2001 Accord V6 Cruise Control
 

Hi,

I've been having problems with my 2001 Accord V6's Cruise Control.

Master Control button lights. Set/Resume/Cancel buttons function. Control set light lights when set is pressed, turns off when cancel is pressed, etc.

The problem is that the car does not accelerate or maintain speed when cruise control is engaged. Cruise control will downshift as the car decelerates but no additional throttle is applied to return to the set cruising speed.

I checked the V6 Service manual and I'll start with their checklist.

Speedometer is fine.

Proper Engine Vacuum at the Actuator: I couldn't see where they listed how to check this in either the V6 supplemental Service Manual or the 4 Cylinder main service manual (Heck, I even checked the electrical service manual). So if this is something other than performing actuator test on 4-51, let me know what I'm looking for.

Fuses are fine.

Horn is fine.

Tach is fine.

They say to check the switch and the Control unit.

I don't see how the switch could be bad since it lights up the dash. If I'm mistaken on that one, let me know and I'll pull that one two.

So I went on to check the Control unit. I pulled the connector and check the resistance on teh first 3 pins they list (9,1 and 11) where they reported 20, -, and 80 ohms of resistance respectively. Since the first two were bad answers I didn't bother to check teh rest of the pins. I can if need be.

They list 3 possible answers, Faulty actuator solenoid, Poor Ground (G202), and an open in the wire. The actuator solenoid passed resistance testing. The Ground is in place and fine. I can't see how there could be an open in the wire.

I decided to keep checking the actuator while I was there and found that the picture they give on page 4-51 doesn't match up with the actual car. I'm assuming its off an older accord (98-00???) but the broad picture on 4-53 is what it actually looked like. So wioth that confusion aside I ran into a problem where the Actuator test refers to two different vacuum hoses; "the vacuum hose" and "Actuator Vent hose port." I only saw one vacuum hose coming off the actuator so I ran all my checks from there. With power it functioned fine. but when unpowered the actuator rod didnt' pull in.

I pulled the vacuum hose as near to the actuator as I could, jsut a short flex hose between my vacuum pump/gauge and the actuator itself. I'm not sure if their different reference is assuming I would have pulled the hose from closer to the vacuum tank or not.

So that said I have two questions.

1. Is there a 2nd hose on the actuator that I'm not finding that I should be checking for step 9 of the Actuator test?

2. Is the actuator the culprit even though the troubleshooting only lists the solenoid as a possible fault (unless that's what they mean by checking vacuum pressure at the actuator)?

Thanks!