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Noise from engine when off roading on soft sand


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Hi,

 

When off roading with my FJ 2014 on H4 sometimes I get a noise from the engine and a light flashes on the main panel for a few seconds. It happens normally when in soft sand. The sound last for a few seconds also, but it sounds terrible! Is that the TRC? What would you recommend? Thanks

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Im no much expert on Toyota by any means, but for offroad yes.

 

If the sound you are referring when car is slowing down on soft sand and you hit more gas to get out of that soft sand patch quickly and car produces stuttering noise as tires are slipping then yes that's a standard feature and function of traction control. To supply power to wheels in quick short interval to not to let them spin it too fast which which will dig the vehicle in sand.

 

And yes whenever vehicle losses traction and traction control function gets engage it displays TC light on dash. Does your light in dash is similar to attach one here, as it depends on different car brands.

 

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Hi Nutbolt, thanks for your reply. The noise comes up when the surface of the sand changes and the car is sliding a bit, not when I hit the gas pedal. The light looks very similar to that one, yes. The problem is that it feels like the engine is trying to stop the car from sliding making me lose momentum. What I don't know is if on these conditions I should be thankful that this feature is helping or switch off the control, but I think once I switched off the TRC to try out and the noise still came up a few times. Any suggestions? Not that I am in a hurry, is too hot to go to the desert right now...

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Well if its not while hitting the gas then is it hitting the brakes...? Then it must be ABS which is similar like TC safety feature to put brakes in small interval prevent skidding.

Like when you slide downhill and slightly hold the brakes and have that cluttering noise from brake pedal....?

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  • 6 months later...

You need to turn off the traction control. Your car has 2 stage traction control. Hold on to the "sliding car" button (near your Parking Sensor switch, switch panel infront of your gear knob) until you see 2 lights on your dashboard, not one, but 2, once that's done it will be much better.

If you do serious off roading and the system still bothers you by making rymthemtic vibrating noises usually when the car slides  on lose sand then you have to dig into the fuse box under the hood, find the 30A fuse and remove it and that should turn off the system completely and you'll get 3 lights on your dash, mind you tho doing that it will disable your ATRAC and to turn on ATRAC you'd have to put the fuse back in and restart the car. What I've personally done is installed a "cancel switch" which does that by a simple on and off switch placed in the car.  

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Hi Stelita

It seems that you are not engaging 4WD-LOW so what happens?

the ABS works partially to hold (stop) 1 or 2 or even 3 wheels that slipping to hold them to redirect the tuque to the other wheels with better grip since your not engaging the 4WD-LOW you don't engage the diff-Lock so the 4 wheels are running freely!

As long as you are driving in low speed (less than 40) you still able to engage 4WD-Low to solve this issue to be on the safe side please refer to your car instruction manual or download it as it vary from brand to other some brands with electrical control recommend to shift gear to N to enable switching the drive mod.

Enjoy it!!     

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You just need to disengage the ABS and slip control. There is a wire clip under the bonnet behind the battery. Unplug it and you are good to go. Once you unplug it, there would be several warning lights on your instrument panel, including handbrake (!), ABS, Slip indicator etc. That's normal. Just make sure you lower down the handbrake lever every time you are in motion. 

P.S. : don't forget to plug it back when you hit the tarmac.

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