2003 CruiseControl Engine Races Downhill
 

I have a 2003 Town and Country with onoy 42,000 miles on it. When I use Cruise Control everything is fine. However, if I have it on and start going down hill - it seems like when the Cruise Control isn't needed to keep up the speed when going down hill - the RPM's jump up by 1,000. Before I take it to the dealer - any suggestions?

Most likely they (RPM's) are jumping because the transmission is kicking down a gear (over drive to 3rd) thus trying to somewhat slow the car down. I think what you are seeing is normal. Our 05 does this on downhills all the time.

Interesting - I thought the same thing but the engine doesn't get any louder. Hopefully that is all it is. Thanks mrfixit454.

Sounds normal.

Try taking it out of overdrive (stick the select in "3") then go down a long hill, see if it does it. If not, no issue at all.

Actually, when it started happening, I would just kick off Cruise and the RPM's would drop. I also tried just kicking it into N and the RPM's would drop. I just had an Oil Change and spoke to my favorite mechanic - he said it was normal.

Naturally, I will keep an eye on it.:)

You really don't have an issue here. What is happening is normal. When you kick off the cruise on a downhill and the computer is not trying to hold a certain speed, the tranny will go back to 4th. Naturally if you take any car out of gear the rpm will go down to idle. Don't do this for very long because it can induce the engine to stall... at least on my dad's 1976 Dodge Aspen when I was learning how to drive ;)

Thanks mrfixit454 for the advice. I fixed the problem completely - I know longer watch the RPMs when going down hill!:)