How do I test a cruise control switch?

I recently changed the background light in the clock on my wife's 1999
Honda odyssey which involved taking the dashboard apart. After I got
it all back together, my wife noticed a couple of days later that the
cruise control no longer works. The light in the switch does not light
and the cruise control does not engage.

I re-seated the connector to the switch (which I never disconnected in
the first place) but that had no effect. I checked the fuse, but the
fuse for the cruise control is okay. I removed the switch entirely to
test the continuity with a volt-ohm meter, but since I don't know what
pins should have continuity in the two positions, I can't really say
whether or not the switch works.

However, what I found doesn't sound like it can be right. There are 5
pins on the back of the switch. I checked each pair of pins and found
that when the switch was in the disengaged position, no pairs of pins
had any continuity at all. When the switch was in the engaged
position, only pins 3 and 4 make a connection with each other, while
all of the others remain disconnected. There are two lights I can see
embedded in the switch and I think that one comes on with the
headlights and the other comes on when the switch is engaged.

So, does it sound like I need a new switch, or is there another
problem?

Brian Utterback

 

See if the Ody wiring diagram accessed for free via the site
below helps:
http://www.spoonhonda.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=119&Redirected=Y

Five wires coming out of the CC main switch is usual. Same
on my 93 Civic, to which I am currently adding cruise
control, since it is a DX.

Chances are the switch is fine and you messed up the wiring
in the instrument cluster or dash somewhere. I would
continue testing the five wires, using the diagram, to
narrow down which one is not connected right.

I would not trust a mere visual inspection of the fuse.
Replace it.

 

Before you get to tearing the whole thing apart, William of Ockham would
recommend you remove/reseat the fuse...

 

Boy, your car must be so much different from my 2000 Honda Accord. I've
replace the clock light several times. All it takes is a thin screwdriver
or knife blade to pop the clock assembly out of the dashboard. Takes all of
2-3 minutes from womb to tomb.
MLD
MLD

 

You know, given that the 1999-2005 Odyssey is based on the 1998-2004
Accord, and that the dashboards are very similar, you'd think that Honda
would have made the clock thing identical.

But they didn't.

I owned a 2000 Accord, and you're right--if it's more than three
minutes, you stopped to talk with someone or have a beer.

But my 02 Odyssey requires yanking the dash, all the way from lower left
and up and over, including unscrewing the two vertical screws in front
of the instruments, and yanking the surround away from the clock before
you can get to it.

Night and day. I guess even Honda screws up now and again.

 

Pins 2 & 3 are the switch and should be made when the switch is active. The
cruise light is between pins 1 & 2. The light between pins 4 & 5 comes on
with the combination light switch. Fuse 6 in the drivers under dash fuse box
supplies power to pin3 when the ignition is on. Power is sent through the
switch out pin 2 to the cruise control unit. If you are going to service the
Odyssey yourself you should invest in the OEM service manual from HelmInc.
It has the diagrams and test information. You probably have a connector
loose somewhere in the dash.

 

90 % of the time when the clock light goes out a thump on the dash by the
clock will bring it back on. Has been used many times by Odyclub posters.

 

That diagram is for a 97 which is different than the 99-04 gen 2 Ody

 

The five wires of the CC main switch do the same in nearly
all Hondas.