Flashing Traction Control light

[Jaygrainge]

:thumbsdown: Recently purchased e85 Z4 2.0 from 2005:

I have noticed that, under rather spirited driving from a stop, the car sometimes gives a traction control light warning where power cuts and the yellow triangle and ! flashes three times. I can consistently do it at about 5000rpm in first gear... is this the car telling me not to be stupid or is it a fault? I feel there's more acceleration to be had in this gear and the car asks for more of my heavy foot from time to time (possibly because it is the baby engine); has anybody else had experience with this?
(I honestly don't think it is a lack of traction as I've tested this on newly laid tarmac, it feels like a limiter of some kind)
Many thanks, Jay

 

[Marlon]

thats a lot of revs in first gear for a 2 ltr

 

[Jaygrainge]

Aye but still quite a way before the dial runs out;p Just wanted to see what it could do, it's not a regular thing but I've had it at other points too

 

[Jaygrainge]

+ I essentially wanted to try this:
https://youtu.be/G34WyksCMl0
Apologies for the link to YouTube

 

[Bing]

at this post

It's the DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) cutting in, and yes it's the car telling you about a loss of traction and correcting for it. The manual will tell you what you need to know... The power reduction can be quite intrusive, you can limit it by pressing the DSC button and turning on Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), designed for very wet or slippery conditions. From memory you will see 'DTC' lit on the dash. Lets the wheel slip a bit more before the system steps in. If you hold the button for 3 secs or so you will get the warning triangle fully lit and pretty much all stability control is off.

Maybe your problem isn't the electronics - are your tyres in decent nick ?

Good luck. And remember to wear your seatbelt :wink:

 

[synthedup]

thats a lot of revs in first gear for a 2 ltr

Morning Marlon,

Very interested to hear your reasoning for this?

I'd assume 5,000 revs in a 1lt, 2lrt or 3lr was all the same.

 

[synthedup]

at this post

It's the DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) cutting in, and yes it's the car telling you about a loss of traction and correcting for it. The manual will tell you what you need to know... The power reduction can be quite intrusive, you can limit it by pressing the DSC button and turning on Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), designed for very wet or slippery conditions. From memory you will see 'DTC' lit on the dash. Lets the wheel slip a bit more before the system steps in. If you hold the button for 3 secs or so you will get the warning triangle fully lit and pretty much all stability control is off.

Maybe your problem isn't the electronics - are your tyres in decent nick ?

Good luck. And remember to wear your seatbelt :wink:

My question too was going to be what tyres are you running

 

[jamie_z4]

can a 2.0 even break traction?

 

[Crazy Harry]

One of the first questions I asked http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=93865

The simple answer is its doing what its supposed to do - if its on all the time its broke

 

[craig3.2]

One of the first questions I asked http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=93865

The simple answer is its doing what its supposed to do - if its on all the time its broke

Or,if it's on all the time,you have switched it off,as bing mentioned too,lol.
That's how alot of us have it , quite often

 

[Marlon]

thats a lot of revs in first gear for a 2 ltr

Morning Marlon,

Very interested to hear your reasoning for this?

I'd assume 5,000 revs in a 1lt, 2lrt or 3lr was all the same.

Maybe it is - Bing's post gives a proper explanation.

 

[Bing]

FWIW, I don't think I get to 5k RPM in 1st in my car, even when I'm flooring it, but I guess as long as it's warmed up properly there's no reason why not to boot it hard...

 

[Buckz]

I don't see how 5k rpm is a lot for 2.0?

but it's not really a powerful engine but breaking traction in first is easy. Especially on rubbish rubber and in wet.

 

[Jaygrainge]

Thanks for responses
I've got 4mm tread on all 4 corners and they're on continental sportcontact 3s, so apart from the issues with run flats being noisy and tramlining etc they are quite grippy. None are worn unevenly either
I'll give it a go with traction off and see if I like it

 

[Flyingfifer]

can a 2.0 even break traction?

I didnt think they fitted the TC to the 2.0ls? seems like a lot of effort for a useless feature

As explained its the cars traction control which is very intrusive but can be disabled, as Craig said I think the one on my car has effectively retired its turned off every day

 

[Flyingfifer]

....with run flats being noisy and tramlining etc they are quite grippy....

Tramlining is not a good thing nor a sign of good grip

Best to whip them off and get a good set of non-runflats

 

[Jaygrainge]

I didn't think so either hence the question
I've just upgraded from a Z3 which didn't appear to have power steering it was that heavy, let alone driving aids

 

[Jaygrainge]

Thought it was a characteristic of a harder compound? Either way you're right. They're coming off as soon as I can get them down on tread
Just wish I could burn them into the road but lack of engine capacity and invasive TC seems to be the enemy

 

[Flyingfifer]

Thought it was a characteristic of a harder compound? Either way you're right. They're coming off as soon as I can get them down on tread
Just wish I could burn them into the road but lack of engine capacity and invasive TC seems to be the enemy

Hold down the DSC button for about 5 seconds

 

[rally-chris]

1st gear is for moving off from rest. It has the biggest gear reduction so therefore generates the highest torque at the wheels and is most likely to break traction if you hit peak torque of the engine (even a weedy 2 litre )It's not generally a good idea to run to high revs in 1st gear due to the high torque loading throughout the driveline (gearbox output shaft, propshaft, diff, driveshafts etc).

Chris