb and socket should work.

 
Rep Power: 230

i did a test tonight and figured it out for sure. with the current setup, my tails + spoiler lights are all led and the c/c didnt work. i unplugged the spoiler brake light (made of leds) and plugged the harness into the 3rd brake light (in the bottom of the back window, its a regular bulb) and my c/c works just fine again, so i obviously need a regular bulb in the setup somewhere.

im going to replug my spoiler led light in, but im going to just splice a regular bulb harness with a regular bulb into the wiring and just zip tie it so it hangs in the air at the top of the trunk. if i wanted, i could find the harness for the 3rd brake light and wire that in so id have the spoiler light + deck brake light, but i really dont like that 3rd brake light for some reason. anyway ill do it and let you guys know how it turns out. this would be a much nicer fix for me than having to open up and solder the module circuitboard.

 
Rep Power: 230

got it done and cruise control works fine again. i just spliced a random light harness into the wire running to the spoiler light and put a regular bulb in it. i have it hanging flat against the top metal part of the trunk so im not too concerned with anything hitting it or it getting hot enough to burn anything. its only lit up when him holding the brake pedal. took about 15 minutes to do, much much easier and safer than messing with my c/c module and risking screwing something up on the circuit board.