cruise not working when cold.

[00bluees]

I've noticed this a few times on the cold mornings we have had lately. I usually jump on the highway and set the cruise. Lately though its been kind of weird. It seems on the coldest mornings (-15c or colder) it won't engage. I'll hit the button and the cruise light will come on, but if I let off the gas I'll slow right down. Give it 5 minutes or so, and it will work though. Once I set it for 100km/hr, let off the gas, it dropped to about 90 then grabbed on and brought me back up to 100.

Is this something others experience? Anything I could do to keep it working properly?

 

[kms1990]

it maybe the cable that it uses to open the throttle plate. it could be freezing over and not moving when the cruise tries to use it. it kinda seems to me that something is freezing over and after 5 minutes starts to thaw enough to work. could be the cruise wiring getting just a little bit of moisture and it freezing (in wires). that is an odd issue though

 

[rit14623]

I've noticed this a few times on the cold mornings we have had lately. I usually jump on the highway and set the cruise. Lately though its been kind of weird. It seems on the coldest mornings (-15c or colder) it won't engage. I'll hit the button and the cruise light will come on, but if I let off the gas I'll slow right down. Give it 5 minutes or so, and it will work though. Once I set it for 100km/hr, let off the gas, it dropped to about 90 then grabbed on and brought me back up to 100.

Is this something others experience? Anything I could do to keep it working properly?

There's a vacuum hose that inserts into the cruise control thingy. Looking at the engine bay, it's in the back left area near the passenger-side strut tower. It's a possibility that a vacuum hose is cracked and when it is cold, the vacuum hose is open and when the rubber warms up, the opening closes up. Inspect that hose. It's around two+ feet long.

 

[lowlevel]

Mine has two seperate issues/problems that rarely show up... most of the time, it works perfectly.

-Cruise light will not turn on/accept set speed or operate at all. Suspect sticking brake pedal/switch or possibly the clockspring/cruise switch/etc.
-Cruise light comes on, but can not hold set speed. Suspect vacuum leak/cracked hose/failing cruise actuator/etc.

 

[MaxPower]

There's a protocol for testing the cruise control system in the Mazda shop manual... probably worth following it.