Hi guys, let me bounce this off you . Recently my cruise control (cc) is acting strange at times.

When going up big hill, throttle seems to surge to maintain speed, often cc then cuts out. Cc had always been smooth and seamless before.

I am preparing to replace a rear wheel bearing, it rarely causes bad Trac control amber warning, but lots of wheel play so it has to be done. I wonder if a brief loss of communication between wheel sensor and abs ring could disable cc yet not throw the ABS trac cobtrol warning.

As I recall only loss of traction, or pressing brake, or pushing button on Dash will disable cc.

Which brings up a question: can a bad rear bearing cause the car to think that wheel is spinning, which then makes Trac control kick in ? Hmm that would turn off cc and could explain the high number of amber ASC (spelling?) alerts I've seen lately. Thought it was ice or loose gravel.

This is a 1998, so it uses a vacuum line to the throttle for cc, no leaks evident there. I should add, once cc goes off, I can reactivate it normally (that should eliminate vacuum issues, I've seen them throw an amber message needs ignition off on cycle to clear)

This is a minor annoyance, wanted to run it by you, thanks. Any pointers on how to narrow this down would be appreciated.

John

 

If replacing the wheel bearing fixes the trac warning, I would bet that will also fix the cruise control. My cruise instantly kicked out due to a disconnected vacuum line in the right side wheel well and simultaneously turned on the amber track message. With enough play in the bearing, perhaps the hub sensor is triggering the trac light and also kicking out the CC.

 

The debris from the grinding bearing might be migrating out of the seal and be clouding over the sensor as it is sticky from oil . So the metal particals in the sticky oil interferes with a pure signal getting across the gap from the spinning reluctor to the sensor .

Recommend cleaning the sensor face and the reluctor wheel .

Don't try too hard to get the sensor out as they are plastic and I broke one of mine .

The newer bearing has a larger lip on the seal now as dirt would migrate into the bearing and wear it out early .

This sensor cleaning might resolve everything ,

 

Thank you both! Looks like I'd better buy a new rear bearing set.

John

 

From my understanding the bearing is pressed in so you would have to have someone press it out and in with a additional reluctor removal tool . To save money you can do the job up to the point of taking the removed hub carrier to someone to do this pressing part

 

Lady P, first let me ask: what do you like to be called? I figure Lady P is your car's name and just wanted to check in with you and see if you like that as salutation. Let us know.

Thanks for the heads up about the job. Good news (or bad news cause she wore out so fast, my fault? Maybe!), I've done this job before L.P.. I'm betting I can do it in a couple of hours this time around.

Chilly Philly wrote great instructions
And I'll use them again. It's much easier than front bearings. You need a press, but i have one handy. The biggest headache is measuring and meeting the float requirements. (Yes i ignored this cause i didnt understand it well and had no access to spacers anyway) Bet that's why this new bearing wore out in a couple of thousand miles. Or maybe I should have sprung for Timken brand (around $100) over the $26 ones I got!

Thanks again for the heads up Lady P. I'll let you all know how it goes.

John

 

I'm Parker standing behind M'Lady P in my signature . She Bri ish you know . She's the prettiest Jaguar on the whooooole block , just ask her . Get alot of who is this guy visits on my profile page . Count is now 1,145 visits .

 

Thanks Parker. Just being friendly with the question, wasn't sure what you liked.

John

 

Nope , I have a unblemished record .....But I am a closet chef .

 

SOLVED:
Well I decided to test something, what I thought to self, if the axle not was loose. I did recently change that bearing.

I remember they call for 250lbs torque, my tool only goes to 150ish.

I jacked her up, pulled wheel off and looked. Visually all ok. Realizing this was a waste or time I pulled my impact wrench out and decided I'd try to see if she'd tighten at all.

Set wrench to high, placed over nut , pulled the trigger. SHE MOVED! as seen from my birds eye view it did tighten, but hard to tell how much.

Well I let assumptions lead on this one. Now there's no way to tell how loose she was, certainly less than 1 rotation, but ouch I thought I was just verifying nut was tight - wrong! Well lesson learned, she is tight now.

Plan to purchase new nut (they cannot be reused), attach new nut with red thread locker.
Did I take her for a test drive? Nooooo, life got in the way. Came back hours later and noticed that tire on other side of rear was flat. This is the one I just added 5 lbs of air to when I got home from yesterday's ride that showed surging cc, cc cuts out, car was not feeling centered/stable. Added air, could hear hissss as she deflated= trip to tire store needed.

Tire fixed, test drive = perfect no problems.

The loose wheel on 1 side, low air on other caused the issue. Lesson learned, all ok now(thank God). Lady P, johns427, thank you for your help.

John