I was at Intense Motorsports today here in AZ and I noticed that each time they dyno'd a Z they removed a 50 amp fuse which controls the traction control (and possibly other things).

We mentioned that you can just hit the VDC button in the car but they said that the traction control is still in effect somewhat. Is this safe to just run the car like this (if you don't want TC)? They did warn that we'd get all the warning lights. I got SLIP, ABS and VDC OFF. On the way home though, after stopping to get my mail and turning the car back on, I also showed the BRAKE light on! Freaked me out a bit....just curious if anyone else has done this and found that it is or is not safe for the car.

 

I do take mine out when at the track . No harm done .I never did think about doing it while on the dyno . After you reinstall it , the lights should go off though

 

I have run the brakes out a few times... and i have noticed that when the whole system is fully shutdown (VDC, slip,brake, etc. lights) THe car drives a lot more brutal and bangs gears faster and harder... and drives much more free.

Once you put the fuse back in, and the car resets... it should all be fine again.
I want some box that just kills it all without having to remove the fuse, which i believe also controls a couple other little things...
-Eric

 

'Run the brakes out'....what do you mean by that? The only thing that really concerns me by removing the fuse is that the 'Brake" light comes on. Obviously the ebrake is not engaged...and I don't see what this has to do with traction control/vdc.

 

I have had my brakes replaced numerous times... beside just having new pads and resurfaced rotors. I track the car a lot, and auto-x in my daily driving.

When the brakes get passed a certain point, they fail the ABS test that occurs when the car starts.... you might notice when you are slowing down the first time, that the brakes will pulse... testing the abs. If this test fails, the entire Driving assist features of the car such as ABS, VDC, etc. all get turned off COMPLETELY. thus (VDC, SLIP, BRAKE, Etc. all light up)

The car will drive much harder, and allow you to do things like burnouts, and such much easier. It is practically the same as removing the fuse. I don't remember where i read it years ago, but i am pretty sure that fuse also controls a few other trivial things in the car.
-Eric

 

So I 'm assuming that you replacing your brakes had nothing to do with removing the fuse, correct? ABS still works when the fuse is removed I'd imagine?

 

are you talking about the VDC fuse AND the brake fuse?

 

When that main fuse is removed... one of the side effects is that ABS is no longer engaged... if i remember correctly. I haven't tracked the car in months... and had looked this all up over a year and a half back. From the way the car drives with the fuse removed, i would say that ABS is not engaged. The same way that it is all turned off when the ABS test fails with bad brakes....
-Eric

 

You can actually install a switch at the centre console to kill both VDC and the Traction Control (SLIP).... Use that switch to cut the power (from the VDC computer under driver side dash) going into the Yaw sensor (under the centre console) and when you switch the switch on, you will get both VDC and SLIP lights up.... you can then do burn out or anything you like but and ABS will still be working as it should be!

There are 2 aussie members (DavidM and myslef) have carried out this mod already and I am sure there are heaps more people in the States have done this mod too... quite a nice mod to do for the track days!

cheers,

richie

 

eric:

You are correct there... with the fuse removed, the ABS will not be working as well as both VDC and the SLIP (Traction control)... and that's the down side of having the fuse removed.... that's where the switch (I mentioned just earlier) came into play!

cheers,

richie

 

That switch sounds great!!!

Could you elaborate on this a little more... or link to a DIY or FAQ?
Thanks,
-Eric

 

eric:

my friend (DavidM) gave me a section of 350z service manual or handbook whichever you want to call it... and it shows the wiring diagram of the VDC/ABS/TCS computer in our car...

You can ask any auto electrician to carry out this job for ya given him with these two diagrams and a rocker switch for him to wire the POWER IN from the VDC computer to the Rocker Switch, then POWER OUT to the Yaw Sensor located under the centre console... And of course the earth wire will need to be wired in too... Be careful on wiring those wires as if he wires the power to the earth, the electrician will blow your VDC computer and it will cost you somewhere around 800 to 900 USD bill to get another replacement... and of course... you can put the rocker switch anywhere you want in the car...

Thie Rocker switch can switch the power off to the Yaw sensor from the VDC control unit... and therefore, you will not have the VDC and Traction control... but the ABS will still be working as it is part of the VDC computer, not related to the Yaw sensor...

You can switch both VDC and TCS off when the car is moving, but you will not be able to switch it back on until you restart the engine again (with the switch turned on to allow power to go into Yaw sensor) because the computer will register it as a fault to the yaw sensor or vdc control module until it re-checks it again during the next start up... and you can leave the rocker switch at the VDC/TCS off position even when you start up your car... and if you allow the power to go through the switch (VDC/TCS on), you can still use the factory button to control VDC on/off whenever you want...

DavidM (Aussie member) has already carried out the test during DECA day and you could throw his car around and do whatever he wants with the VDC/TCS turned off.... he has already got his unit installed for over 5 weeks already without any issue... I just had mine installed for 1 week... and one thing I am sure is that the ABS is still working even when the VDC/TCS are off.

Hope this info helps mate!

cheers,

richie

 

Thanks A LOT!!! This sounds great!

Could you explain using the numbers from the diagram exactly where to cut what, and splice in????

This is something i want to get right the first time... lol

Thanks again!
-Eric

 

eric:

I didn't do the installation... so I don't know which wire to splice into though.... really sorry about it! I paid for the job done by an auto electrician! If you give them the diagram and let them know where about this yaw G-sensor is located, they should be able to find out which one is the power input wire to the sensor (it is said to be an orange wire on that page).... so it shouldn't be hard from there for them to wire it up!

cheers,

richie

 

sorry to resurface this thread

Z350Lover, doesn't the Motec EMS have it's own form of traction control? Is there anyway to enable ABS but not traction control thru it?

just curious

 

If you are using Motec DBW module, then yes... you can do that without a problem! You will have no traction control anyhow unless you input those traction control datas yourself in the motec traction control module (hard to setup as you will need to tune it to suit your own driving style)... I was using motec DBW, I still have the ABS without any problem, but the idle wasn't that good... so I switched to OEM DBW control in the standard ECU.

The standard traction control actually links to the standard DBW throttle, so we cannot do much about it while the throttle is still controlled by the factory ECU which has the traction control tied up to it... but with the standard DBW, the idle is smooth as silk at 800rpm. (can set it at 650rpm, but with the wild cams that I have, it didn't run as smooth as when the rev is set at 800rpm).

Hope that helps!

cheers,

richie

 

a trick some of the drifters taught me this past weekend,

if you look at the aluminum/silver brake box underthe hood (near the brake fluid)
there will be a grey wire connector. if you unplug that, you will disable ABS, VDC, AND tcs for the track. your warning lights will go on in the dash, but all those systems will be offline so you can get really sideways... once you replug it back in, the warning lights turn back off and you're back to normal...

 

According to the diagram posted you should switch the Orange wire running to the yaw sensor, this will cut 12V to the sensor.

 

Without TCS wouldn't it hurt your drag racing times? Since you wouldn't have both rear tires to balance the power, therefore only peeling out 1 tire worse and perhaps getting sideways during the launch or a hard shift into the next gear?
Seems like it would also cause more slip coming out of corners without TCS, unless of course you wanted to slide around and/or power slide.

 

no you're thinking of what an LSD does, TCS is not what you're describing