2004 Buick Regal traction control system.

[brianl703]

I looked at the manual further, and it says that ABS without traction control has a 4-solenoid valve body in the hydraulic unit. ABS with traction control gets a 6-solenoid valve body. It didn't mention what the extra two solenoids are for or why they're needed.

I would guess that the Monte Carlo also can apply brakes to just the spinning wheel, as opposed to applying brakes to both wheels. Multichannel ABS (which the Monte Carlo most likely has) makes this possible.

 

[brianl703]

Well, I got to really test out the traction control on the 1996 Ford Contour in the snow we had here last week.

I live on a private road which means that the state does NOT clear the snow off this road, the contractor hired by the HOA does, and he doesn't seem to come through until midnight or the wee hours of the next morning.

There was about 3 to 4 inches of snow on the ground when I tested this out. The Contour has BFG Traction T/A tires on it.

I had the 1988 Mustang 5.0 in the driveway, and the Contour was in the garage, blocked by the Mustang. First I tried getting the Mustang up the hill...didn't want to do it, so I backed all the way down the hill and parked across the street. Then I got the Contour out and parked the Mustang in the garage.

The Contour had no trouble getting up the hill. I even tested it on a shorter, but steeper hill, and it slowly went up the hill at about 1MPH (I stopped on the hill so I didn't have any forward momentum) but it did indeed get up that hill.

I drove it all around the neighborhood's unplowed streets and didn't get stuck once.

Conclusion? It works great. Guess this traction control system was pretty advanced for 1996...

 

[Spector]

Is the Mustang a FWD?? I thought they were RWD which would account for the poor traction in the snow?

 

[brianl703]

It is RWD, and correspondingly bad in the snow.

I wasn't intending to compare the snow performance of the Mustang to the Contour, it's not a fair comparison. I only mentioned what the Mustang did in the snow to give some idea of what the snow on the road was like, ie, enough to stop an RWD car in it's tracks.