HELP! Traction Control Setting On 2000 C-5

[hoosierdaddy]

;helpPLEASE HELP ME ;help I thought I ask about this before but don;t remember for sure should I be running with the traction control on all the time or just when the roads might be slick? Can this even be disabled without showing the traction control icon on the dash warning? I am confused about this; I read this in the owners manual a few times and it is not very plain for to fully understand what I should and can or can't do. If I could have some resonse to this I would be very appreciative.

Thanks,
Bill

c4c5 specialist or chick I am hoping one or both of you will respond to this if your on line or will be.:BOW

 

[DRTH VTR]

traction control

The traction control is on whenever you start your engine. It is the default setting. I leave mine on almost all the time. I learned this the hard way one day. It was cool and wet, with some fall leaves on the street. I was turning left at a traffic light and goosed the power going around the turn. The back end came around about 60 degrees in the blink of an eye. I was lucky that the roads were empty and there was nobody else to hit. So I leave it on almost all the time. What do I have to gain by turning it off in city driving?

When I drag race, I hold the traction control button down for about 5 seconds, and activate the competitive driving mode. It will allow wheel spin, but the active handling is still on. I figure that the active handling might help me if I get a little loose on the track. I would rather run a bad time than run into the wall.

I turn it completely off when I autocross. That is maybe one day per year. I don't think that there is an easy way to turn the traction control light off.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

:confused Thanks for the reply back. Should I turn the traction control off if I am hammering it through the gears pretty hard? I know that the traction control is tied in with the brakes and it seems like if I get on it and break a tire loose that the breaks with automaticly apply themself. Is this in fact what would happen? So should I assume normal driving leave it on, if I am going to turn it loose shouldn't I turn it off during these times or not?
Thanks,
Bill

The traction control is on whenever you start your engine. It is the default setting. I leave mine on almost all the time. I learned this the hard way one day. It was cool and wet, with some fall leaves on the street. I was turning left at a traffic light and goosed the power going around the turn. The back end came around about 60 degrees in the blink of an eye. I was lucky that the roads were empty and there was nobody else to hit. So I leave it on almost all the time. What do I have to gain by turning it off in city driving?

When I drag race, I hold the traction control button down for about 5 seconds, and activate the competitive driving mode. It will allow wheel spin, but the active handling is still on. I figure that the active handling might help me if I get a little loose on the track. I would rather run a bad time than run into the wall.

I turn it completely off when I autocross. That is maybe one day per year. I don't think that there is an easy way to turn the traction control light off.

 

[MsSchroder]

:confused Thanks for the reply back. Should I turn the traction control off if I am hammering it through the gears pretty hard?I know that the traction control is tied in with the brakes and it seems like if I get on it and break a tire loose that the breaks with automaticly apply themself. Is this in fact what would happen? So should I assume normal driving leave it on, if I am going to turn it loose shouldn't I turn it off during these times or not?
Thanks,
Bill

Hey Bill,
Yes, when traction control is on and you break a tire loose, the car does apply the brakes to the rear wheels and possibly reduce engine power to give you traction again. If you like to spin the wheels, then by all means turn it off. It is really just a matter of preference. For example, if you wanted to do a burnout, you should turn it off to get the best effect . You're not doing burnouts are you ?

Does your car also have active handling? If so, that is a different animal entirely, and I would not recommend turning that off unless you are a seriously experienced driver. As in, experienced under racing conditions.

Tammy

 

[hoosierdaddy]

ABS/and TRACTION CONTROL GLITCH OR ?

Thanks Tammy,
That is the way I thought it worked. And no I don't do any burn outs but I do like to chirp the tires once in a while go thorugh the gears ya know! Not very much considering how much tires cost! So normal driving it will default to traction control, and if I want to jamm a little turn it off so I don't either loose power or apply the brakes right?
By the way I started a new thread;help on my little situation where I was coming back from about a fifty mile trip and the "SERVICE ABS, AND SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL" showed a message on the DIC, and also the warning lights ABS & SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL both on the dash appeared. Of course I reset the DIC, but the warning lights on the dash stayed on. :duh This stay on until about 15 miles I pulled over and shut the ignition off and then restarted the car, both these warnings were off and haven't been back on sense then. Any idea on what this could be? I drove it in town today and it didn't come back on. Have you ever run into this? Concerns me that it came on once; first what caused this and second it could come on again, something caused this. The strange thing when this all happend at about the same time the turn signal indicators quite working; so at about the same time I had not turn signals, I hit the 4-way flashers then tried the turn signals and they worked. Don't know whether this was a coinsidence or what, but I thought this was strange and didn't think one had anything to do with then other. What do you think could be up with this?

Thanks,
Bill :confused

Hey Bill,
Yes, when traction control is on and you break a tire loose, the car does apply the brakes to the rear wheels and possibly reduce engine power to give you traction again. If you like to spin the wheels, then by all means turn it off. It is really just a matter of preference. For example, if you wanted to do a burnout, you should turn it off to get the best effect . You're not doing burnouts are you ?

Does your car also have active handling? If so, that is a different animal entirely, and I would not recommend turning that off unless you are a seriously experienced driver. As in, experienced under racing conditions.

Tammy

 

[MsSchroder]

Bill,
You're right, if you want to do a little tire chirping then turn it off.

I saw your other thread, and I don't have any experience with that kind of thing. Something doesn't sound quite right about it, especially the part about the turn signals. Sounds like a little electrical gremlin, something that C4C5Specialist might be able to shed some light on.

Do a search to see what may have come up about this before. Also, see if any codes were thrown. I know there are threads that detail how to pull codes out of the system.

Tammy

 

[warren s]

Had the same thing minus the turn signal issue.

When you pop the clutch and gets lots of wheel hop and the computer cant correct it fast enough the service ABS / traction control message comes on. Truning off the ignition clears the problem for me. Thats if you had the ASR on in the first place.

I leave mine on even if I am going to chirp the gears, it doesnt cut power that fast..BUT a few times when i had it off and hit second and third really fast the rear broke loose in both gears and things almost got real ugly.

 

[DRTH VTR]

Had the same thing minus the turn signal issue.

When you pop the clutch and gets lots of wheel hop and the computer cant correct it fast enough the service ABS / traction control message comes on. Truning off the ignition clears the problem for me. Thats if you had the ASR on in the first place.

I leave mine on even if I am going to chirp the gears, it doesnt cut power that fast..BUT a few times when i had it off and hit second and third really fast the rear broke loose in both gears and things almost got real ugly.

There are some circumstances where the "service ABS/traction control" warning comes up. It will usually be cleared by cycling the ignition, and does not appear to be a problem.

I agree with Warren S on the traction control. On the 1997, the traction control was fairly intrusive. But on later models, the conditions under which it would kick in were made more liberal. You can chirp the tires all you want with it on. You just cannot have sustained wheelspin. I see it as a safety feature for around town driving, and even spirited driving. There is a mountain road that I like to drive hard a little ways from where I live. I even leave it on there, as I am not such a good driver that I am going to consciously defeat a safety system. It almost never intrudes even during those circumstance. Even when active handling activates, it is scarcely noticeable. The traction control can seem more intrusive, but I see little point in overpowering the pavement on a mountain road with no guardrails. That is a little too thrilling for me.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Thanks for your reply back. I assume you mean ASR is selectable ride control, right? I don't have this if that is what your talking about what I have is traction control, and it was on. I guess we might be talking about the same thing here and I don't know it. So correct me if I'm wrong PLEASE.:confused

Thanks,
Bill

Had the same thing minus the turn signal issue.

When you pop the clutch and gets lots of wheel hop and the computer cant correct it fast enough the service ABS / traction control message comes on. Truning off the ignition clears the problem for me. Thats if you had the ASR on in the first place.

I leave mine on even if I am going to chirp the gears, it doesnt cut power that fast..BUT a few times when i had it off and hit second and third really fast the rear broke loose in both gears and things almost got real ugly.

 

[warren s]

Acceleration Slip Regulation, same as traction control just another name. Removes spark signals and adds brake. Some cars only reduce power and others actually apply the brakes.

 

[David Gordon]

Mine does this as well on the drag strip. I f my tires try to hook up the car bogs and looses power big time. I am running drag radials and when they start hooking the check eng. lights all come on.