Cruise Control Issue

[Sump]

Hi all,
I have a Jan 03 NP Diesel Manual with a Cruise control issue. I see there are many threads on cruise control issues on this forum and have searched on and off for a couple of years, I finally decided to join the club the other day to ask the question. Below is a post from gecko from a few years ago which is the only post that is the same issue as mine. I messaged him this week and he said he never solved the problem but had sold the car informing the buyer of the issue.

Basically the cruise control works perfectly normal until the engine is warm at which point it turns off completely and won’t come back on until the car is cool. So as gecko has described below hot days I might get a few minutes, cold days I might get 20 min.
I had a mechanic look at it changing relays etc with no fix. I don’t believe it’s the clock spring and gecko replaced his and it made no difference!

Any help on this would be awesome, I use cruise control all the time if I can, so when I don’t have it I really miss it!

I do have another issue which would also love to fix, but I can just ignore because it doesn’t affect driving or safety, which I think may be unrelated, but maybe not? The transfer case warning light flashes after approx 20-30km driving. Turn off engine, startup again and it goes away for another 20 odd km! Never any issues with engaging/disengaging 4WD lock, H/L.

Btw great forum and having this NP Paj has changed my opinion of the old Bitsamissing. I don’t think I’d touch a Nissan or even go back to a Landcruiser now!

Thanks




gecko gecko is offline
Junior Member

Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Sydney, NSW
Posts: 42
Question Ideas on Cruise Control fix?
I've been chasing a problem with Cruise Control on my NM exceed. It turns on and works ok for a while but as soon as it warms up... it cuts out and the light turns off. On hot days I might get only a minute or two use. On cooler days 15min.

I've searched through threads here and have tried:

1. Changing the clock spring in steering wheel
2. My mechanic ruled out the brake switch... and gave up thinking it was a problem with the ECU
3. I just had a speed sensor in the transfer case go, and thought replacing that might fix this too... but it made no difference.

Ok, it is not an essential... but I'm curious! Any ideas?? Ta.
__________________
NW VRX DID, Auto.
Wish list: a good wash...

[Two Emms]

Hi and welcome Sump.

If your problem has an answer then you are in the right place to find it. I hope I can help but its a doozy of a problem!

I am probably just going to suggest something which has probably already occurred to you but here goes anyway. The speed will be sensed from somewhere by an electronic sender, maybe the same one as the speedo but maybe not. Have a look at a wiring diagram if you can to see if it has a dedicated sender. Heat causes electrical resistance so maybe as this sender warms up it fails. I would locate this sender and check its condition.

Bit of a basic suggestion but anything's worth a try.

[Kingbrown]

Also check for mal-adjustment of brake light switch and clutch switch.

[GHendo]

Hi Sump and welcome to the forum

Re your transfer case warning lights – it’s probably something to do with the switches on top of the transfer box. Ages ago I had a problem with my lights flashing etc. and the local dealer replaced all the switches on top of the transfer box. Shortly after I headed off on a trip to Sydney and I experienced the problem you have. When I got back I took the vehicle back to the dealer and they said they couldn’t anything wrong, however it never did it again – I reckon one of the switches wasn’t connected properly and they wouldn’t own up.

A while later, I had a new clutch fitted and when I got the car back, the lights were stupid – I’d have flashing front light and other anomalies. Mechanic reckoned nothing was wrong so I put the car on the hoist myself and did an inspection. I could just see the inside of a plug (shiny and new looking) so felt around up there and found the other part of the connector – one connection hadn’t been done up. I managed to get to two ends together then when I brought the car down and drove it – no more problems.

So, it could be something as simple as a bad connection up there or one of the switches could be sticking.

Cheers
Geoff

[Sump]

Hi guys thanks for your reply’s, they have given me something to work with, I will check them out and let you all know if I find a solution.

[bb2wa]

Hi guys thanks for your reply’s, they have given me something to work with, I will check them out and let you all know if I find a solution.

Sounds a bit like the flashing N problem on the NT Pajero. Due to faulty AT transmission sender/contact. Loss of cruise control is a by product. Short term solution is to wipe error code or will correct itself overnight or disconnect and reconnect battery.

[El_Freddo]

G’day Sump,

No stored codes on the ECU? Our cruise cuts out when we get a code for intake air temp sensor or something. I haven’t got into it properly yet.

All the best with it!

Cheers

Bennie

[Nab]

As above, the cruise control will not work if there are other seemingly not related issues. I reckon if you sort the transfer light the cruise will come good.

Like the others said, get the codes read and go from there. If you have the time and ability you can rule out the simple things with the gearbox/transfer by disconnecting and cleaning all the connections, make sure nothing is loose, check fluid levels etc.

Sounds stupid but are all the tyres the same brand, size, tread pattern, tread depth and pressure? I had the centre diff light flashing on my dash after ~30km and it turned out that the front and rear tyres were about 3mm different in tread depth and the stability control didn't like it.

[Sump]

Thanks for a few more comments fellas.
There are no error codes - checked all that fairly early on. Tried disconnecting the battery to reset overnight etc no change.

We have no issues with tyre size currently. When I first got the car front and back were different, and it would not change to and from 2H/4H on the run, got a new set all the same and that was fixed! The set I have on are technically oversized (not sure if this could be an issue?) - Jinyu 265/75/16 AT, but they are all very even and after 12 months on the car seem to be wearing very evenly. The speedo is now almost perfect according to GPS doing 110km/hr at about 112 on the speedo - much better than the old 10% out! (And I now have more than an inch extra clearance) When I got the car it had 245/70/16 - I was green to the Paj world so had no idea at the time, so speedo and clearance were terrible!
Is there a way of checking of the stability control is working properly?

I think I will start with checking all the connections on the top of the transfer case and go fro there, unless anyone else comes up with any brainwaves on the mean time!

Thanks heaps

[Trisome]

Experience says do the simple stuff first.....brake switch, and clutch switch.

Use a multi meter and check the adjustment, maybe its too finely adjusted.

Maybe go for a drive at night so if your brake lights come on you will see them in
the rear mirror.

Trisome

[Sump]

Hi All,
thanks for the help - some great ideas there. I still haven’t managed to fix the issue, but honestly I never got around to trying that hard.
As it turns out I have now sold the Paj - with much sadness (I really liked that car!) cause I needed a farm ute and managed to go a few years newer to a 09 PK Ranger. I informed the new owner of the issues and will send him this information from this blog post, maybe he’ll get it sorted. I just wanted to add that one of the comments above from GHendo about the clutch being replaced, it just dawned on me that the previous owner had the clutch replaced not that long before I bought it (all the service receipts were with the owners manual)
so maybe it is a dodgy connection somewhere as a result of the gearbox coming in and out?

Thanks for your Pajero forum, it’s a great idea and has been very helpful. But for me no longer having a Pajero I guess it’s ‘me out’ 😝 (but you never know I might buy one again one day).

long live your Pajero’s

cheers
Sump