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audiovox ccs-100


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va2ir 
Member - Posts: 17
Member spacespace
Joined: September 03, 2006
Posted: September 03, 2006 at 6:21 PM / IP Logged  

Gents,  great forum here for 12 volt stuff.

I have a Ford Gran Torino, 1973, starsky replica car.  It was a non-factory equipped cruise car, so in 2004, my parents brought me back the Audiovox CCS-100 kit from Pep Boyz while on holiday in Florida.  I installed the unit (I am an electronic engineer and good mechanic too) carefully, according to their instructions. Being the car has no VSS, I used one magnet on the driveshaft  and the coil pickup on the floor mounted bracket.  It uses the normally open type dash swtich pod.  I mounted the vacuum servo on the drivers side inner fender and got my vacuum right from the vacuum tree on the back of the intake manifold.

On the first try, it worked perfectly, and continued so until this July, when the unit sometimes refused to lock on.  Now it will not lock above 45MPH, and when it does, it will pull on the throttle for one "shot" of power, then shut off and let go.

Yesterday, I put the rear end up on jack stands, and first checked all the DC voltages - all were correct.  I then set my voltmeter to 200mV AC volts and checked for voltage as the rear wheels turned the driveshaft, so the magnet would pass by the coil, thereby generating some current - this worked ok.  To prove it further, I started the engine, ran the car at idle and observed the voltage climb - faster the speed - more AC voltage, then back in neutral, wheels slowed down, voltage slowed as well.  So the magnetic sensor is working.  The DIP swiches are set correctly as well. I use the tach lead off the coil and the VSS is the magnet setup.  Brake light voltage is fine.  And there is plenty of vacuum - engine is a 351 windsor V8.  And the cruise cable is free - not binding.

I can only assume the vacuum servo has bitten the dust.   Has anyone got any other suggestions as what to check? Does a service manual exist for this unit? Or should I just bite the bullet and get a new one.  You would think these things would last more than 2 years, and the car only sees summers.

Cheers and thanks

Ian R., Montreal, Canada

sparkie 
Platinum - Posts: 2,061
Platinum spacespace
Joined: November 06, 2003
Location: Canada
Posted: September 04, 2006 at 4:35 PM / IP Logged  
Do an electrical check on the wiring. With the igntion off, test the violet and black wires for resistance to ground. You must have less than 5 ohms resistance to ground on the violet wire for the cruise to work. It doesn't matter that it shows 12 volts when you apply the brake pedal. The cruise must have less than 0.5 ohms resistance to ground on both the black wire and the blue wire for the magnetic pick-up. With the ignition on you should get 12 volts on the red and brown wires. With the ignition on and pressing set the green wire has 12 volts. The yellow has 12 volts when pressing resume. Start the car, and unplug the vacuum hose. Place your finger on the end of it to see if there is vacuum present. I assume that your car is an automatic. Disconnect your tach wire and set the dip switches for automatic. If all checks OK, then you probably have a bad cruise.
sparky
va2ir 
Member - Posts: 17
Member spacespace
Joined: September 03, 2006
Posted: September 04, 2006 at 6:15 PM / IP Logged  

Hi Sparky.  Thanks for the reply.

I did all the tests you mention, except for the continutity test to ground on the purple wire.  In my case, the blue wire is for the tach, and the grey is for the magnetic pickup.

I physically disconnected the magnetic pick up coil, and tested it for continuity and it was fine.  Even manually placing a magnet near it generated some current which was measured on my VOM set on AV volts, 200 mv scale.   The key pad wiring checks out ok as well as you descirbe above.  And the engine has plenty of vacuum - that was the first thing I checked.  I also tried the settings with no tach and/or no VSS, both for automatic and manual transmission, and it still would not engage.  So I will assume after all that, that the servo is gonzo.

I'll be talking to audiovox tomorrow and see if they can help me out.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Ian R.

sparkie 
Platinum - Posts: 2,061
Platinum spacespace
Joined: November 06, 2003
Location: Canada
Posted: September 04, 2006 at 7:26 PM / IP Logged  
Ian. Checking the violet wire is crucial. Most cruise installers are unaware that in order for the cruise to work the violet wire MUST be grounded. It receives it's ground through the filaments in the brake lights. If one or more stop lights burn out, the ground on the violet wire will have too much resistance in it. I have seen many installers overlook this and waste a lot of time and parts trying to fix the problem. If you have changed any of the dip switches, you MUST unplug all the harness plugs from the cruise. If you don't, the cruise won't acknowledgs any dip switch settings correctly. The blue wire in the cruise harness is for tach yes. You don't need it. There is also a blue wire in the harness for the magnetic pick-up. In the instructions that come with the speed sensor kit, they tell you to ground it aswell as plug it into the cruise control. You need to make sure that this is done, unless the cruise kit you have has already accomodated this into the harness. A simple test with your meter will confirm this. The cruise kit you have is very reliable. I have only seen a handful fail. Thats a very small amount, considering I have done thousands of these cruises. Good luck.
sparky
va2ir 
Member - Posts: 17
Member spacespace
Joined: September 03, 2006
Posted: October 02, 2006 at 5:12 PM / IP Logged  

Sparky

I will check the purple wire to ground situation. Maybe it is a bad filament.  The car goes in storage soon, so I will do this before I put it away.

Thanks

Ian

va2ir 
Member - Posts: 17
Member spacespace
Joined: September 03, 2006
Posted: October 08, 2006 at 8:16 AM / IP Logged  

Sparky,

Regarding the purple wire grounding situation. Yesterday, was a nice day here and I had some time, so, I decided to check the purple wire grounding situation. With the harness unplugged from the servo, and my ohm meter on the lowest setting, ignition off, I measured 26 ohms from the purple wire to ground. Is this too much resistance?  I will check my brake lights to make sure all is well.

Perhaps installing a small relay at the brake pedal light switch would do the trick.  Contacts closed would ground the purple wire for operation, brake pedal pushed pulls the relay contacts and puts 12V on the purple wire.

I will try again today with a fresh 9V battery in the meter.  It may give a better or more accurate resistance measurement.

Thanks

Ian R.

sparkie 
Platinum - Posts: 2,061
Platinum spacespace
Joined: November 06, 2003
Location: Canada
Posted: October 08, 2006 at 11:43 AM / IP Logged  
Yes that reading is too high. It should be no more than 5 ohms or so. It could just be one brake light bulb is burnt out or there is a problem with either the lighting socket or wiring. You can use your meter at each brake light to identify which one is bad. You can try using a temporary ground wire connected to the violet wire. Cut the violet wire off the vehicle brake wire and attach it to a ground source that you can diconnect while driving. Road test the car with the violet wire connected to ground and try the cruise. If it works, then pull the jumper to ground off the violet wire to disengage the cruise. Then find the fault in the brake circuit of the car.
sparky
va2ir 
Member - Posts: 17
Member spacespace
Joined: September 03, 2006
Posted: October 22, 2006 at 9:18 AM / IP Logged  

Sparky

You called it - I had my son touch the brake pedal while watching the tail lights.  Sure enough, left side, one of the 2 bulbs that lights was dim - and those are all new bulbs and sockets on that side.  I removed the bulb, cleaned it up, tested the 2 filaments, both good, replaced it, and still only one filament came on. I cleaned up the socket, and then realized I had it in 180 degrees out of phase. Now both filaments come on, and taking a resistance measurement from purple to ground, I get 3.5 ohms.

So maybe this will do it.  I surely hope so (and dont call me Shirly)

Thanks for all the help

Ian

sparkie 
Platinum - Posts: 2,061
Platinum spacespace
Joined: November 06, 2003
Location: Canada
Posted: October 22, 2006 at 3:34 PM / IP Logged  
Thats much better. I will bet you have it fixed now.
sparky

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