[midnitexpress]

Formula: Lead Foot in fresh rain + Smooth Pavement = Both front wheels spinning uselessly divided by the CVT keeps the engine at 4k rpm for 1/2 mile. Anyone else experienced this? Really scared me the first time it happened. Thought the CVT got stuck in D2 while selector was in D. Does the CVT have an adaptive programming that will change depending on driver style?

 

[jaak]

Let me guess, no VDC, no AWD?

 

[EasternPA]

My thoughts exactly. I remember the first time I lit up the "SLIP" indicator. I made a sharp right turn on smooth pavement, at the bottom of a hill during the first half hour or so of rainfall. Recipe for slippage. Gunned it through the apex of the turn. The tach revved for less than a second and dropped back down again. SLIP light started blinking, the rear kicked in, and the car took off straight as an arrow. Total slide about 4 to 6 inches to the left. I had already been through an icy winter with the car, too, and never got it to slip. I remember thinking, "ahh, so THAT'S how it feels :2:"

I would have pulled a 180 or more in my 2WD Xterra on that turn.

 

[midnitexpress]

correct, no VDC or AWD which I didn't feel necessary in S. FL. Just wondering why the CVT would stay in a higher ratio after spinning
the wheels and if this is a norm or something to have looked at. Otherwise the MO runs perfect. None of the complaints that I've been reading about except for the driver side sun visor after delivery. Couldn't be happier.

 

[jaak]

I've never had that happen, but I have AWD. No VDC.

The only thing I can think is to try to see this from the engine/transmisson management side of the software. You're flooring it, requesting maximum acceleration. So the wheels are spinning making the vehicle think it's actually going faster than it is. At this point I have to wonder if it measures the rear wheels rotation, since it's not AWD and if so, what it thinks of the front of the car going much faster than the rear? On AWD, I would suspect this is how it knows to kick in the rear wheels.

Then it sees you back off on the gas and all of a sudden it looks like you're going slower. What happened? Going up a hill? Well you were just requesting maximum acceleration (Reminds me of an old song by Ultravox), but now the vehicle might be going up a steep hill? What if you need the power that you just finished requesting, to assist in this hill. Where should the transmission be for this steep hill?

This of course is all speculation, but the point I'm getting at, is that the control logic wasn't sure what was going on, and it tried to accomodate the conditions it was seeing.

I've been amazed at how smart the system is, between the gas, brake, engine and transmission. It anticipates what you're going to do next, or where it should be. Ever noticed the ratio change as soon as you touch the brake?

So it looks like it got faked out finally, on this one. First I've seen!

Of course, this is all just my speculation.

 

[midnitexpress]

Thanks Jaak. Makes sense to a lay person like myself. but just for the record I'm not flooring it, it's the Goodyears giving up traction at a little more than 1/2 throttle. Can't wait to wear them out.

 

[jaak]

Wow! Really?

Mine don't do that, so I wonder if it's those heavy FL rains... You guys get dumped on when it rains!

The other thing you might want to check, is tire pressures.

I've never experienced the slippage like that. I wonder if the AWD really makes that much of a difference? (Ah, the solution to cheap tires!)