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1963 riviera cruise control problem


Guest lrg

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Can someone describe the operation of the cruise and it's components? the green light turns on when the cruise switch is pressed. but nothing happens.

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Lrg (still no name?)

This is going to be a big one. I'm not trying to be a smart ass here, but I'd get a '63 shop manual and go through it. The shop manual lists 16 different problems; each having as few as 2 or as many as 7 different things to check out to find the problem. That section of the shop manual is 13 pages long. It's an "Electro Cruise" unit and runs off + and - electrical readings that come from two feelers on the back of the speedometer head when you set the needle to the speed you want. There's also a list of the proper tools that you'll need to do the job. It could be as simple as brake pedal pressure on the brake release switch or it might be as complicated as a defective transistor amplifier.

Ed

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Larry-

Before you start diagnosing the Cruise, make sure you are operating it properly. Read either the Owners Manual or (better) the Shop Manual on Cruise operation.

The basic deal is: 1)set speed minder needle at the speed you want to cruise at; 2) press Cruise switch to get light on; 3) use gas pedal to manually bring car speed up to above your speed minder speed; 4) gently take foot off gas and as car speed gets down below your speed minder needle, you should feel the vacuum can take the pedal away from your foot.

If you go above your speed set point (cruise needle) and then below and the cruise does not take over, then you need to start with the Shop Manual troubleshooting procedure, as Ed says.

Good luck with it.

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Ont thing I learned from my cruise control, if your speedomenter bounces, flutters, or whatever fix that first.

As Jim says "It's an "Electro Cruise" unit and runs off + and - electrical readings that come from two feelers on the back of the speedometer head when you set the needle to the speed you want."

So if your speedometer is not working properly, neither will your cuise control. Just ask my passenger who rode 2500 miles with me and a surging cruise control unit. Didn't bother me, but sure bothered him. Fast/slow/fast/slow/etc.etc.etc

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow, real fuzzy here, but decades ago, I toyed with creating a way to have cruise as well as the speed buzzer on my 64, and think the buzzer just went to ground, and I planned to install a toggle to go back and forth.

Has anyone done this?

Dale

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The speedo head is different between a car with buzzer and a car with cruise. The needle that you set looks the same but everything behind the scenes is different. It won't work. Look in shop manual for schematics and you'll see.

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  • 6 years later...
Lrg (still no name?)

This is going to be a big one. I'm not trying to be a smart ass here, but I'd get a '63 shop manual and go through it. The shop manual lists 16 different problems; each having as few as 2 or as many as 7 different things to check out to find the problem. That section of the shop manual is 13 pages long. It's an "Electro Cruise" unit and runs off + and - electrical readings that come from two feelers on the back of the speedometer head when you set the needle to the speed you want. There's also a list of the proper tools that you'll need to do the job. It could be as simple as brake pedal pressure on the brake release switch or it might be as complicated as a defective transistor amplifier.

Ed

Hi Ed - I have discovered the unknown switch on my 64 that Dick Sweeney and yourself posted. It is the cries control. Wasn't working at all but I spent the better part of the day checking out as much of the system as I could referring to the chassis service manual. It was very helpful and after cleaning the power unit took it out for a road trip and amazingly it worked - well kind of. It will accelerate when I engage the switch and run the speed past speed setting pointer but won't hold the set speed. Looking at the manual they say it's either a defective relay and defective engage switch. Can you buy those ? I have no idea how to test them for accurate function . Also they say it could be a 2 amp fuse incorporated into the junction block which apparently holds the " relay assembly and transistor amplifier" . I have the dash off and think I have found the multipronged relay switch but be darn if I can find the fuse they are talking about. I already replaced all the fuses in the main fuse block under the dash. Any suggestions or sources for a replacement engagement switch or relay would be much appreciated. Thanks Kendall

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I'm going out on a limb here, but if the switch that's under the dash is being used for the cruise, I would say that it's probably the wrong switch, which would go along with that one diagnoses in the chassis manual.

Here's what you're looking for. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-Buick-Riviera-Cruise-Control-Switch-Used-w-Chrome-Bezel-Knob-64-65-/251312536304?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a8364faf0&vxp=mtr

It is to be bolted to the underneath side of the dash on the left hand side. I'm betting it's a lot different than the switch that the PO tried to use. You also need to make sure that the release switch isn't hanging up on the brake pedal arm.

post-50017-143142669371_thumb.jpg This picture came from a Riviera that is being parted out at the CTC auto ranch in Texas.

Ed

Edited by RivNut (see edit history)
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