VDC off, but slip light blinks
 

Today, it was raining, so I turned VDC off and did a few minor drifts through corners and turns. I noticed occasionally the slip indicator light would come on and blink momentarily. According to the user manual the light blinks only if the VDC is on and it has activated to prevent loss of control just to warn the driver that the car is at its traction limit. That being said, why would the indicator light come on if I had the VDC off? I didn't notice any vdc activity, so it seems that it was off. But the slip light came on. What does it mean? Is it just a warning light to the driver or does it indicate that part of the vdc traction control system is still functional?

It simply means you fail at drifting..

Slip lights up to indicate that you almost lost it and traction still kicked in to save your Z

Ah, that's not good. VDC off should mean NO TRACTION Control! I've seen the same thing when trying to kick out the back end and it's starting to piss me off! :ugh2:

And remember, drifting in the rain is fun, until the front end loses traction.

I don't think with the VDC off the traction control is kicking in when the light blinks. With the VDC on, when the light blinks I feel a big loss in power. With VDC off and the light blinking, I feel no loss in power and I can spin the tires all I want. I think it still blinks to let you know traction control would be kicking in if it was enabled. Just what I think, I could be wrong.

you cant shut off VCD completely, i dont think. you can only shut off traction control but dynamic control is still active to keep you from spin outs off throttle.

Accordng to the manual you can. You CANNOT turn off ABS though and that's what is causing the slip light to illuminate..

:iagree: 100% with ModShack. Once you turn off VDC button, your Dynamic control AND traction control both turns off completely. It has been verified by Nissan USA Technology Manager
http://www.the370z.com/new-370z-owne...html#post20367

If I were to guess, the light OP saw is simply a warning light. If he turned off the VDC button properly, there's no assistance from the system.

I think there was a post somewhere, but this relates to this thread as well, did anyone notice that if you actually hold down the VDC button for around 10 seconds the VDC light goes away all together, and then if you press VDC again nothing happens?

VDC re-activates when brake pedal is used, does not switch off until car stable again.

As discussed here http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...-question.html, turning off VDC quickly or holding it down for xx seconds equates to same result. NO SPECIAL benefit/feature for holding it down extended period.

I don't get it?
So u can't control vdc and tcs seperately like on the g35 n altima?
Its integrated into button?

I don't get it?
So u can't control vdc and tcs seperately like on the g35 n altima?
Its integrated into button?

Cool, that's good to know. There's this one off-camber turn in my area where my G's VCD would turn on despite turning it off and so I had to keep appling a tad bit of throttle.

I ran that same turn on my Z a while back with VCD switched off (and took my foot off the pedal mid-turn on purpose to induce slight oversteer) and the VCD did not turn on... So I thought Nissan improved the program or the threshold but I guess it was off. :D

Funny, when I'm being stupid with my Z with VDC off, it slips quite easily and no traction control was there to save my ***.

1st time I was messing around I thought it was a fluke...
2nd time I messed around, I knew it was me...

I don't mess around any more...it stays on unless I'm going in a (mostly) straight line. :)

At least until I can find a nice quiet parking lot with no obstacles or obstructions that I can learn a bit more about controlling it...

Ok after digging through the user manual, I found some info that may explain a few things, though also raising more questions than it answers.

On page 2-14, it states that the slip indicator light activates when either the VDC (which I assume is mainly concerned with preventing over/understeer) or the traction control (which I assume is mainly about reducing wheelspin during hard acceleration) is activated. It says the light is activated to warn the driver that the vehicle is near its traction limits. On the same page, it says the VDC off light comes on when the VDC off button is pushed, which switches off both VDC AND traction control.

Now on to page 5-27. It talks about VDC using brakes and reducing engine power to keep the car on the steered path i.e. prevent over/understeer. It states that the VDC also uses active brake limited slip (ABLS) to improve traction. It says the ABLS applies brakes to one of the driven wheels if it spins too fast on a slippery surface in order to divert power to the other wheel. This sounds a lot like the traction control system mentioned previously on page 2-14. However, the words "traction control" are never explicitly stated in this section. To make things worse, the manual seems to contradict itself. It further states on page 5-27 that even if the VDC is turned off, the ABLS system remains operational, and if it is activated it will cause the slip indicator light to blink. Note that this contradicts what was mentioned in page 2-14, that the vdc off button turns off both the VDC and traction control. However, it does seem consistent with what I experienced during my drive, with the slip light blinking even though I didn't feel any braking effort on the rear wheels.

Is this an error in the manual, or are traction control and abls different things?

They are somewhat different. They use the same hardware though in different ways..

Care to elaborate?

Well...as you get to a brake lock-up situation, the ABS sensors detect this and release the brakes to keep the wheel rolling and maximize braking traction. (this happens very rapidly and is felt in the brake peddle as a pulsation)

Traction control is kinda the opposite...When wheelspin is detected the sensors determine this and the brakes are cycled on rather than off to accomplish essentially the same thing (traction)

No no no no no. What you are talking about is ABS (antilock braking system). That is what prevents wheel locking during hard braking on slippery surface. What I meant was ABLS (active brake limited slip) which operates by braking the faster spinning wheel during hard acceleration. Pretty much the same as traction control and electronic limited slip differential and all the other names its given by different car manufacturers. It's described in detail in page 5-27. Which is exactly the cause of confusion since the manual says traction control is turned off with the vdc button in one section but in another section it says abls stays on even if vdc is off.

Yes, I do know that traction control/abls/electronic lsd/etc..... is nothing more than a software program added to the already existing ABS software and hardware. And that's why a sure way to totally kill off traction control in any car is pulling out the abs fuse.

That's pretty much what I said. You can call it by any acronym you want.

To test, go out on a dirt lot, turn of VDC and do a clutch dump. That should answer the question.....Report back..

Pharmacist... correct me if I'm wrong? But are you saying that VDC can be turned off fully.
And when u turn off VDC you also turn off TCS.... But, TCS never fully shuts off?
So if the 370 feels too much slip? It will automatically reactivate TCS?

Yes, the ABS can be turned off fully, however, AT's still won't be able to brake-launch because they need to find a way to prevent fuel cut. I tried it on my G37. Took out the fuse but still couldn't get the damn thing to brake-launch at 3k rpm or do a burn out on a dry surface.

Check the AT launch Vid in post #34.....Looks like wheelspin to me!

http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...o-drive-3.html

Thanks for the link modshack, fuel doesn't cut off if you brake-launch till like 1.5-2k rpm. But if you try doing a burnout like this

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It won't let you lol

Brake launching in my G35 was not easy. I would get minimal spin most of the time.
Same in my altima 3.5se sedan. But! If ur on slightly uneven pavement n u smash the gas. It will spin like u revvin it up off a manual.
The auto tranny could use more torque. 268/258 is fine for the manual but on the auto it would be nice if was closer to matching the hp. That's why u see mustang and camaro autos doing wheelspins like champs! Weight to tq power is significantly higher.
But the flipside is the don't handle worth a damn n body structure of those cars hinders certain driving capability IMO. So if I had to choose burnin rubber or precision handling. I'll take handling. :) spinning the wheels on demand is kool though :)

I've turned off everything several times pushing the VDC button at the exact perfect timing. usually when the car is cold, ive done it once when the car was warm. the BRAKE light ABS light and slip lights all come on, no ABS or TCS.

Huh? Turning off the TCS has nothing to do with the car's temperature. And turning off ABS is not possible in this car or any other car I know off unless you pull the fuse. Also, brake light should not come on. It seems that you have a malfunction of some sort in the brake hydraulics or electric system.

I have done the same thing omnomz has done. He is right about the ABS light coming on with the VDC light if you hit the VDC button at the right time...however I never did test it to see if ABS was actually dissabled.

I went through this question myself some time back and what I was able to figure out is with VDC off, traction control and vdc are disabled.

You can do burnouts, power slides, and anything else you want. I have the sport so have the vLSD. The ABLS light comes on occasionally, but I think its only when one wheel starts to spin before the vLSD locks up....whether it applies brake or not I couldn't really tell, but I think its only momentary until the LSD locks and then you can continue to power slide all the way to rev limit...

I'm pretty sure I only experience it in low traction conditions such as rain and have not noticed it during dry conditions...

Bizzare. As far as I know, neither the z nor any other car for that matter offer the ability to turn off the abs. That's actually one issue I had with car manufacturers since abs activation can be extremely dangerous on snow, mud, and gravel. Heck, I was even planning to use that unused button on the center console as an abs switch by splicing a switch into the abs wire at the fuse.

Care to elaborate on how you do it? When exactly do you push the vdc button, and for how long? And does it always work or is it inconsistent?