Advancetrac issue

[o-man]

Ok guys. I've searched and still don't have a definitive answer. Before going out on track, I put car in track mode. After notification goes out I toggle the Advancetrac until message that it is off shows up on dash. Somehow, Advancetrac will enable itself. This is the third time I've burned through rear brake pads in one day at an HPDE. I have read that you can unplug the "dyno" plug beside airbox and this will keep Advancetrac from coming on. Is there some type of consensus on this? Thanks in advance

Sponsored

 

[johnson.ba]

That's what a lot of the serious autocross guys do.

 

[DickR]

I assume you are holding the toggle for about 8 seconds.If you are only holding it very briefly then you may have only turned off traction control.

In autocross situations when I get/got Advance Trac errors in my 15 and the one time it happened in my 18 there is/was a warning/notifications during the session and also acted like traction control and/or stability control were trying to save the car's and/or my life.

In any case the plug by the airbox commonly called the dyno plug seems to solve this problem completely with no negative side effects in the limited amount of autocross testing I did in my 18 and also according to many open track and autocrossers who do this routinely. See the FS thread and some others.

Note that according to Ford ABS engineering this plug is for use during assembly and completely disables brake proportioning and/or ABS. Neither I or others have been able to confirm this so ??????

The engineers did say that hitting curbs on a race track and/or enough counter steering, etc. to cause the EPAS steering system to "lose center" can cause Advance Trac to come back on.

Finally, given the relative size of the front vs rear brakes excessive rear pad wear may simply be the nature of the beast with a GT, especially if yours isn't a PP.

 

[NightmareMoon]

^ this

You have to hold the traction control button for ~8 seconds to fully disable advancetrack. Sounds like you're doing this already.

Sometimes the cars will freak out and throw an error message on the center dash, then re-boot to default traction control settings a few moments later. My car likes to do it on a dirt road, but its done it after hitting bumps and also just randomly during autocross runs. You may hear the ding and see the message, or I guess you might just notice the traction control suddenly starts kicking in again. Either way its hit or miss. Sometimes it happens, most of the time not.

Disabling the plug behind the airbox doesn't seem to have any lingering side effects. ABS still works (confirmed by actually testing it), and it does keep it from turning on in the middle of your session. I've been forgetting to do it lately, but it can really ruin a good run. Just remember to plug it back in before you drive home.

 

[TennTex]

Agree with the posts above. The plug is a short that opens the circuit when you remove it. So, I wired in a simple toggle switch to this plug and have it in the sunglasses/change compartment under the light switch. I flip the switch to disable all the Advance Trac and Traction control, and I don't have to remember to do it each session during an HPDE weekend.

 

[Ewheels]

Agree with the posts above. The plug is a short that opens the circuit when you remove it. So, I wired in a simple toggle switch to this plug and have it in the sunglasses/change compartment under the light switch. I flip the switch to disable all the Advance Trac and Traction control, and I don't have to remember to do it each session during an HPDE weekend.

This toggle switch of yours, can you toggle it on and off whenever you want or do you need to turn the car off first, toggle the switch, and then start the car again?? Not sure if this would freak out the car's computer at all.

 

[TennTex]

Good question. You can turn it on and off at any time. You can even do it in just the “key on” state. Both traction icons come on the display to show they are disabled.

So I do it once at the track, and it remembers the disabled setting as I stop and start the car for each session. If you do turn it back on, it pops back on instantly.

 

[Ewheels]

Good question. You can turn it on and off at any time. You can even do it in just the “key on” state. Both traction icons come on the display to show they are disabled.

So I do it once at the track, and it remembers the disabled setting as I stop and start the car for each session. If you do turn it back on, it pops back on instantly.

Awesome! I think I will be doing the same for my car. Never thought about making a hard line switch to forcibly disable TC and ESC. Thank you!

 

[TennTex]

You're welcome!

 

[strengthrehab]

That switch is a good idea. How is it wired up? I am an electrical dummy. Also where exactly is this plug?

 

[Ewheels]

That switch is a good idea. How is it wired up? I am an electrical dummy. Also where exactly is this plug?

Here is a basic schematic.
#1 is your current circuit ("circuit" being your ESC and TC)
#2 is current circuit with an Add-a-Line fuse installed. (you can buy those at Walmart for $5 or less)
#3 is circuit with the add-a-line wired to a switch. This essentially lets you disable the fuse whenever you want with a switch. Just wire and install the switch anywhere in the car you want.

 

[TennTex]

That switch is a good idea. How is it wired up? I am an electrical dummy. Also where exactly is this plug?

Probably a better way to share this, but see the plug in a picture on a different thread (look at post #2): https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/dyno-plug.120607/

I do not know if one side of the dyno plug simply connects to ground (but is a good guess). It is just a short circuit, so when the plug is installed the circuit is closed (Advance Trac ON), and when it is removed, the circuit is open (Advance Trac OFF). All I did was untape the wire, cut it, and wire the switch into each side, so I can open and close the circuit with the switch.

 

[strengthrehab]

My ABS/proportioning got all fubar'd when I pulled the plug and this happened.

 

[DickR]

Glad to see you avoided damage!

Did things return to normal when you reinstalled the plug?

 

[strengthrehab]

Glad to see you avoided damage!

Did things return to normal when you reinstalled the plug?

Well I did pop a rear shock mount.

Yes, when I installed the plug again to check it out, all worked perfectly fine. That happened on the first 2 laps of first session and I couldn't drive the rest of the day, lol. I did get to instruct a gentleman in an 01 Z06 so that was nice.

Sponsored