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Should be correct as follows...
The extra traction that FWD or F/AWD gives you....
RWD or rear torque biased AWD/4WD will definitely be less hazardous on a slippery roadbed for most drivers, inexperienced drivers, than would be FWD or F/AWD.
Thank you for the explanation. I guess that makes the 01-02 a bit less capable than the 03+.
In the summer our Sequoia is on Martha's Vinyard for five months and we drive on the beaches frequently after dropping the air pressure in the tires to 15psi. Again I have never used the low range and have never been stuck. In fact I usually tow out one or two stranded vehicles each season.
Unless you plan on hard core off roading, I doubt that you will use the low range much if at all. The older system has been just fine for me.
Good luck to you.
Ken
At least the newer ones have the ability to disable the TC system so you will have some chance of getting unstuck.
Only slightly less dangerous to drive on an adverse roadbed, slippery surface, than FWD alone.
I hate recommending Ford to anyone but if you feel there will be times you will need a truly functional AWD/4WD then a Ford Escape or Mercury Mariner with the 4 cylinder and stick shift would be your best and safest purchase.
Forget the 4WD/4X4 hi/lo range modes unless you are off-road.
Thx ,,,,, My 02 Lmt has 115K and is just getting broken in. Tough and dependable.
For certain the traction control system is a pain in the [non-permissible content removed] if you know how to drive.
When I go offroad, I lock the center differential. This also disables the spin control. The center diff is locked using a button on the lower left of the dash. I usually stop and put the truck in neutral when engaging or disengaging the center diff lock.
For more severe offroad, engage low range. To do this, come to a stop, truck in neutral, turn to 4WD-low. If you are going to engage low range, you also want to lock the center differential.
In summary, my recommendations are:
Dry road or rain - 2WD
Snowy road - 4WD high
Offroad - 4WD high + lock center diff
Offroad worse conditions - 4WD low + lock center diff
The 2008 4Runner has a lockable Torsen limited slip center diff. It is not a fully open center diff.
If you are talking about climbing a 3' high bank, dragging the undercarriage across the bank, and plowing through 18" of fresh snow on the other side (which I've done), then put it in 4WD low, lock the center diff, and you'd better have snow tires.
Frankly, the most important thing I found when driving my 2003 4Runner in the snow is that real snow tires (not the all-season tires that come with the truck) make the largest difference, particular in stopping and turning in the snow.
"spin control" is a Bush WH term, VSC, Vehicle Stability Control, is a more proper operative term for the 4runner.
With the center differential locked the vehicle does not have the viability, is not capable, of the rotation rates of the front wheels vs the rear wheels be independent. Therefore most of the ABS/VSC/TC/EBD functionality is disabled when the center diff'l is locked.
The 2008 4Runner has a Torsen center diff'l to selectively stiffen/tighten the center diff''l coupling coefficient, R/AWD mode, and separately a spline/dog clutch to completely LOCK the front and rear drivelines together thereby bypassing the Torsen....
It's this spline/dog clutch that is often difficult to get to engage/lock while underway, above a low speed range. In my experience it is often necessary to drive slowly forward and/or slowly backward alternately in order to get the dog clutch to more readily engage or disengage
Oh please. First, keep the silly politics out of it. The Bush administration is far from the first to use political spin.
Second, every manufacturer has their own nomenclature for it, as you well know. Picking one manufacturer's nomenclature and deeming it the "proper operative term" is something I cannot properly describe on this board and stay within the rules.
Honda calls it Vehicle Stability Assist.
Toyota calls it Vehicle Stability Control.
Ford calls it Electronic Stability Control.
GM calls it Stabilitrak.
MB calls it Electronic Stability Program.
They all do basically the same thing -- individually apply brakes to try to keep the vehicle going in the direction that you are steering.
Which everyone understood when I used the vernacular "spin control."
And they all do the same thing.
No other WH administration has been known to "leak" information, highly questionable information, to the news media, knowing it would be published, and then within hours of that publication referring to the publication by the media as a "validation" of the "truthfulness" of the otherwise questionable information. Certainly not to instigate an otherwise totally un-necessary war.
"spin control..."
As in "yaw" control....
They all do the same thing...
No, either BMW or MB, I don't remember which, uses a type of diff'l in the stearing control to actually "counter-stear" against the driver's input, in the case of over or understearing. Many of the new vehicles with electric power stearing assist actually provide additional resistance to the driver input if that input would exacerbate the situation.
And finally....
"Which everyone understood when I used the vernacular "spin control""
Now that you have more accurately defined your use of the term my guess would be that virtually no one got it.
Personally I took "spin control" to mean in the case of TC, Traction Control, being used to prevent wheelspin/slip due to too much engine torque being applied for roadbed conditions.
It never occurred to me, and I suspect to most other readers, that what you really meant was "yaw" control.
So...
"spin control.."
As in preventing wheelspin/slip..
TC implementations on RWD vehicles apply braking and then often delay engine dethrottling for a few hundred milliseconds to give the driver time to react and "feather" the throttle in order to maintain the tire's traction coefficient right on the "cusp" in order to move forward without wheelspin/slip.
This dethrottling delay is not possible on FWD and F/AWD vehicles since such a delay, even this brief delay, might well result, has a greater potential for, loss of directional control.
Hybrid vehicles, since torque can be more "finely" controlled, and with short reactive times, (no ICE crank, mechanical, inertia) often use "engine" dethrottling only, they do not always use braking as a part of TC.
Moderator....can we please follow-up by moving these types of political commentaries to another forum or deleting them altogether as they lend no value to the discussion about Toyotas 4wd systems. I think we've all had enough of politicians, politics and the media's coverage of it to last a lifetime (or perhaps at least until the next election).
I view these forums as an escape from the dreary political landscape of the past, present as well as the future and it would be wonderful if you as the moderator could kindly keep this type of dribble outside of the forum.
Thanks
Carry on!
Thanks, Ken
What's the story?
Justin
In addition to this, there was also a "funky" odor in the cabin...I can best describe it as a "sour" smell...possibly moist.
I had the car in for service severa times last fall and I was told repeatedly that it was user error. Talk about frustrating...finally I did speak with a technician that took the the time to speak with me in the car as it was running. Of course, the odor or the fogging did not occur, however, after 10 minutes he checked the hoses (not exactly sure which ones) because he didn't think the heat was working correctly and the hoses that he checked were stone cold and they should have been hot to the touch. Due to this, he replaced the thermostat...
I would love to say that the thermostat fixed the problem, but it didn't. It possibly made it better for awhile (does that even make sense?) but it is not fixed.
The inside of the car continues to fog up...the odor continues as well...it almost feels like a steam bath at times...I'm leary to take it back to the dealer as I don't think it will get me anywhere.
I'm hoping that someone on this forum has at least heard of this issue if not experienced it. I'm ready to just give up and trade in the car.
Any input would be greatly appreciated!!
Second possibility is a plugged up condensate drain in the HVAC plenum.
Last possibility is simply the Denso design flaw for which you can have the dealer set two C-best options to so you can disable the A/C compressor during the winter months.
For these latter two the odor is more likely to be: "dirty gym socks".
I suppose its some type of disinfectant that destroys the bacteria causing the smell. I did 2 applications over a couple of days and the smell was gone in a week or so. Lesson learned is to not run the AC at full cold all summer and try to use some direct external air occasionally.
BTW the dealer wants to charge something like $60-75 to spray the same stuff into your venting system. What a rip-off.
see the EED at:
airsept.com
Generally not worth the powder to blow it to.....