Cruise control light flashing???

[JFGaspé]

Hey guys!!

i am a new owner of a outback 06 and lately i am having trouble with my cruise control... I had it on when i was driving on a dry road (60mph) and all of a sudden the cruise control stopped working and the cruise light et the check engine came on.... and the cruise light started to flash. Its been doing that since it last occured...

Did it happen to any of you guys??

Is it a sensor or a breaker??

Thanks for the help!!

[klausc]

You need to stop by an autoparts store and borrow their code scanner. The code may be preventing cruise from coming on.

[ETC]

The cruise will blink telling you it's disabled when the car senses a problem. Generally you will have a CEL along with it but, if it's a pending code, I've heard that sometimes only the Cruise will blink.

Did you goof around and do burnouts in the dirt ? I know it can happen from excessive spinning of the wheels [the TCU will get confused and set a pending code, also the cruise will blink]

Other issues could be, Knock sensor code from some bad gas, "gas cap code" [forget the number] from a loose gas cap and others but, lets start there.

[JFGaspé]

actually i was going in straight line, driving very normal, dry asphalt on a sunny day.... But it stopped blinking yesterday night... Its the second time it does that and i started to think is the cable to the cruise control unit...Gas is fine (87 grade) and the cap was on properly... any other ideas....

[miker104]

You need to get the CEL code read (PXXX) and bring that code back here. The CEL is preventing your Cruise from working and the Cruise light is flashing to tell you it can't work.

You may be able to disconnect your positive battery cable for 10 mins and step on the brake pedal for a minute to reset the ECU. That may put the CEL out and allow your cruise to work. If the CEL comes back on after you do that, you will need to get the code read.

[JFGaspé]

Alright, Thanks guys for the help!!! next time it happens i'll try your trick!! But for some reasons it works fine now...

[roader]

JF, our '05 set-off the CEL and blinking cruise light twice following a loss of power which brought the vehicle down to 10 - 15 kph. Both times it coded a faulty accelerator assembly. This (ghostwalking) car is now on its 3rd accelerator assembly. Hopefully your warning light faults are relatively harmless.

[marcc]

the exact same thing happened to me last night at 2 a.m.. i was driving on the interstate, came upon a horrible storm, then stopped for a while. the rain let up a bit, but the check engine light came on and the cruise flashed. i had to keep on driving to get home, and it's the same this morning. i checked the gas cap and will try the battery disconnect/brake peddle trick. thanks miker104!

so, i could take my car to advance auto parts and they scan for free? they do that?

[PaulO]

I took delivery of a 2004 3.0 Outback on the 27th May, and the lights came on less than 100 yards from the dealer...they have had the car ever since, finally traced it to a faulty TCU and a whole host of other faults...so they contacted me yesterday, they are cancelling the deal and giving me an 06 2.5 OB A/T at cost price...still with maintenance contract...only 46000 km on the clock, so it looks as if I got a sweet deal! ;D

@marcc - Don't you have a dealer you can take it to? They usually check and re-set the thing in about 10 minutes...99% of the time it is your cat that is at fault.

[klausc]

Most autoparts store will either lend you the use of a scanner to use in the parking lot. Pepboys and Autozone will have a store clerk read the codes for you, but they will not clear any.

Yes, CEL = check engine light.