Cut and Stuttering!!

[The MoffMeister]

hi all just a quickie have a LC and notice that when you give it some welly rounds rounadabouts etc it seems to lose power and then when straight again the power returns, and also when you pull away slowly at about 1500rpm it seems to stutter a bit, just wondering if anyone has had these probs??

Thanks again guys

 

[snakebite15]

yikes that sounds bad! got the same prob with me mower! (dunno what its like round roundabouts though!)

 

[Copra]

its called traction controll

 

[The MoffMeister]

o i see even when i dont have the button switched on??

 

[andycupra]

its never off totally.


got enough petrol?

 

[CRAIGLCR]

yeh it sounds like the traction control to me!! my LCR does it!! r u sure that you have the ESP button off and not on!!!

 

[andycupra]

does a yellow light flash on the dash when you do this?

 

[The MoffMeister]

yes enough petrol and stuff, and yes the yellow traction light flashes also any reason or am i driving it to hard round roundabouts?
cheers

 

[Reg]

If the traction light is flashing, the system is on and working normally.

If you press the ESP button, the Yellow triangle will stay lit on the dashboard, this means it is set to its 'off' position (although it sort of lurks in the background). If you are setting the traction control off around roundabouts though, I suggest you miught need to adjust your driving style. All you're going to do with it off is spin up the inside wheel, run wide and trash your tyres. Its not going to make you much faster.

 

[The MoffMeister]

ah i see i thought when the yellow triangle was off of the dash i was off but if your saying when its lit up on the dash its off i may have to try that cheers reg

 

[Muttley]

If Traction Control is already functioning when you are cornering, then switching it off will, if you are lucky, just make you slower as the inside wheel lifts. If you are unlucky then the loss of control will contribute to your high-speed accident. Have a grovelling apology ready for anyone you hit in the process.

TCS is sensing that the front wheels are losing traction, trying to rotate faster than the rear wheels, and reducing the engine output just enough to keep the power on the road. It is delivering the maximum power that your suspension and tyres are capable of putting down - at that degree of sideways acceleration in the corner. It was banned from Formula 1 cars because it made racing boring - everyone could get the maximum of power down all the time.

The TCS switch is there so that, on low-friction surfaces such as snow, mud or gravel, you can intentionally break traction with the rear wheels to help you corner by opposite-locking.

With TCS off you still have EDL, which stops the inside wheel from overspeeding as it lifts off the tarmac by applying the brake to that wheel. This is intended to make moving off on poor surfaces easier (say one wheel on tarmac, one on gravel) If you are in this situation because you are cornering on the limit, the extra power will be fed to the outside wheel, making that lose traction, and you are no longer in control.

 

[Reg]

I think you're nearly there Muttley, the last bit you said is basically summed up by saying the electronics are trying to replicate having a Limited Slip Differential in the gearbox, so all the power isn't just spun away by the wheel with less grip (which would happen with a regular diff).

But you don't turn off Traction control in snow so you can get the back out through corners, 99% of people would be straight in the hedge! On a front wheel drive car, the TCS is stopping the front wheels from spinning - on snow and ice you can still provoke lift off or turn in if you have enough front end bite) over steer regardless of traction control settings, because you are simply defying the laws of friction and physics!

 

[Muttley]

Okay, an extreme situation perhaps, but the TCS-off button is there to let you deal with those few situations where the front wheels need to be going faster than the rears. I just chose one that was in keeping with the original posters enthusiasm

I think it would be fair to say these are almost always near-zero-grip situations where the car is effectively being driven in a low-speed four-wheel-drift. As such, the rear wheel speed is not an effective measure of the cars speed, and Traction Control will give unexpected results.

The manual tells you to switch TCS off when using the spare, too.

 

[rst_cupra_r]

but why would th car stutter as he pulls away at 1500rpm slowly regardless if tcs is on or off?