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Re: traction control Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Tue, 25 Dec 2001 00:33:10
In Reply to: traction control, Mark, Mon, 24 Dec 2001 14:12:45 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Aside from a few people that don't like traction control, not being able to disenage it ISN'T the issue.
The traction control in the 92-94 years is pretty close to throttle-by-wire. In automatic cars, there is a sensor at the pedal that sends an electrical signal to a motor that controls the throttle. In manual cars, it's pretty much the same, but there is a back-up mechanical cable.
In the interest of safety, the system is always checking itself, and if it detects any sort of anomoly, it immediately drops into a 'limp-home' mode. This limp-home mode is greatly reduced power. It's a whole lot better than a failure causing full throttle.
The problem is that on some cars, the TCS detects problems when there may not be any, and drops into limp-home mode. This understandably makes a the owners upset. Not all dealers troubleshoot it very well, and end up replacing lots of very expensive components to not good, but big repair bills.
In the '93 and '94 models, you can install a TCS OFF switch. All this does is allow you to turn the Traction control off. That is, it'll allow the wheels to spin. But since turning it off doesn't magically turn a throttle-by-wire system into a conventional mechanical cable, you can still have limp-home problems even with the OFF switch. (You can install the OFF switch on a '92, but you need to swap in a '93 or '94 ECU which is big bucks).
So - if a car has TCS should you avoid it? Sure - it'll drive the price down, and leave more cars at lower cost for the rest of us. Most of the TCS-equipped cars work just fine. In cases where TCS has been a problem, quite often it's just a problem of cleaning the electrical contacts (usually the ones at the throttle position sensor - 'gas pedal'), or replacing a vacuum valve that seems to be a bit of a problem. In a small number of cases, there are cars that just don't want to be fixed - the technical term is 'lemons'.
Check the repair record of the car. Has it been in once or twice for TCS problems? That's not great, but no reason to not buy the car. Has it been in 7 times in the past year, and the owner is ready to dump it? Then that's a car you don't want to deal with.
No repair records? Then don't buy the car, TCS-equipped or not. All cars need maintenance, and Saabs are no exception. Aeros are especially prone to being used hard. You wouldn't want to buy a 8-9 year old car and not know what has (and hasn't) been done to it.
So don't rule out a car based on TCS. Like anything else, learn the pros and cons.
Good luck!
posted by 12.79.3...
, Tue, 25 Dec 2001 00:33:10 <-- Viewing This Message, Wed, 26 Dec 2001 00:12:08, Thu, 27 Dec 2001 18:04:17
, Mon, 24 Dec 2001 20:18:23
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