Cruise control doesn't work, never has. But I do a lot of long freeway driving, so I'd like to get it working.

Has anybody had experience resuscitating a dead CC system?

My vacuum pump seems to be working well, which is to say that I removed the main line to the brake booster and felt a pretty healthy vacuum. However, I haven't yet put a gauge on it to see for sure what it's making. So that could be the problem. (Anybody ever rebuilt their vacuum pump? How hard is it?)

As far as the rest of the cruise control system, what other things should be checked? Does anyone know of an online page or resource of some kind that covers the troubleshooting of this system in particular?

Thanks,
CR

 

Your brakes should tell you something about the condition of your Vac Pumps. However, my Ram doesn't have cruise so I don't know how much vac is required to support it. My vacuum pump was supporting vacuum when I placed my finger over the hose but when I placed a vac gauge on the hose at the booster the needle fluctuated violently between 20 inches and 0. I checked the upper pump and got a firm 20" of vac. Lower was the one that fluctuated. I sealed off the lower and am now running off the upper only. Works for now. I will replace the lower diaphram next weekend.

 

Common problems are the switches on the steering wheel and also the clockspring.

 

When I got the truck, the steering wheel switches on the left were completely missing. I replaced them with dealership-new ones, hoping that would solve the problem - but it didn't. So for that reason, I'm pretty sure the switches aren't the problem.

I'm starting to really suspect my vacuum pump. After driving a friend's first gen, I realize my brake pedal is not right. Think I'm gonna try a rebuild kit from fixinrams.com If that doesn't work, I'll look at the clockspring.

Thanks for the tip, Dave.

Christian