"Service AdvanceTrac" warning

[Klutch9]

Last night, with all of the snow we got, our Fusion got stuck twice. Thankfully we got home safely, but the second time we got stuck, it took about 15 minutes to free the car. All the while, I shut the traction control off, because I have much more control that way. after going back and forth through some deep snow, and lots of wheel spin, I got a "service advancetrac" warning on the display. Along with that, the traction control was shut off by default (couldn't turn it on if I wanted to) and the ABS light was on. So we get free, I park, and then several hours we go to drive the car again, and all those warnings/lights are still on. After a bit of driving, and the whole engine bay at operating temp, all the lights and warnings go off and haven't come back since. Im thinking that the ABS speed sensor got plugged with snow, and that made the whole system unhappy. Then when all that snow and ice melted off, things went back to normal. Should I be worried?

 

[rjundi]

No, likely your wheels excessively spinning threw a code that quickly cleared up.

 

[NHGUY]

Had a Cavalier once that when you drove in deep snow,would throw an ABS code for the front sensor.When the snow cleared out,the code went away.It was the external type sensor with it working on a tone ring on the outer CV joint.I guess it does not take much snow to insulate the readings between the 2.

 

[artificialist]

Sometimes connectors expand and contract due to temperature, however, this usually happens when the car is much older. That in mind, a car could have a questionable connector due to a bad design or location.

 

[gathermewool]

Have you checked your owner's manual? I had an Escape "4WD" rental for a couple of weeks last year, and remember the OM containing a TON of warnings about the limitations of the system. One was that the 4WD system would shut itself off if it over-heated, but would return to normal on the next drive cycle once cooled down (ie, after you pulled over and let it cool down for a bit)

It seems as if this system was designed for light snow and minimal wheel slippage. The conditions you were in may have over-heated the system. It may have been that those warning lights you received also indicated a temporary loss of 4WD functionality.

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Have you checked your owner's manual? I had an Escape "4WD" rental for a couple of weeks last year, and remember the OM containing a TON of warnings about the limitations of the system. One was that the 4WD system would shut itself off if it over-heated, but would return to normal on the next drive cycle once cooled down (ie, after you pulled over and let it cool down for a bit)

It seems as if this system was designed for light snow and minimal wheel slippage. The conditions you were in may have over-heated the system. It may have been that those warning lights you received also indicated a temporary loss of 4WD functionality.


The car is not 4WD, but FWD