I have a question regarding wiring to the transducer. There is a two-wire connector, shaped like a "T", that fits onto the top of the transducer. The two wires involved are a light brown with white stripe wire, and a black wire. Which wire goes where? Does the brown/white stripe wire go in the place of the "top" portion of the "T" and the black wire to the bottom portion, or vice versa? Also, in doing other reading about those years of cruise control, is the brown/white stripe wire referred to as the "engage" wire? I've discovered that when the car is running and I press the engage switch on the column, this wire then gets 12V running through it. And is the black wire referred to as the "hold" wire? I thought it was a ground wire but maybe it serves both purposes.

I've gone through all the testing the CSM calls for in checking the continuity of the wiring and if the engage switch (on the column) is working properly and I've got everything cleared all the way to hooking the two wires up to the transducer. I had a faulty brake switch in which 2blu442 searched through his spare parts and solved that problem for me! I also discovered that, before my time (I bought the car in 1987 and the cruise control did not work even at that time), someone had patched in a 9" length of harness to the end of the existing harness to the transducer. As it stood, this patched in pigtail was causing problems with excessive resistance in the brown/white stripe wire, which I corrected by making a new extension that solved the resistance problem.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Once I know which wire goes where in the connector, I can give the cruise control system another test run.

Randy C.

 

here are a few pictures of a couple PONTIAC cruise controls I have of the same vintage...
maybe you see something that helps
pictures taken in December

 

Unfortunately, the transducer for the '69 Olds A-body is completely different (and unique in that it is a one-year-only usage item). I was hoping I could tell from the pictures you've shown but it appears that even the wire colors are different between Pontiac and Oldsmobile. It somewhat surprising that, although both are GM (along with Buick, Chevy & Cadillac), the cruise control systems are different. Even the Toronado and larger car cruise control systems are different for the '69 model year Oldsmobiles than for the A-body.

I'm thinking about calling one of the Olds reproduction outfits to see if they can tell me the positioning of the two wires that go to the transducer. It appears that cruise control in the '69 A-body is pretty rare as I'm not getting responses!

Randy C.

 

Hi Randy
I don't know if I shared any photos with you yet of what I have on my 1969 Vista Cruiser project car. Its wiring is different than yours so I suspect this is not the factory. But the wiring does have a "T" connector and the black wire goes to the top of the T, the brown to the stem of the T. Let me know if this helps and if there's any other views I can provide that might help you figure yours out. John

 

Thank you, John! Your pictures answered my question. It tells me that my original transducer is belly-up. I don't know what's wrong with it but it does not work. I have another transducer that looks just like the one in the pictures you sent me (I was told that it came out of a '70 Olds A-body) that I'm going to try on the next sunny day. If your wiring is correct, it's set up the same way as mine was (at one point I was thinking my wires might have been reversed, but apparently not so) and still is. It says the black wire is the engage wire and brown/white stripe is the hold wire. It will be interesting to see if this other transducer works. Thanks again!

Randy C.

 

Wouldn't all these questions be answered in the appropriate service manual?

 

I wish they were, but not in the case of this somewhat rare option. I searched through the CSM and there is a lot of talk about how to test various components of the cruise control system. I crawled all over the wiring diagram on page 15-31 of the CSM which contains some options but not cruise control. And even when I put the question out there, John's was the only response I got. I also posed the question on the OCA website and haven't received any answers there at all. Until John showed me his pictures of the '69 VC he has with cruise control, my '69 4-4-2 is the only '69 4-4-2 convertible I've seen with factory cruise control. As well, my convertible is also the only one I've seen with factory front seat shoulder belts and I've received a few inquiries about it for specific details on how it was installed. The CSM and BSM are good for a lot of things, even in detail, but sometimes when I have to really get down into the weeds and take a close look at something, that detail is missing. Thank goodness for this forum as I've had numerous questions answered here that I couldn't find in the books or assembly manual.

Randy C.

 

Well, today was the big day! I got my transducers back from a rebuilder, gave them both a test, and for the first time in the 33 years I've owned my '69 4-4-2 convertible, the factory cruise control in it works, and it works great! I had a transducer from a 1970 GM car (don't know if it's what was used in the Olds A-body or not but it fit the bracket in my car) and the original transducer (one-year only production) out of my '69. I found a rebuilder in Minnesota and sent them to him. He rebuilt the newer model for $140 (shipping included). He was unsure if he could rebuild my original unit but, after looking into it, he said it needed a new solenoid of which he had one left. He rebuilt my original unit for $175 (shipping included). So now I have two transducers that work and I'm a happy camper.

If anyone needs to get their transducer rebuilt, I highly recommend this person/business. It's name and address is: Cruisemasters, 6066 Shingle Creek Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55430. Phone is 763-585-4547. Maybe I've just looked in the wrong place all these years but I never seemed to find anyone that was willing to rebuild transducers until now. The owner of this business does both non-resume (two-wire) and resume (3-wire) transducers from 1970 to 1982, and others if he has the parts for them. I might add that the owner led me to a product service manual for my cruise control system which helped me greatly in making sure the wiring and vacuum system was correctly routed. That manual helped me greatly in understanding how the cruise control system works - a lot more detail than in the CSM.

Now it's time to go for a cruise! But just by ourselves for the time being!

Randy C.

 

Thank you for following up with the results Randy. Its good to hear you've found the problem and resolved it. And have found another resource for anyone with a cruise setup on their car!
John

 

And many thanks for the brake switch to replace my faulty one, John. It's a little odd to me but I think that there just weren't many factory cruise control systems on cars back in the day and there didn't seem to be much knowledge around in knowing about sources of supply and repair. I had trouble finding anyone willing to work on the cruise control system for me and finally just decided to go after it myself. And, after reading through the CSM, I found there were several simple tests I could do to see if all the components of the cruise control system on my '69 4-4-2 convertible were working properly. I found two things that weren't doing the trick, and that was the brake switch (which you provided) and the transducer. I had two transducers - the original that didn't work at all and a newer one from 1970-1982 cars that would only go to full throttle when I engaged the system. I looked (perhaps somewhat haphazardly for awhile) for someone that knew something about transducers but came up empty-handed until about six weeks ago when I found Cruisemasters in Minneapolis, and Cruisemasters has been there for a long time. Finding out how to get a hold of a service manual for that era of transducer helped so much more in understanding how the transducer works. Now I have two transducers that work - the original is in the car and the replacement (which is just like the one in your '69 VC) is on standby. It's just so nice to have an operating cruise control system on that car, after 33 years of owning it!

Randy C.