Sorry for the long message, it’s only one of my many problems….
It’s my first time to become an Acura owner, in specific a 2002 TL-S. It is a very neat car less some ‘minor’ problems which I thought I could handle them before I bought the car. I have been searching for cruise control fixes but much out there. The problem is that both master light on the panel and the indicator light on the dashboard would come on but the auto cruise would not engage, say speed is above 40 mph. After I checked the actuator appearance, the cables and the pulley they all look normal to me. Of course I can’t tell if the actuator motor is functioning unless I have the diagnosis procedures (any help here?). I wonder if that is included in the HELM manual. BTW I have already order one which is on the way. What is left? I found a cruise control module (36700-S0KA51) came off a 99 TL from a salvage yard today. I was excited but now am discouraged because it didn’t fix the problem. My car has only 55K it’s hard to believe a malfunction module, after all it’s electronic as I know. The replacement part could be bad too. Is there anybody know anything about the subject, like diagnosis, circuit diagram for voltage reading, or simailar experience..? I asked several dealerships, parts department, none of them sold any module according to their records. Is the cruise control seldom gone bad or TL owners would just take the problem to the dealers (I am not being tongue and cheek when said)? Just want to get a feel and share the experience. Any wisdom please? Thank you in advance.

 

there are 2 main components to the cruise control The small little black box under the dash, and the cruise control motor. If the light itself is coming on bit nothing is happening i would have to say it sounds like its the cruise control motor. Im not sure off the top of my head the test procedure of that though.

 

This may or may not help, but I had accidentally disconnected the vacuum hose to the cruise control motor while working on my old 96 Accord. I don't know if our TL's use the same vacuum actuation, but with the hose off, my cruise control wouldn't engage on the Accord.

 

Thanks guys this is what needed to inspire ideas for answers. The HELM manual came through the door today. My eyes were wide open for the amount of information and details. As long as the user knows the part that he is looking for, this is good stuff. There are no pictures but the illustrations are very good. I went the troubleshooting on page 4-35 where said “Cruise control cannot be set”. #2 “SET/RESUME/CANCEL switch” fails in the test. I think those two diodes for the bridge is bad. One side read infinity and reverse read 1.260 M Ohms (I suppose this is a bit too high?) I think this is it (fingers cross) but not sure how did it affect the circuit on page 4-34. I will throw some money for this part tomorrow and hope that the dealer has it in stock. While I was at it, the actuator checks out OK. The magnetic clutch and the motor work just fine. I can’t test the harness or the control module until I replace the switch. Anyway there is no troubleshooting for the module itself. This is the final frontier, just need replacement. Once I bottom this out, will post result and hope some day someone will find the info useful. Thank you again for your input.

 

After a week trial and error and having many parts replaced, the cruise control is finally working today. The cancel switch and the actuator were to blame. Not sure what went wrong with the earlier diagnosis, all I can say is that we need to have good connectors for each test. I used paper clip for the terminals. They are not too profressional.