cruise control nightmare

So who's going to stop using their cruise control now?????

www.heraldsun.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes


And any ideas on why, the ignition key wouldn't turn off, or gear lever go into neutral???

I guess there's safety reasons for not being able to turn the engine off at speed, no power steering or power brakes. But that would be preferable to being stuck at 100kmh!!! But why not be able to select neutral, it's not as if there's much engine braking in an auto?

Anybody with a modern vehicle tried turning their ignition off or selecting neutral at speed?

Think if I had cruise control with an auto, I'd install a big red emergency off button, killing all power to the engine.
(hmm that wouldn't work with a diesel would it, any suggestions???)

saw in newspaper yesterday, figures show black coloured cars are most likely to be involved in accident, followed by silver colour.

white was safest, they say its to do with background.

my mate has late model LS430 lexus, you name it this car has it.

only trouble, its now been in garage for around 6 weeks, electronics on a 3 or 4 things not working.

some parts had to be sent from japan, others he got from over east.

expecting a bill of around $3500 for this major service.

had service been from lexus, he was told $5000.

he now wishes he bought a aussie luxury car like a caprice.

i drove the lexus 20kms once, it is awesome. stereo system is heaven and fuel for v8 is only 11/12 litres per 100/km.

if your in serious accident, thats when you get real benefit.

gremlins...I tells ya![}:)]

Tried slipping to Neutral in Cruise Control last night.

As soon as it went to Neutral, it dropped out of Cruise Control every time.


Maybe it is a Ford thing?

Simple answer, he was inexperienced, and had a brain freeze
For a mechanical person like me, its simple solution.
For a sheltered chap who probably wonders what that thing under the bonnet in front of him was....
Probably take him a month of Sundays to work out how to change a tyre Then again he is probably well skilled in other life area's
I reckon there are a bunch of Ford mechanics, supervisors, Managers and Dealer principals right now, who would love to box his ears[}:)]

Well he is a nightmare story of my own, not with cruise control but did involve the computer mangement system in the car to mostly the right things.....I just got it back today after about 4 months and I have to vent..............sorry..

A few months ago now my wife (no blame but do need a name) decided to watch a game of soccer with my son while waiting for me to fly into Mackay. She parked the car but didn't realise there was a bog hole covered in water and got a nissan pathfinder bogged so that it need to be towed out. In the process, a sump type guard got ripped down a bit so that it was hanging down.

No problems, off the car went fine and we drove around for about three weeks. On the day it was booked in for a service (part of which was to get the guard fixed up) she backed out of the driveway and off she went. The engine check light came on for which the manual says take it to the dealer but you can keep driving. Then on the highway the car shuts itself down. The RACQ come out and look over it, notice some fluid on the inside of a wheel and mention that there may be an oil leak but you need to plug the car into a computer to find out what's wrong. He gets it going and say you are right to go.

She drives another 20km down the highway and into town where at a set of lights, the car shuts down again. This time the steering wheel locks up, the pedels don't move, the transmission won't move and the car can't be moved at a set of lights in the middle of town at 8 in the morning.

The racq come out, turn the key to on, press the brake, press the auto shift-lock key and get the car at least moving to get it onto the trailer....rather than sitting at the busiest intersection in town holding up traffic.

They take the car to nissan who ring me up later that day saying the car overheated and we need $2k to look at it and see what is wrong (engine out and heads off). I go over to Nissan and tell them what happened and they show me the 2cm hole in the radiator where the sump gard went through the radiator when my wife backed out of the driveway that day - I could see the fuild residue on the road and marks on the gutter (however this was something we had down every day for the last few weeks).

Anyway, I said to the nissan guys as the car shut itself down, why don't we put a new radiator in and see what happens before pulling the enfine out the look at the heads, after all the computer managemet system did shut the car down.....albiet twice.

So we do that and $1300 later the car is running perfectly. About a month later it start to miss when cold and then run fine....a week later the check light comes on again. I take it to a differnt place (as nissan are about $110/hr labour) who determine there is water in cyclinder number 4 via the computer showing a misfire fault on that cyclinder and poking a camera in the firing chamber.

Anyway (sorry this is long), they take the engine out and get the heads off and with some poking around find a minute dent in the head (slight warp). They then skim the head bolt down with blue silicone stuff and pressure test. All ok except when they pull the head off again there are micro micro tiny micro more amounts of silicone around cylinder number 4 on the block than everywhere else...so the block is warped as well - I went in myself to have a look at this.

Now it is second hand engine time as a rebuild costs just as much and engines these days aren't made to be taken apart and put back together, particularly after 107,000kms (2005 model by the way).

So after some time, a second hand engine goes in with only 25,000km on it ($7k for engine + $3.5K for old engine out, play around and test + new engine in), fantastic except when I pick the car up it fells like it is idling just a little rough, 15mins later, I go to accelerate and the check and 4wd warning light comes on and it goes into "limp home mode". The computer senses a problem and to protect the car disconects the electronic throttle control from the accelerator and simply speeds up to a max 20km/hr (apparently running on only 3 cyclinders) - you can break but put the accelerator to the floor and nothing. Take you foot off both and the car smoothly coasts up to 20km/hr.

So...I limp back to the mechanics (5 past 5 on Friday so couldn't believe they were there). They plug the computer in and it comes up with an electronic throttle control fault and that this little $3k worth of gear needs replacing......separate to the engine, origonal part that was working fine. So after getting the car back with the codes erased but the problem not fixed (my decision) I take it to the smash repairs to get the other damage my wife inflicted on the car fixed and then two weeks later I take it to nissan making sure that the problem is there when I get there - a bit of driving around and it happens on the way.

After around 6 hours the car is fixed and goes like a rocket. They cleaned out excess carbon build up in the throttle body and air intake (from the misfiring) which was mechanically stopping it from working properly.

If anyone is intersted I have some great gear in the buy and sell section......a funds going towards the 12K+ just spent on the car.

Lessons:
1. Don't drive into bog holes
2. Repair damage immediately
3. Stop car when engine check light comes on and look at temp guage
4. Get RACQ to check oil and water
5. Be ready for expensive repairs when something serious happens to a newish car...they are not made to have something go wrong.