While playing around tonight in the 2 day old snow from Sunday's snow storm here in Northern NJ, I discovered something interesting with the CDL. In 4HI w/ CDL ON (VSC OFF) I found that the power to the wheels was never cut by the engine even in full throttle; the wheels spun freely!! Nevertheless, as soon as I switched over to 4LO and repeated this maneuver, the engine cut power to the wheels. Has anyone experienced a similar event? By the way, I do not have the Andy Mod, nor is my CEL (VSC/ABS) light on.

 

What do you mean cut power?

Did the engine rev higher and wheels turn slower ? That's 4lo

 

I think the traction control in the '01/'02 4runners tells the ECU to cut engine power when it detects slippage. Stupid, I know.

 

That's how traction control is supposed to work...

 

Yeah, I still think it's stupid though, but that's just me. More often than not, it seems to hurt more than it helps. I'll stick with plain old 4x4 (and lockers).

 

Yeah but this isn't mallcrawlers.com... Traction control is great for normal driving but it's not something you want to have on when you are offroad. Thats why you should be able to turn it off when wanted.

 

You push the center diff lock button.

 

Sorry to get back so late.
brian3sun and MB4runner: absolutely right on all counts! We should be able to disable VSC/traction control (thank you Andy Mod) b/c there have been times when the ecu cut out the engine to the wheels while merging onto a gravel road, and I was nearly struck by a semi (please do not lecture me on pulling out when it is safe-no pull out jokes either). Moreover, when I had my '00 Limited w/ e-locker, I thought all 4runners drove so well offroad. This was until I picked up an '01 and discovered how powerless I felt as the mighty '01 4runner was struggling on the same trail the '00 would effortlessly tread.
But getting back to the original question, has anyone noticed in 4lo+CDL ON that the ECU completely cuts the engine off as opposed to 4hi+CDL ON and wheels continue to respond to the throttle, even if they are spinning/slipping?

 

To avoid all this spinning I decided to get the e-locker that I used to have on my '00 ltd. if anyone has the 3rd member, e-locker, wiring, motor, etc avail please let me know!