By Scott A. Keen (Scottkeen) on Thursday, March 08, 2001 - 11:44 pm: Edit

After checking the vacuum hoses again, everything looked fine, and for grins, I tried the cruise control again on the way to lunch. Surprise! It worked... (but only for a while)

On the way to the pool tonight, it didn't work at all (yes, I was going over 28mph, more like 50mph). But on the way home from the pool, it worked no problem the whole way home.

One thing I noticed was a "buzz" from the speakers whenever I or the Disco, accelerated the cruise control (eg. actuated the vacuum pump). This buzz would come out of the speakers no matter if I was listening to AM, FM or CD player. The buzz was not volume dependent. iow, no matter what the volume setting was on the stereo, the loudness of the buzz was constant. The buzz would go away when the cruise speed had been attained, or if the decellerate button was being pressed. Also, the buzz from the speakers was only evident with the stereo turned on (even at minimal volume setting, the buzz was the same loudness).

OK, SO WHAT DOES THIS TELL ME?!?!

Well, first, I'm not even an amateur with electronics so I'm going to hazard a guess...

In consideration of:
- the problem is intermittent
- I'm getting a buzzing noise from the speakers when the vacuum pump is actuated
- I'm also getting intermittent use out of my rear wiper which is on the same circuit as the cruise control

...I'm guessing that the problem is an electrical GROUNDING problem or a faulty circuit.

Does anyone have an idea about this? Any suggestions for how a guy with no electrical experience can test and fix the problem?

Thanks,

Scott
1997 Disco SD7