Cruise Control Not Working- 2014 A

[Bill Lumberg]

I serviced (lubed) the rear brake and shifter this weekend. Upon reassembly, brakes, brake lights, cruise, and shift points worked superbly. And continued to do so through the weekend. This morning, when I left, at first cruise would not engage. I could switch it on, but when I went to Set, I could not get a green light at first. Upon the third try, I was able to get it to engage, and it functioned normally. A little later, I turned it off, and have never been able to get it to engage again. Brakes feel normal. Brake lights function normally. When I parked at the end of my 38 mile commute, I (gingerly) felt the brakes. Front rotors- almost cool. Rear rotor- hot, but not too hot to touch. Does this sound normal (brake wise), and what would you recommend looking for? Thanks in advance.

Personally, I think the bike is throwing a fit because I rode the mountain bike the last two days instead of the FJR. Logically, I know when something goes wrong, check what you did last, first. I just don't know what isn't back in it's original factory position.

 

[Donal]

Is your rear brake light still working properly?

 

[steve_g]

even if the brake light is working, the cruise control may still think the brake is on. mine was acting the same and it was fixed by cleaning the brake pedal return spring.

you can check the cruise control interlocks using DIAG mode.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Thanks. Brake light functioning normally. Off unless I'm on the brakes. But as Steve suggests, it may be bound or tweaked somewhere in the danger zone. I will have to pull out the FSM when I get home and figure out how to check CC in DIAG.

 

[eflyguy]

Any idea if it's a simple switch or a rheostat? Thinking you could simply unplug it and see if that resolves the issue (just as a test, of course).

The FSM should have a section on testing the switch, which should tell you.

 

[steve_g]

I could hear 2 separate contacts making in the brake pedal switch. One for the CC and one for the brake light.

When the pedal would return, the lights would turn off but the CC would still see the brake as engaged.

 

[ionbeam]

Hook toe under brake pedal, lift. Change in CC? My Gen I was ridden in all weather and tended to have the brake and shifter stick. The toe lift under the brake was so ingrained that I found myself lifting on the pedal of my brand new '15. The CC made a good sticking indicator. So did my riding buds that were always there to tell me my brake lights were stuck on.

IIRC, there have been a few Gen III FJRs with CC switch issues.

 

[Cav47]

I have had a similar problem with my cruise in the past. The problem was in the bulb. Since our brake light bulbs have 2 filaments, make sure that the "brake" filament is on the bottom/underneath. I was having an intermittent cruise malfunction that was caused by the "running" light making contact with the brake circuit. When I would have the cruise set, the brake circuit was not closed. Upon hitting s bump, the burned out and broken filament would bounce and touch the running light. Therefore connecting the circuit and kick the cruise off.

Hope that makes sense. I wish I could take credit for it but Ray is the one that figured it out.

Hope that is it. Good luck

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I toe lifted and fiddled with both the rear and the front brake levers. Didn't help any. Thanks for the idea though. My thinking exactly. It travels freely. I will check in-depth when I get home. This is my first bike with cruise. I wondered recently if I'd miss it very much if I went to another bike without cruise. So much for that. Punching up nav or comm stuff, adjusting gear, and myriad other tasks, are done more easily with cruise control engaged. You really know when you lose it.

 

[K_Flyer]

Good to know. My CC started dropping out a couple of days ago. Cruising along on a smooth road, then bang, no power. No bump in the road and I had my foot off the brake pedal. Happened four or five times. Wife was riding behind me an confirmed that the brake light did not come on.

Not a happy camper as I bought this bike for reliability and having the first failure at less than 1500 miles.

 

[bergmen]

I could hear 2 separate contacts making in the brake pedal switch. One for the CC and one for the brake light.
When the pedal would return, the lights would turn off but the CC would still see the brake as engaged.

I know this is the case with the front brake light switch (two separate contacts). I discovered that the brake light on my 2014 would not come on when using the front brake until moderate braking force was used. In stop and go traffic, if I only used the front brake (often), the brake light would not work.

I modified my brake lever to have an adjustable release point for the brake light switch. I adjusted it so the light would come on with very slight movement of the lever. CC would not work. I had to adjust the switch point back almost to where it was for the CC to engage still leaving my brake light not coming on until moderate braking (I don't like this).

I bet it is the same on the rear. I would start by re-adjusting the rear brake light switch and see if this works.

Dan

 

[NTXFJR]

If your rear rotor was toasty after riding for a while it makes me think there's some kind mechanical binding going on in there, or maybe the brake cylinder actuator linkage is mis-seated somehow. Which might explain some slight pad drag and maybe why the switch not fully making? If it didn't do this before hand, is it absolutely certain that the stuff went back together exactly the same way it came out?

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Everything went back together the way it came apart, in a general sense, but I suspect that one of the springs behind the assembly got torqued or sideways during my inexpert reassembly, which is tweaking things just enough that cruise thinks there's a brake engaged, even though the brake function and tail-light function appears to be normal... That or the pivot itself is not positioned correctly somehow. Since I'd just come from a 50 minute run, the last 10 minutes of which had a fair amount of rear brake use, I think the rear rotor being hot but not hollering was probably normal. Worrying about rubbing pads and/or boiling brake fluid was why I checked. I'm going to pull things apart at the pedal, check, and reassemble as soon as I get home. Will report whatever I jacked up if and when I find it.

I disassembled the rear brake bits and stripped down and lubed them and the shifter pivots, as I ride a lot in the rain, and knew it was due. I tend to lubricate these areas more than a normal person would, as I don't disassemble and clean these areas too often (this was the first time in 30K miles). The brake parts were dirty, but not terribly dirty, still well lubricated, and moved freely, without sticking or binding. So I didn't notice much difference before and after service, until the cruise issue that appeared this morning. The shifter, being somewhat more shielded, did not show as much dirt and grime, but wiping down and lubricating those points resulted in a better feeling, and sounding, shifter. More of a snick than what I was getting pre-service. Thanks to advice here on how and why to do both.

 

[RichDoyle]

Without repeating all the details of my prior thread, I had a not-dissimilar problem many months ago with my '13 Gen III. After fiddling with this and that, the cure turned out to be opening the shell of the FRONT brake switch and squirting some contact cleaner inside this enclosure. Some kind of dust or other munge somehow got in there.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

It's going in for warranty repair. I pulled everything apart. It was in order. Test run- no cruise. Did it again (disassembly, reassembly) tweaked the switch spring a little bit. Was able to get cruise twice, then no more. I'll check the front switch though.

 

[steve_g]

I believe Diag 82 will help pinpoint the culprit.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

82 is simply ON. Regardless. 83 is off unless I pull the front brake lever or press the rear one.

 

[steve_g]

83 probably won't help if you're in between the light contact and cc contact like a few of us were. I'd use 82 and poke around the brake/clutch/throttle to see if you can get an "OFF". Reach behind the rear brake and push up on the brake switch, thats my guess based on you're recent maintenance.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Excellent advice, as always. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong for me during maintenance that requires more than changing the oil and FD fluid, so since this was the first time I was disassembling and lubing these parts, well, apart, I had an excellent video, and took pictures of the parts in their original position and orientation, just in case. I disassembled and reassembled this POS 4 times yesterday afternoon. I initially focused on the switch spring, as it easily galls and binds where it engages the switch and the brake pedal. My first repair efforts were to tweak the spring to make sure it had full extension, wasn't bent, etc. This did not produce reliably positive results. Finally resorting to using the FSM and code 82 (because why would I do the obvious until all other means of wasting time had been exhausted?), I slowly determined that the switch itself is either soft or not particularly well mated to its' "holder". It was slightly askew. Rather than pushing up, I twisted and pulled down, which brought it fully into contact with the collar it rides in. This resulted in happy-82-diag and rejoicing. So confident was I (and so late was it) in steve_g's guidance and my personally reproducible 82 funtime, I buttoned it up and did not test last night. Brake lights continue to function properly, and full cruise functionality is restored, as confirmed this morning. K- check your spring and your switch as the guys have noted here. Diag makes it easy to fiddle with without having to ride it to test it.