VDC and Slip light = less power?
 

Hello.. this is my first post in the forum, ive got a 10' 370z 7at and it just rockssss.

Well i have tried to find an answer for my question and could find it, so maybe someone here can help me out...

From a couple of weeks ago ive been experiencing that everytime i shift into 4th gear, the VDC and slip light turn on. I didnt pay to much attention to it ..until i was hanging with some friends (e46 m3 & 650i) and we decided to make some runs.

With the m3 i was 1/2 car in front of him all the way.. and when i shifted into 4th.. he passed me and putted 2 cars lenght on me inmediatly, we did several runs and it was the same result always. If we continued accelerating maybe it could be more, 3-5 cars i assume.

I experienced something very similar with the 650 as well, everytime i changed to 4th, he would pass me with a big power difference.

Trying to find conclusions i thought that maybe the car closes a little the tb, or retards timing. idk. If someone has experienced this and fixed it, i would be happy to know.

When it lights up, VDC cuts power and/or applies brakes.

You shouldn't be spinning tire in 4th though. 6MT or auto?

its not spinin. it just deactivates the vdc completely when i shift into 4th.

What if you turn it off before the runs?

Oh I may have misunderstood. You mean the VDC and SLIP lights up solid after shifting to 4th?

It turns on the slip one when i shift into 4th.

Yeap. And you feel the car slower, just imagine being 1/2car up and then inmediatley u see the car next to you pulling 2-3 cars right away.

That's weird and quite annoying. I do feel at times the throttle doesn't want to open up completely, but there are no warning indicators. Even with the turbos... it doesn't feel like it wants to allow the car to achieve full boost!

I just want to make sure that I am reading this and understanding what is there.

So.......you are ahead and shift from 3rd to 4th. VDC kicks in and the car bogs down. Your buddy zips past you as you regain power. Is that it?

Off topic but if you have removed your steering wheel (steering wheel sensor) as I have your the slip light stays on all the time (no blinking). But I have no issues.

If the problem is as described, your car needs to head over to the dealer

Im gonna get a scanner and see what shows up. Just wanted to make sure it does lose power when those lights turn on.

That tb closing feeling is annoying, to much electronics this days...

Well i dont feel the car regaining power. its so much difference that if i continue going into 5th its like if he was a racing a diesel pathfinder or something like that.. I really want to fix this, so probably i hope to see a code in the scanner or at last instance take it to the dealer.

I believe a I have the same problem. Do you have the stock tires?
I put on two Nitto Invos and it seems that tires have a lower performance that the brigdestone making the car inestable when you take it to the edge. Brigdestone have a 140 treadwear and the Nitto's have over 200.

I switch to bridgestone and the problem was gone.

Yup! Like you press down on the pedal, and then further down to the floor. You would expect more thrust, but nadda. A passenger would think you took your foot off the pedal, but your foot is planted down to the floor! It happens a few times when making left turns or darting out across the street and there's no power to scoot fast enough in 1st.

Do you think you can look at throttle position? Not sure if it helps because you'll never know who is telling the truth (i.e., TB at 80% when it is physically less) [shrugs].

I don't have a laptop, but I have the UpRev cable. I just never got around to trying out the logging capabilities.

Not sure if this helps, is related, or is useless to you, but it won't hurt:

Recently I noticed that when going up hills quickly my VDC and skid lights would come on solid. They would then stay on until I turned the car off/on. I also noticed the parking brake light pulsed on and then back off at the same time.

My brake pads are getting close to due for replacement. I topped off brake fluid and the problem is gone.

No idea if that's related to your issue, but if you think it could be, it's a really cheap problem to fix.

As far as going up steep hills the skid light will come on also for our cars also has a G load switch. If the hill is so steep for a certain amount of time it will come on and stay on until car is shut off. Sometimes the car will have to cycle off and on several times before this happens. This happen to me when I raced on a oval track with banking but we were going slow and stopping on the banks for pics at Z Nationals. That's when my light came on.

Your car is hitting limp mode in 4th gear... that isn't normal, take it to a dealership. Unfortunately you are going to have to explain how the problem occurred (by racing from 3rd to 4th gear) and a dealership isn't going to be sympathetic. It isn't your fault and it shouldn't be happening but it sounds like you might have an interesting time explaining your issue.

I changed them for michelin pilot sport with higher treadwear as well.. hope thats not the issue since they where expensive :(

Man beleive it or not, this is a great point. Everytime i leave my house i go trough a hill before getting to the main road, and i always get that brake light and the steady vdc and slip. i turn it off and it goes away and sometimes it comes back... im gonna check tomorrow the fluid level!

Did you feel the car slower with those lights on?

Well definately is some kind of a limp mode. Lets see tomorrow if i can fix this with the fluid level and taking it to a scanner!

No. It seemed fine to me. My light is on all the time now due to I removed the steering wheel sensor. So the OP must have a different issue all together. I'd like to find a way to delete all this crap from my car. Everybody seems to love all this VDC and traction control till its not working. More technology more issue. Just learn to drive the old fashion way and forget all these fancy driving devices. Just my opinion.

Well i added some fluid it was above the min line but it was showing some minor consumption. and the light hasnt turn on any mnore, the car feels stronger too. I will race the m3 today and let you know if this was the problem.

It seems very odd that all of this was caused by maybe 2 caps of fluid missing

on my old 350z this happened with the VDC and Slips coming on and the car being low on Brake Fluid due to pad wear. It did not slow the car down however or cut power, it was just a simple warning that brake fluid was getting low. hope that solved the problem.

Much Appreciated!
 

I was having the same problem as the posters above. (Flickering brake light and traction control light coming on permanently under hard acceleration) I had already called the dealership to set up an appointment, when I decided to check here. Glad I did. My brake fluid was half-way between low and max. I added a small amount, and voila, it's running perfect again!

Based on the initial post on this thread, i dont think theres a problem. If the VDC (traction control) is on and your breaking the tires even a little bit, the VDC comes into play (as well as the slip light) and flutters the throttle until you either regain traction or slow down. This feels like engine cuts out for a brief moment. If you turn the VDC off and do the pull (not sure if you did) this wont happen.