VDC & AWD Fully Off - How To

N

Nick FX

Member
Location
Moscow
Dear guys/gils,

I spent soooo many time searching and trying and finally I did it.

I ask you, please, don't post any comments like: "You shouldn't turn off the VDC" or smth like that because I'm writing this post for the FX owners who want to get some extra fun while driving the car.

I read a lot of posts saying that there is a Yaw G Sensor under the center console and by unplugging the sensor or some wires from it you can get your VDC fully off. This is not quite true.

Here's my experience: Last winter we had lots and lots of snow in my country so I used to drift a looot. When you push the VDC OFF button - the system lets you do anything you want, like drifting, spinning wheels and all that stuff! I'll post some videos later here. The only thing you should mention is that the car remains AWD and you won't be able to burnout (even on ice)!

After unplugging the Yaw G Sensor there were no additional effect at all! It was just the same as if you turn the VDC OFF. I don't know, maybe I just didn't feel it... But I don't think so) So, it is not what we need.

But there is a little secret: if you really want to add some more fun and have your rear wheels spin crazy you should unplug one fuse from your cabin foot fuse compartment.
The needed fuse is red 10A marked on the fuse map as 4WD SOL. After uninstalling it and starting your engine you won't see any additional lights on your dashboard. But after you put your car into the D position and start driving - you'll see a 4x4 light came up!
After that don't forget to turn OFF the VDC and...have fun)) Now you drive a 280hp (or more, like in my case) rwd car)))
And there is no problems with ABS or Rear lights - everything works just fine! Car doesn't stall or smth else. Tried accelerating up to 180 km/h (115 mph) and everything's just fine.

I dunno if it is really so or not, but it REALLY feels that car accelerates better!

To have a nice tire sound put your car into the manual shifting mode, switch it to the first gear and at first try to start accelerating while turning. The cars back will slide and you'll see some black tireprints and hear a nice sound of your spinning tires))) Than you can try the brake/burnout!!!

Hope that you'll find it interesting)
Best regards,
Nick:smug::smug::smug:

---------- Post added at 04:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:17 PM ----------
Here is the video: youtu.be/H0mTA4cn7NE?hd=1
Thanks StuLax for posting it below =)

P.S.
1) MTN FX - It really feels that FX accelerates much easier. Dunno if it is just a feeling or it is really so. I'll try to measure it tommorow!
2) Dracula - of course more fun more problems... But I won't use this feature 24/7... This is only for a short period of time, so I hope it won't do any harm.
3) Toy4x - as I stated before - it's not for everyday use. Of course car handles much much much better with awd. This is only made to burn some rubber and find out if the car accelerates a bit better! No other objectives on it...
4) Turbo, I'm glad you commented it, thank you! Yeah, you're quite right about it all. There's no other purpose for doing it than just to have some fun & burnouts. I'll measure the acceleration tommorow and let you know. If we talk about the dyno testing - I don't think that this is a good idea. The front wheels shouldn't spin... But who knows. Maby somebody will try it and just tell us))
5) Finally, I know that this mod is the one of the most unnecesary mods ever done! It was made most of all to uncover the truth about the awd. Now we know some more about it! And... Hahaha - It also impressed my girlfriend)))))))))))

P.S.S.
6) I have already bought a switch to easily turn it off/on. The only question left: where is the cable from that fuse???

Thanks everybode for the comments)) Hope to see some more guys trying this)))

With Best Regards,
Nick
 
Last edited:
awesome burnout considering a FX! So....I wonder how many guys on here are going to start doing this! hehe ;)
 
Wow bet this would be a good thing to do before track timed race meet to get better times. It would seem so as the power gained from not running the front axle should be considerable. Be interesting to see the difference on a quarter mile run.
 
I would like to see what Turbo and more knowledgeable people say about this. Over long term, I can't see this being good at all. Your computer is still looking for the AWD system and has to compensate somehow for it being "off"

I thought you would still be spining the front driveshaft since your not disconnecting it from the tranny. So just pulling the fuse takes everything away from the AWD system?

And the AWD at the track helps immensely with off the line starts.
 
well the awd coupling in the transfer case is electric, it is a variable clutch type thing & depending on the signal it gets determines the % of front engagement... if it gets nothing then it will not engage... I have considered putting a switch in line to this to turn off the engagement, pulling the fuse should do the same really I guess.. I spoke with JB about this & we was going to do it on his car but never got around to it, also never got to try it on mine before I pulled my motor out but it should work fine...

there should be no additional problems from doing this, but, likes been said, for drag racing the traction of awd launch will be better than launching it in rwd... about the only 2 practical uses I can see for doing this is 1, to dyno an awd FX on a rwd dyno & 2, to drift or do some rwd burnouts...

when it comes to drag racing, if your car was making a whole lot of power then there would be an advantage to switching to rwd for a burnout then back to awd for the launch just to make the rear tires that much more sticky, but mostly stock there wouldn't be much need as in awd traction will be more than enough really..
 
Good thing my fx is RWD and I don't have to deal with this dilemma :wink:

Btw great response as always turbo
 
also, to add to this, on the older skyline gtrs that didn't use an electric clutch, they used instead a hydraulic clutch, but even when there was no engagement to the front, it STILL gave up to 20% drive to the fronts, so bypassing it for an awd dyno run would eventually burn out this clutchpack anyway, as it never really completely disengaged... now I don't belive the electric clutch works the same & I do believe that with it disconnected nothing goes to the front, but I would like to confirm this 100% before actually trying to run on a rwd dyno... best way to do this is with the vehicle on a lift, all 4 wheels off the ground, pull the fuse & then spin the wheels, if the rears spin but the front don't move at all then your good to go, but if the fronts do move even a little then I would say the safest thing to do at that point would be to physically remove the front drive shaft for a rwd dyno run...

if anyone has there awd on a lift & wants to try it, you can easily do this all from underneath the car, no need to pull fuses, just unplug the solenoid connection which is at the very rear of the transfer case, just to the right of where the main rear drive shaft exits, just unplug it & see if the front wheels spin at all... do not disconnect the plug at the side of the tranny, the plug your looking for is at the very back of the tranny facing rearwards

---------- Post added at 02:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 PM ----------

oh, & when I say spin the wheels, I mean to start the car & put it in drive, not to just spin the wheels by hand :)
 
Thank you for your comments! The only thing some guys didn't get is that I'm not going to use this feature long-term. It can be made just to have some fun for an hour. Of course the awd system on the fx is great and the car handles perfect on the road with it either it's dry or wet... or icy)))

WARNING - added some info to my main post upstairs =)
 
Last edited:
Nick FX said:
Dear guys/gils,

I spent soooo many time searching and trying and finally I did it.

I ask you, please, don't post any comments like: "You shouldn't turn off the VDC" or smth like that because I'm writing this post for the FX owners who want to get some extra fun while driving the car.

I read a lot of posts saying that there is a Yaw G Sensor under the center console and by unplugging the sensor or some wires from it you can get your VDC fully off. This is not quite true.

Here's my experience: Last winter we had lots and lots of snow in my country so I used to drift a looot. When you push the VDC OFF button - the system lets you do anything you want, like drifting, spinning wheels and all that stuff! I'll post some videos later here. The only thing you should mention is that the car remains AWD and you won't be able to burnout (even on ice)!

After unplugging the Yaw G Sensor there were no additional effect at all! It was just the same as if you turn the VDC OFF. I don't know, maybe I just didn't feel it... But I don't think so) So, it is not what we need.

But there is a little secret: if you really want to add some more fun and have your rear wheels spin crazy you should unplug one fuse from your cabin foot fuse compartment.
The needed fuse is red 10A marked on the fuse map as AWD SOL. After uninstalling it and starting your engine you won't see any additional lights on your dashboard. But after you put your car into the D position and start driving - you'll see a 4x4 light came up!
After that don't forget to turn OFF the VDC and...have fun)) Now you drive a 280hp (or more, like in my case) rwd car)))
And there is no problems with ABS or Rear lights - everything works just fine! Car doesn't stall or smth else. Tried accelerating up to 180 km/h (115 mph) and everything's just fine.

I dunno if it is really so or not, but it REALLY feels that car accelerates better!

To have a nice tire sound put your car into the manual shifting mode, switch it to the first gear and at first try to start accelerating while turning. The cars back will slide and you'll see some black tireprints and hear a nice sound of your spinning tires))) Than you can try the brake/burnout!!!

Hope that you'll find it interesting)
Best regards,
Nick:smug::smug::smug:

---------- Post added at 04:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:17 PM ----------

Please, tell me how to add video to the post?
Here's the link: youtube.com/watch?v=H0mTA4cn7NE
Click to expand...

Instead of pulling the fuse you can always add a switch and that will take care of the problem of yanking the fuse and giving you the option while driving.. but turbo already added that
 
Last edited:
If this won't damage anything I'm down with adding the switch to the bank of push buttons to the left of the steering wheel. Be nice to have the option of losing all the parasitic drivetrain loss at will.
 
don't know that it will be even marginally better, the drag of the front axles & diff is still there and the weight is still there, don't think there is much more parasitic draw with it engaged unless there happens to be rear wheel slip in the first place, in which case the additional "draw" at that point would result in an increase in acceleration performance compared to it not being engaged by providing more traction/acceleration. bottom line I think in most cases it'll probably be as fast, if not faster with the awd engaged than not. it's good for burnouts though :)

it would be interesting to see if there is any measurable performance difference from eliminating the front drive engagement as long as traction was not a limiting factor, but remember, the stock system is going to drop front engagement at ~12mph anyway...
 
Last edited:
^ I'm in.....I'm out. Like to see measured results and if there is a difference, if the tires are just spinning and there is no real gain....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top