The problem has been found and fixed by the Honda dealer (!!!) The Brake Light Switch had partially failed such that it would not allow the cruise control to turn on. New switch and all is well it works perfectly. Many thanks for all the suggestions - I now have an absolutly perfect 96 wagon I would not sell at (almost) any price, with 80k miles on it.

Accord Wagoneer

 

Thanks for posting the fix

 

[ That's usually the first thing i would check. It's quick and easy to verify. I hope they didn't charge you 2 hours for it.

 

oh yes, two hours and new brake switch for $67. I know, I know........

 

mine just started doing the same thing this morning, could someone tell me where is the brake light switch? any help is appreciated. thanks adam

 

under the dash, attached to the brake paedal

 

So I'm also have this same issue main cruise light comes on but when trying to engage the cruise with the resume Accel button no luck, and nothing on the dash. I am a actual technician and have the manual to diagnose the problem. First one lead me to replace the switch on steering wheel....wasn't it. My concern is the photo in the manual for the switch was the older style for testing resistance. Not sure if they are the same or not but so far a new old switch didn't fix the problems and figured I'd make a post to see if anyone has any ideas. Yes I also tested the brake switch with the manual and that appeared to be fine as well.

 

If you have the manual for this accord, I'd probably unplug the connector to the cruise control unit under the passenger dash. Using the wires going to the cruise control unit, test each wire for power or ground with a test light for the various inputs. Looks like brake switch, set, resume, main on/off swtich provide 12V to the control unit. Clutch or a/t gear switch provides ground along with the black ground wire. I'm not sure how the VSS sends signal to the cruise control unit, but you could back-probe and scope it if the other easier tests come back good.

Hopefully this isolates the input and you can work backwards.

 

So I did this at first and was testing a little bit of everything. Cruise control unit is under the dash drivers side though not passenger. And first thing was the switch but I definitely think I need to test it again now that I replaced it to make sure a open wire was not causing any problems.

 

Oops, the shop manual I have showed a European accord, so the control unit is on the US driver's side.

If the 12V from the switches are still missing at the control unit, then you could have an open wire along the way like in the cable reel or anywhere along that path.