Installed Audiovox cruise, over rev doesn't work

[montejw360]

Hi, new to the board. I just installed an Audiovox cruise unit in my '99 2.5 L 5 speed Ranger. Sort of works. Brakes take either a long tap, or a double tap to shut it off, have to pay attention to that and figure it out. It won't shut down when the clutch is depressed. It's supposed to pick up the engine rev's and shut down after 500 - 700 rpm increase, doesn't do it. Using a Haynes manual I "found" the tach wire and VSS wire, both were the color stated in the manual and at the pin number stated in the manual. 48 for the Tach, 58 for the VSS.

I also have a weird pulsing in the steering now. The engine seems to be missing, sort of, but in a weird way that I've never seen. Not like one cylinder is dead, something that I can't figure out. Something is messing with the electronic ignition I'm sure, but can't get a handle on it.

I'll drive it and see if it smooths out. The Haynes book says if the PCM is removed it might take a while for it to regain it's settings, something to do with adaptive engine control.

If you have any ideas, let me know, thanks.

Monte

 

[MAKG]

Is it a vacuum actuated cruise? If so, it's leaking...

If it didn't come with a clutch switch, I'd never install such a flaming POS.

 

[montejw360]

Is it a vacuum actuated cruise? If so, it's leaking...

If it didn't come with a clutch switch, I'd never install such a flaming POS.

Uhh, okay, thanks. Over rev means that the unit senses the engine rpm's and when there's a quick 500-700 rpm increase (like when you press in the clutch ) the unit shuts down as if you pressed the brake pedal. It doesn't need a clutch switch. Yeah, it's a vacuum unit, but it's not leaking, that has nothing to do with the over rev sensing.

If you would never install such a "flaming POS", what unit would you recommend?

Monte

 

[MAKG]

Yes, I got that. It's a hack to avoid making a clutch switch.

Find a unit that has a clutch switch, and preferably electrical actuation.

And it CLEARLY has a long sample cycle -- it explains all your problems but the miss. Most likely, that's a design error.

Note that the only system proven to run in your application is the stock one. Aftermarket cruise controls often don't work all that well.

 

[Ranger SVO]

Yes, I got that. It's a hack to avoid making a clutch switch.

Note that the only system proven to run in your application is the stock one. Aftermarket cruise controls often don't work all that well.

I guess you've never installed aftermarket cruise controls and therefore know very little about them.

montejw360, a vaccuum cruise on a 2.3/2.5 is typically a problem and I do not install these on customers trucks. The models I use for this application is the 250-1223 or the 250-1316. Both these are the same, one is a Rostra Part # the other is an Audiovox Part #. I cannot remember which is which.

Now for the blue wire ( over rev) ground it. You need to fab up a clutch switch, I'll look up the part # when I get to work tomorrow. The way its hooked up is simple, cut the purple wire, and hook both ends to the clutch switch.

The 250-1223 and the 250-1316 will work just as good as any factory cruise.

 

[MAKG]

I guess you've never installed aftermarket cruise controls and therefore know very little about them.

Actually, that was my very first project.

And the rest of your post explains what's wrong with this particular aftermarket cruise. You had to modify it to make it work.

And it seems you've never "proven" a device, so you don't know what's entailed. Had it been truly proven, modifications would not be necessary, or at the worst would be described in the release documents.

 

[Ranger SVO]

The clutch switch is a 250-2663

MAKG - I've been installing these cruise controls for over 12-years and I know what works and what doesnt. The failure rate of these cruise controls (from personal experience) is less than 1 in 100. I have personally installed well over 900 of these aftermarket cruise controls and only had to replace 4 or 5 units because the cruise itself failed. Any other failures could all be attributed to installer error. And I don't make too many mistakes

Now for the mod, the blue wire does detect an over-rev and it does it well. However, on older trucks the tach signal is not clean enough to trigger the over-rev. This is typically due to older worn out ignition components in the vehicle. On new vehicles (90% of my installs are for local new car dealers) the over-rev system works perfectly. The problem was that after 5 or 6 years the customer would complain that the cruise would shut off interminently

Diagnosis would always lead to the over-rev on the cruise. Hooking the vehicle to an oscilliscope allowed us to see the problem. Dirty signal. Grounding the blue wire (the over rev wire) would always fix the problem, but eliminate the over-rev protection (unacceptable)

Thats why I started using a clutch switch, no more comebacks.

By the way, I install about 40-50 cruise controls a year for the local Ford dealer. If reliability and performance was an issue, I think those numbers would have dropped drastically years ago.