My xj has always been moody when it comes to cruise working, or not working. If I turn cruise on, there is a chance the light will illuminate. If the light turns on, there is a chance the cruise will then turn on when I try to set a speed, but of course only then does it sometimes work. Once the light is on, I can not hit the button again to turn it off. It may go a week working fine, then a week not working, then a week doing a little bit of both, etc...

I have had issues where if the throttle is depressed but my speed is very slowly increasing or decreasing in exact situations I have not figured out yet, my xj will give a slight buck or hiccup. Happens so quick I never have a chance to see if the rpm drops, but it could be the tranny slipping or something.

Anyways, now for the coincidence part. I had my cruise on, exited the expressway, got to about 50mph (I have an odd front end shake at that speed) the steering wheel shook like it usually does, and the light for the cruise control flickered on and off, but glowed slighting like it was just a loose wire, something like that. Out of curiosity I hit the cruise on button and the xj did its little hiccup, hit it a second later and another hiccup, light didnt come back on until after the shaking and I mashed the button a few more times to see if i could replicate the issue with no luck.

I know, really long story for that, but the hiccups at the time of depressing the cruise on button must of been a coincidence right?

Fsher21

 

Wild guess. Vacuum issue. Check lines and connections.

 

I can not see any cracks or anything wrong, it looks like I have the canister relocated by the wiper fluid. It looks like one line runs along the firewall and connects to a smaller metal line, and another runs into something to do with the hvac system. Now, the canister, if I am looking at the right thing, has a nipple at the top without a hose assigned to it, and is probably open. Would that cause issues or is that just in case some feature needed an extra vacuum line?

 

If it's open, it's probably leaking. Try to find out what goes there, or at least plug it to see if it helps your situation.

 

It felt plugged, but cant hurt to throw something over it anyways. That wouldn't be my problem though since the shaking/vibrations affected it. Could be a back clockspring or whatever the hell that thing is called in the steering wheel too, right?