so with the vdc off i can get sidewayz nice to know. anyway sorry to butt in but i had a question. i just boutght my 03 track edition and it has vdc the other night i pulled out of my work and gave it some gas and ripped the wheel to the right and it seemed like i lost all my power. is this the vdc or is my car all screwed up. as soon as i straighted up i got all the power back. if i turn off the vdc will this correct this? thanks

 

Replying to…
…Referring to….
Did you get that ^ ^ ^ ^ ?

It’s how they speak in Canada. It’s English, but sometimes sounds like a different language. There is another dialect spoken on this Forum. It’s based in southern California. There’s an East Coast version as well.

Translation: What he is telling you is that you can in fact do burns, donuts, and generally juvenile things after turning VDC off. The Z’s engine has a lot of torque. To spin the rear wheels on acceleration, you need to overcome the systems Nissan builds into the Z. The biggest obstacles to doing this are Nissan’s great IRS (Independent Rear Suspension) and VLSD (Viscous Limited Slip Differential), both which are designed to keep engine power preserved as traction for great acceleration. The car wants to keep traction. To overcome this, you have to run the engine way up and drop the clutch. 3500 rpm’s isn’t enough; you will only get wheel-hop at that point. You have to take it right to the limit. Of course, doing this (even at lower rpm’s) puts enormous stress on the entire drive train, and it will ruin your car (but not before you buy a set of new rear tires at $200+ per tire).

There are a lot of threads about this on the Forum. Use the Search function to discover these threads. A recent one is entitled “Traction Control,” and that thread covers most of what you want to know. A member of this Forum (signature is “Kolia”) seems to know more about this than other members. While other Forum “experts” do a lot of guessing, Kolia backs his statements with factual information.

Oh... Did you buy the 2003 Performance model? --Spike

 

There’s nothing wrong with your VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control) equipped Track model Z. In fact it is working just as it should. VDC in your car also includes something called TLC (Traction Lock Control). When you press the VDC button on your car, it turns off VDC and TLC.

When you left work the other night, and turned hard to the right while accelerating, the car activated TLC because the rear wheels lost traction and the backend of your car was about to kick violently to the left. TLC kicked in (killing power) to prevent this from happening. If you were looking at your dash panel when this happened, you would have seen the Slip indicator (displays the text “Slip”) light-up. If your TLC didn’t handle all of it (keeping your rear from breaking loose to the left while turning right, and probably TLC didn’t do it all), then VDC kicks in – subtly applying braking pressure to the appropriate wheel(s) to keep the car aligned to the direction the front wheels are pointing.

It’s probably fortunate that you had VDC on. Without it you may have found yourself sideways across the roadway in front of oncoming traffic.

The Z’s engine has a lot of torque. Be careful. --Spike
=============
EDIT: Administrator points out that it is TCS (Traction Control System) and not TLC

 

Spike.........Yes I did buy it, I get to pick it up tuesday, can't wait

 

TLC = Tender Loving Care?

TCS = Traction Control System. That's the other part of the VDC/TCS/ABS system.

 

TLC = The Learning Channel
TCS = Traction Control System
Trac Loc = Trademarked Jeep speak for limited slip differential.

Z's have VDC and TCS.

 

I also own a Jeep. You're right, I'm reversing the two. Who can keep track of all these acronyms? --Spike

 

I'd miss David if he stopped posting too. :laugh:

 

Spike, It's nice to read a knowledgeable and helping thread. There are people in the forum that really want to know how to best operate their car the way is was intended. I'd only add that to get moving on snow or ice, it's almost necessary to turn off the traction control and then once moving, turning it back on is helpful....but I know that some just like to spin their wheels.

 

Thanks for kind words. Truthfully, I was feeling a little badly about screwing-up the acronym (I said TLC incorrectly when the correct designation was TCS). My concern was adding more confusion to this already confusing subject. Mercifully a Forum Moderator caught my mistake quickly and corrected me.

Your information is correct. Your comment and its timing couldn’t have been more appropriate than it was for me this morning. The temperature dropped to 8 degrees (brrr…) here, and we received about an inch of snow overnight…very slippery (about like driving on ball bearings). Since we have not had any appreciable amount of snow where I live this winter, I have not mounted my snow tires yet. I could back out of the garage and drive in reverse, but when I tried driving forward, the tires kept slipping (TCS activated and killed traction). I could not move forward.

The only way I could move forward was turning off TCS (pressing the VDC button on my Performance model). I could then easily get the car moving. I started in 2nd gear with TCS off and I moved forward with no problem. I believe that the Z’s VLSD (Viscous Limited Slip Differential – I hope I got the acronym correctly; or if not, that the Moderator will jump in and correct/save me once again) helps greatly in this situation. Although I could now drive forward (by turning TCS off as you suggest), I decided not to drive the Z this morning. Without having 4 snow tires on the car, I knew I would not be able to stop as I should. So I took the Jeep.

Thanks for pointing this out. I think there are people who would like driving their Z in the winter in areas that have snow and ice. You only need 4 snow tires on the car, and the knowledge of when to turn TCS off to gain traction or keep it on for safety (especially when TCS is part of VDC).

Thanks for posting. Good information (I missed that one). --Spike

 

I love turning off the traction control. I just bought mine on Sat so its fun going sideways!

 

Turn it off in the rain and really have fun!

 

Are you planning to drive in the winter (installing snow tires)?

Just curious... I'm near you and as you know we finally got some snow and ice.

--Spike

 

TCS = VDC on VDC equiped Zs.

 

TCS=TCS
VDC=VDC

On Z's equipped with TCS only (TCS only ...and no VDC), pressing the TCS button toggles (turns ON or OFF) TCS.

On Z's with VDC (Z's equipped with VDC always have TCS as well), pressing the VDC button toggles (turns ON or OFF) TCS and VDC.

Right? ...Wrong? --Spike

 

Right

 

hey guys i just bought a 2006 350z , i was looking for vdc and tcs but i only saw caps over it ,so what does that mean ?
and how do i know if its a base model ?

 

hey guys , i bought a 2006 350z and i couldnt find the tcs or vdc .. they have caps over it ..what does that mean ? im new to 350z ,, how do i know if its base model ?

 

If you don't have TCS or VDC buttons, you probably have the Base model. If you do not have cruise control, you have the Base model.

 

does that mean i wont be available to drift with car ? what would i do if it was base and wanted to drift with it ?