Adrenalin AWD Smoothness

Hi All,

How "smooth" is everyone's AWD system on their STA?

Had our first snow today with lots of ice. I noticed that when the rear wheels start to slip, the front wheels kick in but it's a very noticeable engagement. It seems to kick in and out very often. Like when accelerating from a stop it kicks in and out 5 or 6 times. It kicks in the first time, gets traction real quick, decides it doesn't need the front anymore, kicks out, rear starts to slip again, then all over again. Kind of feels like a chattering clutch of some wheel hop.

I turned traction control off and it still does it.

My wife has a 2007 Escape with the auto 4WD and it's smooth as butter. You can't even feel it kick in and out.

Thanks!!
Riley

Mine has the regular 4wd (not an Adrenalin) and it does the same thing. If the roads are slick I just lock it in 4-hi and go. I don't know if you can lock the AWD system into 4wd in an Adrenalin. I'm not a fan of the traction control either and in snow I just turn it off because it jerks you around when you're not expecting it and if you're in deep snow it just makes the engine take a powder.

Escapes have a different system, they run in front-wheel drive normally and the 4wd kicks in the rear axle when slippage is detected.

Mine does that too sometimes, hit setup a few times on the dash menu and there is an option to lock it into 4WD. Then hold down the trac control button for 7 seconds to turn all the garbage off and have fun.

Thanks for the replies guys..

So then what's the difference between the auto 4WD found on the XLT and Limited Sport Tracs and the AWD found on the Adrenalin? Is it just that the Adrenalin can be driven on dry pavement with AWD locked?

I must say that I'm really disappointed that this is how the AWD works. I bought AWD because I do lots of highway driving in the winter and I don't want to have to worry about switching. I my mind AWD should prevent anything from slipping in the first place, not wait until the rear slips then engage the front.

I assumed that it would be a smooth engagement like my wife's escape.

Riley

You can lock 4WD on an Adrenalin via the onboard computer system. Scroll through the screens until you see something like:

>AWD
4WD

Then use the select button to change from as-needed AWD to full time 4WD.

EDIT: Whoops. This has been said. I need to read all messages in a thread first.

Also, if it slips too much it will automatically lock in the Awd and it'll light up on the dash

Skud51 said:

So then what's the difference between the auto 4WD found on the XLT and Limited Sport Tracs and the AWD found on the Adrenalin? Is it just that the Adrenalin can be driven on dry pavement with AWD locked?

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Basically yes. Also the Adrenalin's AWD system doesn't have a low range. If I recall correctly (I could be wrong), it normally runs about a 30/70 split front to rear and adjusts accordingly to conditions. In mine, although the button says 4-Auto it is really in 2wd until the computer detects wheel slippage. It has 4-Hi and 4-Low buttons that lock it in 4wd and an off button for the traction control. When there is a lot of snow I just lock in 4-Hi, turn off the traction control, and drive it by my own self. Of course then I've got open diffs front and rear which is not as good as the limited-slip rears I've had in every other truck I've owned.

My idea of electronic traction control is a button that turns on lockers.

Also with an Adrenalin those 20" wheels and fat tires aren't the best thing if you get a lot of snow where you live. They are more of a dry road performance tire. I advise you to consider getting a used set of 16" or 17" Explorer wheels and put some A/T's or dedicated snow tires on them for the winter. Second choice, get Blizzaks or whatever in the stock size and put them on the stock wheels for the winter. I have Blizzaks for the wife's Taurus and it goes in snow every bit as good as my truck and probably stops better. It'll climb an ice covered tree with those things. The wife is not easily impressed with mechanical stuff but even she tells her friends to get Blizzaks. The Goodyears that came on my truck new were friggen' awful in snow, well, going was okay but stopping was an adventure. When they wore out I got Firestone A/T's that are much much better. Sorry to ramble off on a tangent.

Well, I think I'm going to take it in. How it's behaving doesn't seem normal to me.

For example, if I'm at a light, it's icy out, and I take off "normally" the AWD will kick in hard enough it spins the front tires and the whole truck slides sideways. When it gets traction the truck lurches back and forth like I'm learning to drive a manual transmission. Almost like it can't decide if it needs the front wheels or not.

If I lock it into AWD it's okay except for the noise while turning. Sounds like any other 4x4, but maybe louder. Definitely louder though than the 2001 ST 4x4 my dad used to have.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Riley

Skud51 said:

Well, I think I'm going to take it in. How it's behaving doesn't seem normal to me.

For example, if I'm at a light, it's icy out, and I take off "normally" the AWD will kick in hard enough it spins the front tires and the whole truck slides sideways. When it gets traction the truck lurches back and forth like I'm learning to drive a manual transmission. Almost like it can't decide if it needs the front wheels or not.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Sounds normal to me. Seriously.

Skud51 said:

If I lock it into AWD it's okay except for the noise while turning. Sounds like any other 4x4, but maybe louder. Definitely louder though than the 2001 ST 4x4 my dad used to have.

Click to expand...

The thing you have to always remember with AWD is that is not a 4x4, never can be or will be. Can not be fairly compared, apples and strawberries.
AWD is a compromise with delicate mechanical parts that will fail if you go off roading. AWD can help you get home in rainy slick conditions.

GreenMando said:

The thing you have to always remember with AWD is that is not a 4x4, never can be or will be. Can not be fairly compared, apples and strawberries.
AWD is a compromise with delicate mechanical parts that will fail if you go off roading. AWD can help you get home in rainy slick conditions.

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That's what I need and want and was under assumption I was getting. My STA is for business and I do a lot of highway/city driving, no offroad. I want a system I can just get in and go no matter the road conditions. I don't want to worry about locking the AWD or switching to 4x4. I'm going to compare to my wife's Escape again.. That's a vehicle you can just push the gas no matter how slippery it is and it goes.

I spoke to a friend of a friend who also has an STA and after explaining what I'm feeling he said that his did not do what mine does. I did some more testing today and it almost feels like there may be something loose in the front drivetrain. To be honest, it almost feel like a sloppy u-joint or CV joint.

If I take off from a stop, unless I'm really light on the throttle or let the truck start out on it's own, there is a real bad shudder (the dash even shakes) when the front wheels engage. However, if I'm already moving I can get on it and hardly feel the front engage. The only way I know the front is engaged is by the slight whine of the front diff.

Anyways, I have the truck booked into the dealer for next Friday.

Don't get me wrong, I love my STA but I was expecting the AWD system to be much more refined and maybe it is, but mine might have issues - I guess I'll find out next week!

Thanks for everyone's input! I'll keep you updated.

Riley

Had my STA out on the weekend in our first real snow. The engangement of the AWD system was flawless, the only way I could tell it was engaging was the light on the dash. We had a fresh inch of light snow on the roads, its was very slick and the truck drove great, especially considering the 20" wheels and tires. I tried driving it on the crazy side and it still drove great. I was extremely surprised on how refined the AWD system felt.

Hammer3.8 said:

Had my STA out on the weekend in our first real snow. The engangement of the AWD system was flawless, the only way I could tell it was engaging was the light on the dash. We had a fresh inch of light snow on the roads, its was very slick and the truck drove great, especially considering the 20" wheels and tires. I tried driving it on the crazy side and it still drove great. I was extremely surprised on how refined the AWD system felt.

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Thanks for the input. Can you tell me what light on the dash you saw?

Riley

It's the AdvanceTrac light (the little car with the wiggley tire tracks), it flashes when the system is active. That dash light also stays on solid when you have disabled the advancetrac system. Hope that helps.

Cheers!

Hammer3.8 said:

It's the AdvanceTrac light (the little car with the wiggley tire tracks), it flashes when the system is active. That dash light also stays on solid when you have disabled the advancetrac system. Hope that helps.

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Oh, okay. FYI, that light doesn't indicate when the AWD is engaged. It only indicates that you've lost traction and the traction control is kicking in to limit wheel spin.

Riley