I needed to find my wife a good daily to replace the gas-hog Durango she's been driving. The DD is nice truck, but with gas prices as they are today, it's better it spends a little more time in the garage waiting for the next time I need to pull the pontoon, or it snows a foot or so. Anywho, I picked up a 2003 Century. It seems like a pretty nice car, I just don't know alot about it or this model. A few weeks ago she got a nice speeding ticket. Her cruise was set on 55, but on downhill rides it speeds up alot. Is this normal? I know the Dodge will shift down when it comes to a downhill coast to slow the speed back to the set point. And another thing I noticed. When you lock the doors with the remote, the horn doesn't chirp. Is this normal also, or is something wrong in Denver?

 

Both are normal. I notice my car speeds up a bit with cruise control on. The horn chirp can be activated. There is a step by step guide in the owners manual on how to change the settings for what happens when you lock the car with the remote.

 

Cool with the locking chirp. Not so cool with the run-a-way cruise. It would be better off not to use it. Thanks for the info.

 

If you want to take a look, for peace of mind about the cruise control, take a look at the cables at the throttle body, the throttle body itself, and the wiring and vacuum hoses around there.

 

her car should NOT speed up going down a hill with the cruise on.
in order to go down a hill you first have to climb the hill. on the way up the hill the cruise will pull the throttle open to maintain set speed, lowering the gas pedal further. if her foot is on the gas pedal it is probably still holding the pedal at the same location the cruise lowered it to. now you have increasing speed going down the hill. happens to me all the time.

 

Nope. I drove the car several times myself. It acts normal going up a hill, accelerating to maintain the set posistion. The pedal will back off when descending the hill, but it will speed up. I've had it set @ 55, & once I topped the hill & started going down, it's hit speeds of 65 plus. This is a coasting problem. The momentum is what is speeding it up, like rolling a ball down a hill. The further it goes, the faster it goes. My Durango downshifts when descending hills to slow it down, I've seen the tach bump up. Not sure what my S-10 does, it's a 5 sp, but it never reached speeds like this going down a hill. It just seems like there should be something in place to keep it from coasting up to higher speeds.

 

wow, you must have some pretty steep hills around there.

 

You might say that. Here's a couple pix looking out my back door. The one with the radio tower is the highest place in the county. Next to it looks like a "watch-tower" but is really a "fire tower." Once upon a time people would climb up in it to scan the county for fires. These pix are about a mile & a half from my home, & they were taken a couple of years ago during a dry spell in the fall. Last year was just the opposite. We had an all time record rain fall.

The Hills of KY

BTW, I drove the Buick for a ride on the Interstate today. It wasn't as noticable increasing in speed on declines, but when I hit the rural roads, I felt like a Nascar driver again. The other two vehicles we own won't.

 

ooh, i see why the car speeds up now!
i guess i have to think outside of my home town more.

 

My bad, sorry I was late to this party. I intended to get you a card or something I promise!

My Century does the same w/o cruise control and our hills are nothing like that. My Subaru's AWD will fight a downhill coast where the Century just lets it happen. Even in traffic if someone drops below 25 mph with zero pedal pressure, I will be tailgating them in no time. I was against it but for MPG purposes I kinda accepted it.