ONLYA6 Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Got our first decent snow tonight and found a nice fresh parking lot. After a half dozen or so donuts I got into a nice stationary spin. I shifted up to third and next thing I know I stopped spinning and am frying the front tires. On the left of my dash displayed a warning AWD OFF. Put the car in park and back in drive and it was fine. Assuming possibly something took into account some variables it didn't like and shut it off. I'm curious what exactly it looked at. I had advancetrac completely off during this. Anyone else experience this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGFOOT Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 or you got the PTU hot and it put the kabosh on the fun to save itself. any vids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoMoCoSho Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 At least you got to do some donuts. Us non PP guys are probably screwed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoman04 Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 or you got the PTU hot and it put the kabosh on the fun to save itself. any vids? I could not have said it better look up the GEN VI HELDEX SYS. Long story short it will tell you just why it does what it does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONLYA6 Posted December 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Looks like Ford dropped the Haldex system in favor of an in house unit built by ZF. I should have read up on this before posting. The system doesn't have a center differential, just the clutch type transfer case built into the transmission that sends power based on torque. Its just a bad system for being performance oriented. Most systems that are fwd based are. Atleast those that feature an electronic center differential or viscous coupler are better. Oh well, Ill just need to try keeping the throttle input to a minimum and see if I can slide it around without it kicking 100% to the front wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx78 Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Looks like Ford dropped the Haldex system in favor of an in house unit built by ZF. I should have read up on this before posting. Ford used ZF CVT transmissions in the early part of 2005-07 in a few of their cars. The 6F50/55 transmission were built in a JV with GM and isn't a ZF. So the AWD system should still be Haldex since the 5th and 6th gen Taurus use the same chassis, engine and drivetrain. Its just a bad system for being performance oriented. Most systems that are fwd based are. Thats the problem its not performance oriented. Evo's, STI's & Audi S cars AWD system is performance designed to be rear biased for better handling. Because of that they have stronger drive shafts, center diff and fluid capacity. The AWD system in the SHO is just meant to be there as a backup for when you start to understeer and to allowed you to use all the power of the engine on take off in all weather conditions. Because of that its a front biased system that can send a good deal of power to the rear tires but just for a short period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONLYA6 Posted December 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 This site could be wrong but I did find a few saying Ford basically copied the Haldex and stopped actually using their system. http://www.carthrottle.com/the-carthrottle-guide-to-awd-luxury-sedans/ Not that it matters anyway. Either system without a center diff isn't great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx78 Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Ford may not use the Haldex name but the system should be the same. Doesn't make business since to design your own AWD system when you own volvo and have access their hardware. It may not be setup the same as volvo does programming wise but it shouldn't be different. Our SHOs are the basically the same as the 5th gen Taurus when it comes down to Chassis (derived from a Volvo P2 S80), and engine and transmission. But i do agree that it isn't the best setup for performance driving and Hooning. But as a trade off we get better fuel economy than a evo or sti could think about getting since the system is fwd most of the time. So for DD performance car its a really good setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedCandySHO Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Yep, who cares about the technical mumbo jumbo.....lets see some video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TractorAK Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 I was drifting around a local parking lot a week ago. I did not settle into a constant donut but drifted in a large oval with some Slaloming in between sweepers. I did not get the message although at times the throttle would cut for a second I did have it in full track mode. When I did give it a break it smelled like warm clutches. It was on a -2 degree night on a snow packed lot. Unfortunately no one around to film. Might have been caught on security cam I would like to see that footage. Car was completely covered in snow and rims were packed also. Good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoMoCoSho Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 I don't think that's completely true. According to the Helms manual, when troubleshooting a binding issue, the tech is able to set the active torque coupler to 90% REAR. That is not a typo. So it sounds like Ford has just neutered/nannied the system to death. Looking at how this system works it appears it could probably be fooled and overriden to give us more control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx78 Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 We probably could but the hard parts i doubt are designed to constantly withstand that kind of power. Not to mention the power the LMS 4+ people are pushing. We would then need to look at stronger drive shafts, half shafts & Rear Diff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoMoCoSho Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 We probably could but the hard parts i doubt are designed to constantly withstand that kind of power. Not to mention the power the LMS 4+ people are pushing. We would then need to look at stronger drive shafts' date=' half shafts & Rear Diff.[/quote'] I completely agree. Just throwing the info out. But it sure would be fun to have a dial like the STI guys... I just wish someone could figure out how to engage the active AWD gauge that my manual says is there but isn't. I'd like to see how it moves power in real time. My technician buds think they might be able to turn it on though... Oh for anyone reading, there is a TSB for some 2013s because the PCM is missing the pids for the AWD system. They need to be turned on via software update. I seem to be having some kind of binding issue on certain throttle tip in (BIG BOOM, felt like the car was gonna rip in half). I'm thinking my car has this issue as the are no trouble codes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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