Brief synopsis of my cruise control saga....

Bought the 92, cruise went out, had GDL rebuild the amp, which was promptly destroyed by the actuator. So I have an evil actuator, a dead amp, and no cruise.

Bought the 91, cruise wasn't working, this time did GDL rebuild of amp and tune-up of actuator, cruise works flawlessly. Cost around $360.

Hard to justify spending that on cruise on a second car. Plus amp couldn't even be rebuilt....board was burned. So I wonder, what if I take my chances on Ebay?

Bought an amp for $50 (seller said it was working) and an actuator for $69 (seller had no idea whether or not it worked), installed them both, and cruise only held for a second or two....sign of a bad amp. Seller of amp refunds me $27....fair enough. So I buy ANOTHER amp, this one for $20. Installed it, and....

CRUISE WORKS PERFECTLY! So for a total expense of $112 I've got cruise back in the 92.

Kind of a rush to buy random parts from unknown sources and have everything work!

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 154k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 172k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 142k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Here is the question that you have to ask of yourself:

How long will a 20 year old cruise amp, obtained off e-bay, actually last?

And, when it fails, do you repeat the sequence?


BTDT with CCU's..............I've got five of them now.............

It's not a good solution.

Good question, and I already asked it of myself. The answer, of course, is I have no way of knowing how long it will last. I think I'd be happy to repeat the sequence if I could get another cheap amp....this one only set me back $20, plus the whole process was fun....the thrill of the hunt.

The only thing I would NEVER do again is pay good money for a rebuilt amp without having the actuator tested. Learned my lesson the hard way.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 154k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 172k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 142k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Brian, just curious: do you recommend buying new units or are rebuilt units a good investment? I just picked up a rebuilt Programa CCU that was rebuilt in 2008....just saving it for a rainy day.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 154k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 172k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 142k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife