406oc.co.uk

How do i know if my car is equipped with Traction Control, i see a light on the dash during the startup procedure which dissappears, but i dont see any buttons for traction control or whatever acronom peugeot gives it, ive never felt anything to suggest its presence, and is it much good.

Look for anything that indicates ESP or a picture of a car skidding, these are the traction control symbols.

yeah that light comes on in the ignition position and goes out, but no buttons for it

If it's the little pic of a car with the 2 skidmarks behind it, I think that's the ABS light as I have that & I've never noticed any traction control. Wouldn't have thought a 110bhp diesel would need it anyway though.

Ahy i suppose so, i know my uncles golf has it and all it does is stop you spinning the wheels when pulling out of a junction, but it doesnt cure the understeer. And then the other uncles hilux has it which works when you go off road and are in rwd mode and plant your foot down all you get is a buzzer bleeping and a spooky feeling somethings stopping the fun of going sideways, so it gets turned off and the muck flies.

My 406 V6 exec has the same symbols the Car Skid symbol is the ESP (Electonic Stability Program) From personal XP this isn't a Traction control program but a Brake distribution progamme - If Brake in a Bend the brakforce is distributed in proprtion to the wheel speed with inner (Slower wheels) getting more force than the outer (faster wheels). It purpose is counter brake induced understeer.
Does nothing to stop one or both wheels spinning in wet or icy conditions.

I think the 406 traction control is indeed an ESP system as ninjasta describes, run from the ABS ECU.

For information the Mk.4 Golf could come with "ACS" which mine has which kills engine power when the wheels spin. Great for being lazy on ice but bad trying to power out of damp negative camber roundabouts as it kills the turbo boost if you forget to disable it . There was also an ESP option which I can tell you from past experience will totally kill dead any oversteer

The less of these electronic safety things the better, its hard to beat a car that has carburettors, no abs, no traction control, no power steering, firm suspension, little or no sound deadinging, back wheel drive just for the pure driving experience.

406executiveHDI wrote:The less of these electronic safety things the better, its hard to beat a car that has carburettors, no abs, no traction control, no power steering, firm suspension, little or no sound deadinging, back wheel drive just for the pure driving experience.

sorry but your wrong on a couple of points
injection is a lot better than carbs,can be set up alot better etc
abs i dont think you can beat a abs system in 99 per cent of road conditions and even if you can you have to concentrate so hard you might do it once but not every time.

Not as an everyday car no, you do need your safety gubbins to keep you right but for a good drive they are better left out, but come to think about it carbs are an absolute bastard of a thing, the ones in the suzukis 1.3 engine constantly gave trouble between backfiring, pinking and causing flatspots the new 1.6 is much better.
The 205 gti whatever it had in it was enough you got to properly enjoy it because it wasnt overloaded with unnecessary things.

406executiveHDI wrote:a car that has carburettors, no abs, no traction control, no power steering, firm suspension, little or no sound deadinging, back wheel drive just for the pure driving experience

Look - it's a fanny magnet!!

I think this all depends on whether you were born and raised on carbs, I was and there's a lot you can do with carbs when they mess up but how long do you peer at your injection system before you give up and call in someone who knows slightly more than you do about it?

i was thinking more towards an alfa gtv6 or lamborghini contach

I think this all depends on whether you were born and raised on carbs, I was and there's a lot you can do with carbs when they mess up but how long do you peer at your injection system before you give up and call in someone who knows slightly more than you do about it? [/quote]

okay granted theres not much you can do with injectores unless you have a laptop,softwhere etc but for about 30 quid you get it plugged in and it tells you the fault.
but with carbs you can strip them ,buy some bits that you think you need then 2 hours later but them back together and its better but not quite right so of they come again

the joys of classic motoring.

Chuf chuf chuf chuf HONK HONK!

omega wrote:and it tells you the fault.

Hopefully it tells you the fault, if it's the sort of fault it records or can even actually see. Or it might report a completely different fault so you must use your skill and judgement to put an X where you think the problem actually is