I did a search and found alot on cruise control but nothing that resembled my problem. I have a 97 2.4 auto and when I go down the highway I can set my cruise and it will work fine. But when I go up a hill and then start going back down, on the way down the car will jerk real back back and forth as if it is not able to keep a constant speed. So lets say I have the cruise set at 75mph, I'll be going down hill and the car will start speeding up from going down hill, well all I can think of is the car is trying to keep itself at a constant speed but cant. I notice my tach will go from lets say 2.5k and jerk to 3k back and forth until the road is flat again. Sometimes coming down hill it will do the same thing then shut itself off. Anybody have this problem? If so what is the problem? How can I fix it? Thanks for the answers.


My car has two speeds, fast and faster.

Can't help you much, only a little. What gear you have it in during the jerking events? If third, it shouldn't do it at all. If Overdrive, then the engine is helping to slow the car, throttle kicks in to get back up to speed, drops out 'cause speed it built back up REAL fast, engine slows car, throttle kicks back in, etc. Your torque converter lock up solenoid should, maybe, disengauge on downhills, I don't know for sure. Others have had that solenoid fail to release when coming for a stop -- stalling out the engine. Anyway, cruise is only meant for long level driving. It's not smart enough to predict hills.

Well I live in SWMO and our highways have hills. I used it a couple of nights ago going from my home town to Springfield, MO for a Rob Zombie concert. Between my town and Springfield is about 130miles. And a few hills so I was going to use my cruise as much as possible. Any other ideas as to why it might be acting up like that? Maybe my solenoid is going bad? I have no clue how cruise works.


My car has two speeds, fast and faster.