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Forester 2000 S 5 Speed Cruise Control Issues


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Hey guys! New to the forum been up helping out a lot with center diffs on subaruforester.org, but am tackling something rather tricky that my lack of experience is getting the best of my patience...

 

So I did lots of work on the car during august, (repairing the floor panels, changed the windshield and did some body work, and while I was inside doing the floor I noticed a bunch of useless wires dangling from under the steering so I took the trims off and there was a remote starter that was just hanging there I never got the remote for it and plus a bunch of wires already seemed to have been removed so I went ahead and took it out completely.

 

At first the car didn't start until I realised there was just a bypassed wire for the ignition on the remote starter's wiring so I put that back into place and the rest was fine, but when I went to use the CRUISE CONTROL, the light comes on as usual, but when I SET a speed, nothing happens... now the actuator's vacuum line seems fine I don't see why anything would be "defective" after being a month inside my garage doing work, so where can I start to diagnose such a problem?

 

I checked the clutch switch it seems to operate fine get continuity with pedal completely released and otherwise an open circuit, I unplugged the CC module and the switch doesn't come on unless its plugged so they both are communicating.. from what I've read if the horn operates the clock spring in the wheel is working so that eliminates another thing..

 

This is where I'm a little lost, one thing I do realise is there is a connector with a white/black and blue/yellow wire (only 2) that isn't plugged into anything, and from what I can tell there used to be an orange wire hooked to the black/white in parallel heading to the remote starter that I thought maybe was just a ground or +12V they maybe used to power the device? (I might be wrong maybe this is the culprit)

 

anyway if anyone has any knowledge to share I'd be very happy to get some help...

 

Thanks.

Mat

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There are 2 switches on the clutch pedal.

 

One for starter interlock, the other is for the cruise control.

 

the starter one is at the bottom of the stroke

 

the CC one is high up, and should have continuity when the pedal is "up" and open when you step on the pedal.

 

That same cicuit also loops through the Brake light switch too.  There are 2 cicuits in the brake light switch.  One is 12v in/out to brake lights.

 

The other is noramlly closed, and opens when you depress the brakes.  Again this is hte same loop as goes though the Clutch switch so both switches need to be continuous when neither pedal is depressed.

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Alright I'll post some pics in a minute but here are my evening's findings :



There are effectively 2 switches on the clutch, the one on the bottom is
the one for the cruise, the one on the top is for starting the car,
both work. I have continuity from the switch to the control module on
the wire coming from the switch (BLUE YELLOW) the BLACK/RED wire seems
to go to the speed sensor under the car (This speed sensor also
electronically drives the speedometer correct?) The Black/Red becomes
BROWN after moving to the sensor side of the connector under the car.



The BRAKE SWITCH (Has two sides one normally closed one normally open) Both options work tested separately...



Tested the SET, RESUME, CANCEL switch get 12V (The voltage is drawn from
the horn and sent to the cruise when you apply SET or RESUME to either
the Light green/black and Red white wires on the control module)



Does anyone have another "trail" I can start on all my parts seem to be good... :(



Thanks for your help,



I'll post some pictures in a minute of what the "unused connectors" look like and what the setup also looks like under the dash

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HI,

Probably too basic, but:

 

The CC worked b4 the work was done correct? (You didn't buy the car to fix and then found the CC doesn't work??)

 

If the horn doesn't work and the Airbag light is on, the roll-connector/clockspring is likely bad and will need replaced to fix it. 

 

GL,

td

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I did some further research tonight followed the wires from the NEUTRAL POSITION SWITCH on the transmission the connector is under hood beneath the air box also right near the REVERSE POSITION SWITCH both these switches work perfectly as I get variation of continuity in GEAR and not. I followed those wires on the wiring diagram they also pass by the ECU and the NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH on the clutch pedal the BLACK/RED wire has continuity everywhere...

 

The GREENBLACK on the clutch safety switch and on the Neutral Pos. Switch also has continuity everywhere...

 

THE CONNECTOR that plugs to THE ACTUATOR has continuity to the connector on the cruise control module on all 4 pins. All the wiring all the independant parts of the cruise control are fuctioning and functional.

 

I came accross a TEST on EHOW for the FORESTER 99 ACTUATOR, on my wiring diagram I see there are 3 resistors inside the actuator for VACUUM VALVE, VENT VALVE and SAFETY VALVE. They state to verify they are all less than 69ohms but I have an OPEN CIRCUIT on all of them when skinning a part of the wires on the connector (Disconnected to the control module) but that shouldn't be an issue as its plugged into the actuator so I should still get my resistance values off the plug wires anyway right? All 3 resistances are OPEN CIRCUIT (nothing) would this be a dead actuator issue? Why would they all go bad? Would the bashing around under the car when redoing the floor pan with rivets and hammering the shape into place with some good hundred wacks all over cause weak resistances to shread connections inside if they were old and rusted?

 

I'm so far deep into this problem I'm almost obsessed with the fact that EVERY FUSE, EVERY CONNECTION, EVERY SWTICH, EVERY WIRE moving around in this circuit seems to be good and functional I am down to the actuator and would like to get some help on making sure my diagnostic is heading in the right direction, any gurus out there mind helping me?

 

Thanks a lot !!

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I triple checked what you are talking about and the model on the Forester doesn't have a PUMP a per say, the engine's vaccuum is sufficient for operation as it uses the big round vacuum ring with a spring I opened up my actuator and am looking at the circuit as the windings look good but there seems to be no contact on the connector side, lots of rust on the PCB!

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It looks like ( I can't find an FSM for 2000 forester so going off 2000 Impreza which should be similar) the cruise actuator may actually draw vacuum from the engine on that model. Earlier models had a pump for the cruise actuator.

 

Even with the module unplugged, the valves in the actuator still ground through the brake switch to the main cruise switch. Recheck the valve resistances with the actuator connector unplugged.

 

Rust inside the actuator is not a good sign.

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Fixed the whole deal for the curious enthousiasts, part of the circuit inside the actuator on the PCB was corroded to the point there was no continuity between the connector and 3 of the solenoid's soldered points.. I extended the weld to a spot on the PCB where the copper route was still continuous, the cruise is functioning and am very happy with this 0$ fix.

 

Thanks for all your help.

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