VDC and Slip light = less power?

DIGItonium

Yup! Like you press down on the pedal, and then further down to the floor. You would expect more thrust, but nadda. A passenger would think you took your foot off the pedal, but your foot is planted down to the floor! It happens a few times when making left turns or darting out across the street and there's no power to scoot fast enough in 1st.

Do you think you can look at throttle position? Not sure if it helps because you'll never know who is telling the truth (i.e., TB at 80% when it is physically less) [shrugs].

I don't have a laptop, but I have the UpRev cable. I just never got around to trying out the logging capabilities.

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_ace_

Not sure if this helps, is related, or is useless to you, but it won't hurt:

Recently I noticed that when going up hills quickly my VDC and skid lights would come on solid. They would then stay on until I turned the car off/on. I also noticed the parking brake light pulsed on and then back off at the same time.

My brake pads are getting close to due for replacement. I topped off brake fluid and the problem is gone.

No idea if that's related to your issue, but if you think it could be, it's a really cheap problem to fix.

SPOHN

As far as going up steep hills the skid light will come on also for our cars also has a G load switch. If the hill is so steep for a certain amount of time it will come on and stay on until car is shut off. Sometimes the car will have to cycle off and on several times before this happens. This happen to me when I raced on a oval track with banking but we were going slow and stopping on the banks for pics at Z Nationals. That's when my light came on.

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MattP725

Your car is hitting limp mode in 4th gear... that isn't normal, take it to a dealership. Unfortunately you are going to have to explain how the problem occurred (by racing from 3rd to 4th gear) and a dealership isn't going to be sympathetic. It isn't your fault and it shouldn't be happening but it sounds like you might have an interesting time explaining your issue.

msr1

I changed them for michelin pilot sport with higher treadwear as well.. hope thats not the issue since they where expensive

msr1

Man beleive it or not, this is a great point. Everytime i leave my house i go trough a hill before getting to the main road, and i always get that brake light and the steady vdc and slip. i turn it off and it goes away and sometimes it comes back... im gonna check tomorrow the fluid level!

msr1

Did you feel the car slower with those lights on?

msr1

Well definately is some kind of a limp mode. Lets see tomorrow if i can fix this with the fluid level and taking it to a scanner!

SPOHN

No. It seemed fine to me. My light is on all the time now due to I removed the steering wheel sensor. So the OP must have a different issue all together. I'd like to find a way to delete all this crap from my car. Everybody seems to love all this VDC and traction control till its not working. More technology more issue. Just learn to drive the old fashion way and forget all these fancy driving devices. Just my opinion.

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msr1

Well i added some fluid it was above the min line but it was showing some minor consumption. and the light hasnt turn on any mnore, the car feels stronger too. I will race the m3 today and let you know if this was the problem.

It seems very odd that all of this was caused by maybe 2 caps of fluid missing

erkthejerk73

on my old 350z this happened with the VDC and Slips coming on and the car being low on Brake Fluid due to pad wear. It did not slow the car down however or cut power, it was just a simple warning that brake fluid was getting low. hope that solved the problem.

Lvz

I was having the same problem as the posters above. (Flickering brake light and traction control light coming on permanently under hard acceleration) I had already called the dealership to set up an appointment, when I decided to check here. Glad I did. My brake fluid was half-way between low and max. I added a small amount, and voila, it's running perfect again!

Kandy OrangeZ

Based on the initial post on this thread, i dont think theres a problem. If the VDC (traction control) is on and your breaking the tires even a little bit, the VDC comes into play (as well as the slip light) and flutters the throttle until you either regain traction or slow down. This feels like engine cuts out for a brief moment. If you turn the VDC off and do the pull (not sure if you did) this wont happen.

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