Cruise Control not working

Bought my '99 4X4 last June with 245k mi. Really like it, but couple questions:

Cruise seemingly doesn't work,but my son says it does. Am I doing something wrong? How do I troubleshoot it? Any links here?

I have the 3.4 V6 and a 5 speed. Town is on the other side of an 8 mile 7% grade and the truck loses speed all the way up in 5th. If start at 70, a mile later I'm doing 50 and then it lugs. Same with another, smaller, hill on the way home. Passed Ca. smog test just fine. Shouldn't it do better? (my '85 C-20 Chev w/ 165hp did it just fine) Reminds me of our '67, 35hp Morris Minor, barely made it in 3rd.

 

It's a problem with our manual transmissions.

There's a sensor on the clutch pedal that shuts off cruise so the engine doesn't rev to infinity when the pedal is depressed with cruise on.

The clutch pedals sag on our trucks. You either have to replace the spring that pushes the pedal out, or just manually pull back the pedal with your foot before turning cruise on.

I've gotten so used to it, that I subconsciously pull back the pedal with my foot after every shift.



As for the power problem, downshift. Don't lug the engine. Do you have a lift and/or bigger tires? You may need to regear.

 

Welcome to TW by the way.

 

The switch can be adjusted/unscrewed out towards the clutch pedal to take up the slack, or you could zip tie a nut or something on the clutch pedal to take up the gap between the pedal and the sensor.

 

I do the exact same thing haha. On my honda there is a plastic bumper on the pedal that pushes a switch when the pedal is up which enables cruise. There are two, one is for the start safety switch and the other is for cruise safety switch. I'm not sure if the tacoma uses these plastic bumpers though.

 

I have cruise on my 95 with a manual trans 2.2 is that switch on this year also.

 

this out of the 2003 FSM. For both versions they have an auto cut out feature, I call it the "if the cruise speed cant be maintained". Is this what you are seeing? Maybe the engine cant pull the hill in 5th/OD and on cruise.

 

On my 1996 V6 Tacoma this feature causes the cruise control light to blink when triggered. Get's me every time on 395 North of Bishop.

 

For additional reference, which fuse does the cruise control use?

 

I had a similar problem. My cruise control would never engage. The problem was the clutch pedal assembly, namely the stock torsional spring. I ended up doing a swap to a linear spring. (Which was super easy) The pedal feels great and my cruise control engages just fine! Idk if this is the same problem youre having, but I hope it helps. The torsional spring on mine was so bad it was starting to wear its housing.

 

The cruise on my 04 auto trans v6 sucks too, but it functions perfectly normally. Basically, any slight hill, and the thing downshifts to 2nd and revs to the moon. Totally annoying.

 

My cruise control stopped working recently as well. The last time I drove the truck it worked. Today it doesn’t. I didn’t see a fuse labeled for it but I didn’t pull and check any either. The clutch switch appears correct and the vacuum line is intact. I’ll have a thorough look once I get back home.

 

The switch had somehow moved. Either the bracket holding it has bent or the sensor itself lost some sensitivity at the end of its range. Either way, I moved it a couple of threads closer and it now works again.

 

I just bought a 96 with 5 speed trans and the light illuminates but the speed will not set. It seems to hit the clutch switch, the only brake switch I saw was when you push the pdeal to the floor, so I'll have to check for another. Have you ever had this problem? JW

 

The clutch switch (the one that is depressed when your foot is OFF the pedal) causes this. Check that the switch is fully depressed if you are not touching the clutch pedal. While driving, pull the clutch pedal back towards you with your toe and see if it works then. See 2nd post above.
There is also a switch on the brake pedal (I think separate from the brake lights...need to go look) that will do the same thing. Check both of these physically. If still no resolution you may need to check them electrically.

 

How can you tell if the clutch switch is entirely bad? I adjusted mine so the clutch comes up and depresses it (and I pulled the clutch back with my foot while driving) but still had the same problem where the “cruise” light would come on but wouldn’t set a speed.

 

Multimeter set to Ohms or continuity across the terminals. Should be zero’ish ohms in one position, and infinity in the other. I’m not sure if the switch is NC or NO.

 

I did that and my switch is apparently in working order. I also tested the wire harness for the switch and got 14 volts so I know it’s getting power to it. I don’t know where to look next to diagnose the problem

 

I think the only other items that can inhibit the cruise from setting a speed would be the brake pedal switch, bad stalk cruise switch or spiral cable, or possibly bad actuator. I'd have to review the FSM but I recall there is a self test mode you can do with some of the CC brains. I don't have the FSM PDF's with me now but maybe another member can help on that?

Also- most of our Tacoma's are ground side switching. This means that you'll always have 12V at the switch, and the other side of the switch connects to the module input. So you can check for 12V at the module input when you are actuating the switch. Reverse is also true, most modules turn an output "on" by grounding their pin.