Need help with a senario

F

Falls

Super Moderator
OK here it is. Last nite on my way to work I's pulling out on a 4 lane hiway and have to stop in the medium where there is about 10" of loose pile up snow from the recent storm and then pull out into traffic.

So how do you do it and pull out onto a hiway where traffic is traveling at 55-60 mph when you have to giver hell and get moving when the VSC shuts off engine power ?

I think this may make the 4R very dangerous in these situations .... any thought or ways of dealing with this electronic nightmare ????? safety issue ???

I think the worst thing about this truck is the VSC and not being able to turn it off.

My Tahoe had this auto 4wd setting that would only kick on when slippage was sensed and it worked just like in 4wd , you could just giver hell and there was no power cut off. This feature was great for hiway driving and situations like I described above. It just did its job , no beeping , no power cut off ect... worked superior to the 4R VSC in most situations. Yes I do believe the 4R 4wd VSC system is superior in keeping you going in a straight line , but every time I go around a corner in snow, power cuts out , beeps like hell , kind of embarrassing , anti locks clicking away.

Its weird how the 4R can have such a excellent 4wd system ( on of the best with Atrac IMO ) but still have stupid useless crap like this going on. I know its there for a reason and serves some kind of a purpose in some situations .
 
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Any time you are pulling onto a highway from a median strip, you are at risk, regardless of the vehicle. The breakdown lane is a better choice as you have more room to get up to speed before having to merge into traffic. I suppose you could lock the center diff, but that is also a risk because you really shouldn't unlock the center diff at speed and driving on dry pavment with the center diff locked is also bad.... I'd try to stay in the breakdown lane or find a better place to pull off the highway.
 
Falls-
I to have experienced this and it frightened the hell out of me. What I have done is "tap" the gas pedal. It seems to keep the truck one step ahead of the VSC system. It isn't much safer, but at least it will get you out a bit faster than letting the VSC do it for you. This is really hard to explain exactly what I do, so try it out in a field or something. How much snow do you have over in Wisc? I am down in Iowa near Des Moines for my job assignment, and there is some snow down here, more expected today.
 
Hey Michael,
Your problem is the "giver hell and get moving" part. If you accelerate smoothly rather than stomping on the gas pedal, the VSC won't spank you down and cut the power. A lighter foot on the gas is always better on slick conditions.
 
The breakdown lane was kind of not an option since there was none ... lol.

This is a major safety hazard on these trucks. I'm surprised that more dont complain about it or even get into an accident.

I'll try tapping the gas and see if that helps. If there was no VSC and your just had 4wd engaged your could atleast start to take off when you hit the pavement.

I can take precautions , but I would be worried if someone else is driving my 4R and in the same situation,like my wife for example , would be freaked out.
 
Falls said:
So how do you do it and pull out onto a hiway where traffic is traveling at 55-60 mph when you have to giver hell and get moving when the VSC shuts off engine power ?
Click to expand...
I'm afraid all you can really do in this situation is lock the center diff in order to disable the VSC. Why Toyota doesn't just include a seperate switch to disable VSC (like Honda does) I don't know :(
 
I have to agree it is a pain in the ass. I don't drive too aggressive on the roads but if you need to get into traffic and the road is wet and you spin the tires just a little bit the VSC really bogs you down. Then you are a sitting duck with traffic flying up on you. You feel a little helpless when your hitting the gas and nothing happpens for several seconds. I agree that a switch would be great.
 
Ok I'm sure the lead foot does not help any , but thats what I'm kind of used to.

I'll have to change my habits a little . I just think its a bad/dangerous feature that cant be turned off . I think its great for normal driving and a good safety feature for that.

NEED ON/OFF BUTTON !!!! I can't believe nobody had done this type of modification to their 4R.
 
I never lease my vehicle , but was dumb enough to on this one because of business.

If I owned this one I'd be working on a on/off switch solution for the VSC.
 
it always seem strange to me why Toyota didn't put a switch to turn off the VSC like it does on the FJC and the GX470. No sense at all...
 
solution: lock center diff. (to my understanding, this must be done in 4WD?, correct?)

Does anyone know of any mod to kill VSC (I REALLY WANT TO BE ABLE TO TURN OFF VSC IN 2WD)
 
I'm pretty sure someone who is pretty good at auto electonics can find a schematic of the ECU and put a switch onto the VSC line. This truck is fairly new, that's why we are talking about this "could be" mod. Give it a few more generations and there should be a plethora of diy mods available.
 
AlphaQup said:
I'm pretty sure someone who is pretty good at auto electonics can find a schematic of the ECU and put a switch onto the VSC line. This truck is fairly new, that's why we are talking about this "could be" mod. Give it a few more generations and there should be a plethora of diy mods available.
Click to expand...

There already is "a plethora of diy mods" if you check the sticky at the start of the General Discussions thread or use the search button.

As for the VSC, I've jumped into the wiring diagrams for this. I don't like the hack that has been done on the FJCruiser forum because it still sets off ECU codes. The Diff Lock switch (on a 4wd) works with the 4WD Control ECU which then communicates with the Skid Control ECU. The TRAC Off switch (on a 2wd) works directly with the Skid Control ECU. I need to dismantle things to get at the actual wiring harnesses to see where to splice in, if at all, but it's too cold here to be doing this kind of work now. On the back burner till spring.
 
Kmvreter said:
There already is "a plethora of diy mods" if you check the sticky at the start of the General Discussions thread or use the search button.

As for the VSC, I've jumped into the wiring diagrams for this. I don't like the hack that has been done on the FJCruiser forum because it still sets off ECU codes. The Diff Lock switch (on a 4wd) works with the 4WD Control ECU which then communicates with the Skid Control ECU. The TRAC Off switch (on a 2wd) works directly with the Skid Control ECU. I need to dismantle things to get at the actual wiring harnesses to see where to splice in, if at all, but it's too cold here to be doing this kind of work now. On the back burner till spring.
Click to expand...

I should know, I created that thread lol. It's true, we have a few DIY mods avail, but not a plethora yet. I came from a Honda forum, and that's what I call a plethora. We still have a long way to go, that's all I'm saying.

Good luck on the research, hopefully when it gets warmer, you can add on to our DIY section.
 
Kmvreter said:
There already is "a plethora of diy mods" if you check the sticky at the start of the General Discussions thread or use the search button.

As for the VSC, I've jumped into the wiring diagrams for this. I don't like the hack that has been done on the FJCruiser forum because it still sets off ECU codes. The Diff Lock switch (on a 4wd) works with the 4WD Control ECU which then communicates with the Skid Control ECU. The TRAC Off switch (on a 2wd) works directly with the Skid Control ECU. I need to dismantle things to get at the actual wiring harnesses to see where to splice in, if at all, but it's too cold here to be doing this kind of work now. On the back burner till spring.
Click to expand...

Bumping this for the benefit of those looking at the VSC disengage hack.
 
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