Audiovox CC issues

[Jack D]

After several thousand miles of testing I decided that it was time to update this post. I checked the brake light wire and it sometimes showed as much as 338mV with the key on and engine off. I installed a relay but still experienced a delay when engaging the cruise but not as often. I then installed a second vacuum connection to another cylinder. Since then I have not encountered any delays in the unit setting.

 

[Brutane]

I know I'm coming to this post late, and I'm not sure I have anything substantive to add. But I will relate my LONG experience with the Audiovox CCS-100. By way of data I am driving a 2004 Gen I FJR 1300S currently with 70+ thousand miles. I am on my third CCS-100 and I'm poised to install a fourth CCS vacuum servo. My experience with these units is as follows. After an uncomplicated first time install using a home made vacuum canister fabricated from 2"PVC pipe I enjoyed uncomplicated and reliable cruise control for almost three years. I used the vacuum take offs from all four cylinders via a home made manifold to the canister, to include a check-valve. I used vampire connectors the first time, and my tach input was taken from the right side coil. I live in South Georgia so the terrain is relatively flat, however I have made long distance rides to include the Pacific Northwest, the Smokies, and New England's White Mountains and never experienced any lag or surge with the recommended DIP switch settings, uphill or downhill except on the steepest grades out in Colorado (where the cruise would drop unexpectedly on a 10 degree grade). The first unit gradually failed as has been described by some members. First it wouldn't hold speed and gradually slow down. Then it would intermittently not lock on with the first attempt at cruise, but would catch after several annoyed presses of the button. It would take forever pressing the "ACCEL" button to get it to speed up. Finally it would drop out of cruise unexpectedly and not reengage no matter how many times I pressed the button. I bought a second complete CCS kit and tried to locate any troubleshooting help from the Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, BMW forums. There were many well thought out suggestions to include the two I found most helpful with the second install. Mainly, seal the keypad well (I used clear RTV silicone), and get rid of the vampire connectors. I soldered, dielectric greased, and shrink wrapped all previous connections. Now I don't have an LED tail light so I can't comment on the brake light issue which may adversely affect GEN II FJR's without the use of a relay (which makes absolute sense). My second unit worked perfectly after the completion of the second install.... for three years (~20,000 miles) and then I experienced the exact same problems as with the first unit. When the second unit failed I sourced a third unit from a NON-Audiovox ebay re-seller in Jacksonville Florida. The third time I did not replace any components other than the Servo unit, using the same identical DIP settings. I clipped all of the pertinent wires to the the servo close to the servo housing and resoldered, dielectric greased and shrink wrapped all connections, leaving my original connections elsewhere on the bike untouched and un-inspected. By this time I was suspecting the vacuum solenoids as the source of failure. The new third servo worked perfectly with all of the original wiring and keypad and continued to work flawlessly up until this last week when it began with the all to familiar inability to maintain cruise speed. As you may have guessed by now, it's been about three years and another 20,000 miles since the last install. Much to my amazement I was able to source a servo only (without the wiring harness, connectors, chains, keypad, etc.) from Murph's Kits at https://www.murphskits.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=422 . The first kit cost $89, the second kit cost $104, the third kit cost $130, and now the fourth servo unit alone will cost $80. I'm convinced the servos have a mean time to failure of three years or 20,000 miles, which ever comes first. It would be nice if some engineering type could crack one of these dead babies open and figure out how to replace the vacuum solenoids at reasonable cost with minimum fuss. Otherwise, the CCS-100 has been an ergonomic dream for me and my carpal tunnel right wrist. I just rode a 2015 FJR-ES at the AIMexpo in Orlando over the weekend. If pretty wife agrees, this will probably be the last CCS-100 I'll ever install. The new FJR has factory cruise control and so much more. Sorry about the length of this post... I'd hoped to generate some light on the issue.... and hopefully little heat.

 

[Constant Mesh]

Is the air entering the servo filtered? The air valves in the servo may be getting dirty and developing more friction over time. They may not be sealing as tightly. The available vacuum may be somewhat weaker on the FJR versus a car engine. Any flow restrictions which develop may cause problems.

I've never seen the internals of the valves. Can they be cleaned and renewed?

My first Audiovox worked well for over six years and 50K miles. It became unreliable and I installed a new servo. Everything was good again. I reused the original wiring -- just unplugged the wiring harness from the old servo and plugged it into the new servo. So the problem was definitely in the servo.

I doubt the electronics were the problem. I'd speculate that the air valves were misbehaving. Maybe they can be serviced. I didn't dig into it.

 

[ionbeam]

I have seen several CCS with vacuum solenoid problems and one controller board with a burned solenoid driver (FET). The solenoid assembly can be taken apart and the plungers cleaned and very lightly lubed. Several of the solenoid plungers were slightly too small and had a tendency to get cocked and jammed in the solenoid bore. Anyone that tries to R & R the solenoid bank needs to be careful and not damage anything as they figure out how to slide the metal pole pieces off of the solenoid coils and don't let any little springie thingies escape. I have repaired a number of servos with stuck solenoids.

I agree that the CCS electronics are reliable and even when placed near the headers still works reliably for years with no problem.

I used a Goldwing fuel filter as my vacuum reservoir which has the benefit of filtering the air. Perhaps this has helped contribute to my CCS >100k mile life.

 

[mcatrophy]

I'll refer you to one of ionbeam's posts where he shows the innards of the servo. Take it apart, check the solenoids for free movement.

[edit] I see ionbeam posted while I was searching. [/edit]

 

[Constant Mesh]

Don't see how filtering the air on the engine side of the servo could be helpful for the servo? Might keep dirty air out of the throttle bodies and engine.

I assume the servo has three air valves.

1. Vacuum Tapering -- flow "out" of the servo to the engine, reservoir.

2. Air Tapering -- flow "in" to the servo (ambient air around the servo)

3. Shutdown -- flow "in" until atmospheric conditions reached -- diaphragm open to the atmosphere -- valve remains open