I have a 07 Ford Focus, manual transmission, hatchback with 40,000 miles on it.
A day or two after using the cruse control reicently, it wouldn’t work when I next tied to use it. There was no indication on the dash that it was operating. It wouldn’t turn or, or set a speed.
We took it to a dealer. After an hour the speed controller in the motor tested good, and the switches on the steering column were functioning properly. They diagnosed it as an open circuit some where through the firewall. The plan was to go in and look for a damaged wire.
When we took it back for the repair, they further diagnosed there was in fact a signal from the steering column. The mechanic found that by lifting the clutch pedal with his toe, while engaging the cruse control it would function properly.
They concluded the problem was a return spring inside the clutch master cylinder which was not returning the clutch pedal all the way. This was apparently preventing the clutch, cruse control cut-off switch from closing.
Rather than spend the 300 dollars more to replace the master cylinder, I took the car out on the highway, lifted the clutch pedal slightly and was able to use the cruse control all the way back to my home town without any failure.
My question is, does this diagnosis make any sense and if so, does anyone see any danger or problem just leaving the master cylinder as it is?
It is my experience that a lot of clutch pedals have an adjuster between the pedal and master cylinder to take up the ‘free play’. I’ve seen some with ‘factory settings’ that were not right. Also, there may be some adjustment to the switch as well. If this car is out of warranty, take it to a good independent shop and see if they can adjust the pedal or the switch for you before you spend all that money. Heck, you can probably handle it if your so inclined, mechanically that is.