Can I "turn off" the AWD
 

Some guys at Les Swab were telling me, that since I have one of those weeny spare tires, that when i put it on I need to pull a fuse to disable the AWD. Reason being that having the small tire on there would screw my car up.

I think its ok as long as you dont drive it that way for too long.

Thought I've heard this as well, when the spare is used its supposed to be in fwd only mode by putting the fuse in.

does it seems logical to you to remove the AWD fuse while driving on spare? does it say that in the SVX manual?

That's correct; putting IN the fuse holds the car in front-wheel drive. For normal, AWD operation, remove the fuse.

And if you must use the space-saver spare, which is intended for emergency use only, mount it in the rear and get a "real" tire back in place ASAP.

dcb

Ok guys, what are the effects of putting a fuse and using only the FWD for traction? any effect?

You'll get better traction in AWD. And smoking the front wheels is probably detrimental to the health of the front differential.

dcb

I'f im not mistaken your fuse is for Diff. Lock not FWD because yours is not a USDM spec car. Consider your self lucky though. Your tranny is much better than the USDM one since you have a 35/65 torque split insted of 90/10. :)

how do you know that? come on somebody tell me!!! I do not know where my car came from or what are its specs !!!!

I'd consider it much more detrimental to the transfer clutch's health. With the FWD fuse in, no hydraulic pressure can be applied to the clutch, so the plates just spin against eachother. Burn, baby, burn!

Yikes; that sounds bad. I said "probably" about the diff because that seems to be a prevailing opinion. Thankfully, I wasn't relating personal experience.

SilverSpear: Sorry... it often slips my mind that not everyone here's located in North America.

dcb

Re: Can I "turn off" the AWD
 

If the spare tire is a different diameter than the normal tire, then (for once) the guys at Les Schwab are correct. You'll definitely want to put the car in FWD mode. Otherwise, you'll smoke the center diff clutch.

Using the spare tyre.
 

If the spare is at 60 psi, it will be the same diameter as the normal tyres. So it won't make any difference. The only caution is to limit the speed and distance that you drive, for the tyres sake only.

In the VTD version that Danny has, you can't turn off the AWD, you can only lock the center diff into 4WD, so both versions are designed to run the spare without any trouble.

I reckond that the US version would be in more danger of hurting the front diff, by using the fuse, than hurting the Transfer clutch plates.

Harvey.;)

Re: Using the spare tyre.
 

In normal driving, I'd agree that using the fuse wouldn't damage the transfer clutch any more than when the system is operating normally. It is, after all, designed to slip constantly - for tens of thousands of miles, even. But wouldn't spinning the front tires cause exceesive slipping in the transfer clutch plates, damaging them? Or do you tihnk they're designed for it, so they can take it?

Re: Re: Using the spare tyre.
 

Hi Nick, well they did fit the fuse for purpose of runnng it on a two wheel dyno for emissions testing. So it can take some 100% slipage. But spinning the front wheels is a no no. I mean it is cheaper to replace the transfer clutch plates, than a front diff,

:) I'm smiling, because the VTD can't have this problem.:)

Harvey.;)