So I was researching cruise control malfunctions on this fabulous website today because mine triggers limp-home and shuts off almost immediately, and came across a thread about vacuum hoses and saw where a "tee" connection was mentioned, located near the firewall. I immediately found a disconnected vacuum hose with a piece of broken off plastic tee in it and a broken tee connected to the rear of the right hand fuel rail and to the intake manifold! Talk about a quick 5 minute fix? When it stops raining I'll drive it and see if cruise works without triggering limp-home mode.

These cars are a million laughs. Thank God for this website.

 

Glad you figured it out and the car probably runs better without the vacuum leak.

 

I started the car this morning to see if the cruise worked and the dreaded red light appeared along with Restricted Performance and a smelly exhaust. I disconnected the vacuum line and everything went back to normal. Il capped the manifold vacuum line and tried it again, no red light and when I tried the cruise control I got a yellow dash light and Limp Home mode.

Does anyone know what the vacuum line connected to the right hand fuel rail does?

 

Latest: I connected the stray vacuum line and fuel pressure regulator vacuum line and tried driving it with the red Restricted Performance light on. WOW, the car now has instant throttle response and goes like a ----- ape. Also, the a/c switches now redirect the air properly and the fan just about blows you out of the car when I hit the recirc button. Plus it now burns rubber when I turn off the trac button. Performance is now TWICE WHAT IT WAS WITH THE VACUUM LINE DISCONNECTED!

What is up with the red light on the dash? Anytbody know?

 

Now that you have the vacuum tubes hooked up again can you clear the error codes? That should get rid of your red light and then you will know if the original error comes back.

 

I reset the battery this AM and the red light, Restricted Performance and Check Engine lights came right back after driving a little. The performance and throttle response is still fantastic. I'm going to buy a better code reader cause my Actron can't read this car very well.

 

Did you check the vac lines and valve connections for the cruise control yet ? They are under the wing on drivers side uk model, passenger side USA model. You need to remove the wheel arch liner to get access.

 

My 1998 cruise control comes and goes. sometimes works, sometimes not, so I figured it had to be the brake light switch, not a vacuum problem. I just drove 600 highway kms yesterday and today, and found that when the cruise control function was working, it would continue working until I had to apply the brakes, then would not return. It was interesting taking a posted 70kmh corner at 110 kmh in order not to employ the brakes, but the car handled so well that I am sure that I could easily have tried 120 or more. Several miles later, someone abruptly pulled out in front of me forcing me to brake and lose cruise. Could not get it back. More than half way home today, I finally persuaded it to work again but only for a short while, as traffic was too heavy and again I had to use the brakes. The car will soon be going into winter storage, so I am not overly concerned with this inconvenience. I understand that the job of replacing the switch is best suited to contortionists, so maybe next spring I will try to hire one. By the way, the car performed wonderfully in every other respect.

 

I now have the vacuum line hooked up to the fuel pressure regulator and the hose to the can on top of the trottle body capped. No cruise control, but I will remove the wheel well liner and take a pea under there. I adjusted the throttle cable to remove some slack and noticed no difference in throttle response. It was already very smooth, and kickdown was easily available without pushing too hard on the gas. The only reason I want to repair the cruise is to complete all the repairs to all the systems that were neglected by the past owners. I know I have to swap micro switches in the brake light switch but that and a couple of other items will have to wait until this winter. The car has what seems like twice the power it had when I bought it, just by hooking up that fuel regulator. It's no Cobra, though, but it's not meant to be.

 

The vac pipe that goes to the top of the can on the throttle body, is the cruise control. Without that it will never work. That pipe goes to the control valves inside the wheel arch, which get vacuum from the rear of the engine. You should be able to follow the route and check for leaks and bad connections.