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Cruise Control Trouble Shooting

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Old Nov 11, 2009 | 09:16 AM
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Default Cruise Control Trouble Shooting

2004 LS430 UL 43,000 miles

When I start it up it goes through all the checks and everything is fine. I can turn the cruise control on and it is fine. As soon as I try to engage the cruise, the red triangle appears and the "Check cruise control system" message appears.

I'm hoping that this could be something other than the $1200 radar unit in front.....

Any advice? Any checks I can do without visiting the stealership?
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Old Nov 11, 2009 | 09:27 AM
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this is the radar cruise right? what if you do the quick push of the paddle down for like 2-3 seconds to disable radar and just use normal cruise? i would guess that ur radar is dirty or some sensor somewhere hopefully just needs to be cleaned.
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Old Nov 11, 2009 | 09:29 AM
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(Ooops .... I guess I wasn't quick enough with this answer - sojah beat me to it.)

Have you tried it in Normal Mode, i.e. pushing switch stem towards the dash after turning Cruise on ?

If it works in Normal Mode, but not in Laser/Radar Mode, then problem may just be in the laser unit in the grille, and may just need cleaning.

Walt
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Old Nov 11, 2009 | 10:05 AM
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I guess I was doing it wrong...trying to disable the radar cruise....by pushing the switch stem towards the dash.... I tried to disable it by pushing the engage button down for a couple seconds.

My wife has the car until this afternoon. I will give that a try and report back.


THANKS!!

I tried cleaning the radar unit so I don't think that is it. But it has been raining hard here lately.
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Old Nov 11, 2009 | 04:51 PM
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Okay... so I can turn the radar off and the cruise works....

Which is probably bad news as that means the radar unit is out and that is a $1200 part....

Right?

I could live without the radar except you have to be in Park to turn off the radar and you only remember to turn it off when you want to use the cruise control while going down the highway at 60mph.
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Old Nov 14, 2009 | 05:18 PM
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I don't suppose there is a way to permanently disable the radar cruise so I don't have to remember to turn it off every time I get in the car.

I REALLY don't want to spend $1200 on this.
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Old Nov 14, 2009 | 09:43 PM
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i would sell you my radar if possible, i never use the radar cruise,,, most worthless thing on my car.. really¿

also i think there is a perma turnoff solution. but everyday i turn mines off, its not that big of a deal.
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Old Nov 14, 2009 | 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted by sojah
i would sell you my radar if possible, i never use the radar cruise,,, most worthless thing on my car.. really¿

also i think there is a perma turnoff solution. but everyday i turn mines off, its not that big of a deal.
But you have to be in Park to turn the radar cruise off... I only remember to turn it off when I'm cruising down the road and want to use the cruise. I'm not going to pull over and stop just to turn the radar cruise off.

How do you remember to turn it off?
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Old Nov 15, 2009 | 05:37 AM
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on my 04-06 UL i don't have to be in anything to disable the radar part. whenever i want to use my cruise (even while going 80 mph down the road) i just turn it on hold the thing down for 2 seconds (to disable radar) and hit down to set it. maybe this is different on other models i have only done it on mines so can't speak to other models.
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Old Nov 15, 2009 | 10:43 AM
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The problem I have is that since the radar is out, the red triangle comes on when I try and turn the cruise on while going down the road. Then I can' t do anything but turn the cruise completely off. If I start the engine, let it go through its checks, and turn off the radar BEFORE I put the vehicle in drive, the regular cruise works.
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Old Nov 15, 2009 | 01:03 PM
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I had this same problem when the dealer was repairing my height sensors for my HIDs. After picking up the car after the first repair for that issue this happened as soon as I hit I-5 and turned on the laser\radar cruise. Big annoying triangle in the display and it's not working anymore.

I knew the dealer service must have caused the problem as this had never happened before. I was thinking that maybe they unplugged the cruise unit when they were working on the height sensors, but they later advised everything was connected perfectly. They solved the issue by reflashing or resetting the unit. I didn't think that would fix it, but it absolutely did.

The unit now works much better than it did before this problem. Before on a distance of 1 (out of 3) on the freeway I'd have maybe 3 car lengths distance to the next car. Now it's more of a 5 car length at that same distance setting.

Go to the dealer to have this checked. It will probably cost you some diagnostic money for the dealer to look at it, but if they can reset\reflash like they did on mine then that's a lot better than $1200!
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Old Nov 15, 2009 | 07:09 PM
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Wow! Thank you for the hope!

I've checked over the unit and it isn't damaged at all. It was working fine one day and not the next. I'll have to bring it in as there are a couple things I want to check over. Starting with the low speed transmission shifts...
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Old Nov 15, 2009 | 09:17 PM
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Of course now the first thing in my head is how to reflash/reset the radar cruise on my own without paying the dealer.....

As simple as disconnecting the darn thing?
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Old Nov 16, 2009 | 05:46 AM
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hey try to just disconnect your negative battery terminal for 30 minutes first... just make sure your seat is in the correct seating position and you write down all your radio stations before you do it. this will prolly help out your shifting issue and who knows it might even help out your radar cruise issue too... worth a shot since its free and all. let me know.
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Old Nov 16, 2009 | 07:55 PM
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Originally Posted by ejthomp
2004 LS430 UL 43,000 miles

When I start it up it goes through all the checks and everything is fine. I can turn the cruise control on and it is fine. As soon as I try to engage the cruise, the red triangle appears and the "Check cruise control system" message appears.

I'm hoping that this could be something other than the $1200 radar unit in front.....

Any advice? Any checks I can do without visiting the stealership?
I have the exact same problem with my 05. I'm going to try disconnecting the neg battery cable. I also read that there is a possible problem with the sensor which the dealership may not acknowledge.
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