Can anyone tell me how you REALLY turn it off? The traction control button really doesn't do much other than allow you to spin the tires. Even if you hold the button until the indicator on the dash flashes, the traction control A.K.A. "I'm going to apply the brakes when I want too" still doesn't really turn off. It wasn't as bad until I lifted my truck, now every time I turn onto side road from the highway it engages and occasionally it will engage on interstate ramps. I'm tempted to pull the fuse! Annoyed!!

 

Im with ya on this but from what ive seen there is no real way for you to turn it off. There is talk of some members getting their dealership to turn it off but good luck finding one that will... for liability reasons there pretty hesitant. And im not 100% but I believe that the fuse controls your ABS too so you would lose that as well.

 

I think you may be stuck with it unless you pull the fuse. The manual says that even if you turn it off it will engage again after turning the vehicle on and off.

 

FYI if you pull the fuse, your dash will light up like a christmas tree, pick your posion. Their are a few "tuners" that claim they can disable the traction control, but I haven't read of anyone actually pulling it off.

 

Did you recalibrate for tire size? I dont have that issue with my lifted 2010.

 

x2. I just had my truck in last week for the dealer to recalibrate for the larger tires and to perform the ABS TSB (11-4-7).

I took it to the dealer I bought the truck from and asked them directly to perform the TSB and they said no problem. When they checked the truck they refused because it didn't show a code. I know a service manager at another dealership and he said no problem. Took it to him and had it finished in a little over an hour. He said he didn't know why the other dealer refused. Been driving the crap out of it since and the traction control has yet to kick in.

Good luck!

 

Read https://www.f150online.com/forums/20...ese-items.html

Pay attention to the "lie about it" portion I wrote. Honesty gets you nowhere at your dealer. After I have the TSB completed, All my troubles went away.

 

I know what you mean by traction control being a pain starting off at times. But in this truck I haven really found it to be an issue and has actually helped.

 

This is the issue I have with our 09 Trailblazer. The TC is okay for driving on snowy roads. But it absolutely sucks when trying to launch from a stop at an intersection. Once you spin the wheels, the TC comes on and shuts down the power. Then you find yourself creeping through the intersection trying not to get hit.

It also sucks when using 4x4 to get up a long snowy driveway. I can lock it into 4 low and turn the TC off, but once it really starts to spin, the TC will automatically override and kick back in. It's a ****ing PITA. Especially when you get home from work and can't make it up your driveway.

Between the e-locker and the TC I'm really hesitant to spend money on a 4x4 that will not override the TC when it's needed the most.

Has anyone had any luck getting a stealership to completely shut it off?

 

Today's test of my new ride was:

Traction control system completely active. I approached the snow covered dirt road from my long driveway, slight uphill grade here. Just as began my turn I hammered it. Back end started to slide out, TC dash light blinked, power shut down, slide stopped, power back. It happened so fast You could barely feel it. The rear end barely slid out and I was without power for no more than a second. I don't think I could have stopped a slide and got back under control with power faster just working the throttle.

I then turned off both stages of the traction control. Stopped at stop sign at end of dirt road ready to turn out on to snow covered paved road. Once again I hammered it. Fishtailed down the road until I let up on the thottle. Both rear wheels locked up. No power cut off at all.

Finished my 20 miles to work at 75mph on the interstate, traction control still shut off.

Reached work and turned in to a mostly empty snow covered parking lot. Hammered it again and did a few fishtails and then a couple donuts to verify that I still could after running at 75 on the interstate. Both wheels locked up, no power cutoff. No flashing dash light telling me the TC system was active.

The ONLY time I have lost power to the rear wheels is when I had not deactivated the TC system. Trust me, I've tried too.

One thing that I found out that was not really clear to me is that you have to shut it off in two stages. Hit the button and release and wait for the message in the message center to disappear. Then press and hold the button for a few seconds until the light flashes and another message will be shown. If you just press and hold just one time you are not shutting both levels down.

If I do that I have not been able to get the power shut down part of the TC to activate even after 75 mph runs on the interstate.

2011 3.55 open diff

 

Theres three systems at work here, traction control tc, electronic stability control esc, and the third I believe is trailer sway control. Pressing the button only shuts down tc, holding the remainder, but only up to a certain mph, 25 I believe. You only need tc disabled for donuts, so when you were on the interstate you only reactivated the esc and trailer sway, which means you were still able to do the donuts on that parking lot.

 

Everyone keeps talking about 25 mph. If you're doing a burnout, a donut, etc you're spinning the tires much faster than 25 mph and that's what counts. Not how fast the vehicle is actually traveling...

 

Correct, but that only shuts off esc and trailer sway. The traction control stays deactivated past 25mph, and ive done donuts in the snow and sand like that.

 

If the ESC was reactivated at the same threshold it would shut down power the milisecond the rear end started to side out. This is what I described in the beginning of my last post. The fishtails in the parking lot were at a higher speed than the attempted turn on to the snow covered dirt road. The ESC will not allow you to do donuts as it senses the sideways movement and shuts down power until the sideways movement stops.

Once you disable it as much as you can the "threshold for reactivation" is higher according to the manual.

My point was to say that I have had no problems accelerating as hard as I want through an intersection. Even after traveling at 75+ mph. I have tried this multiple times and I am able to come to a complete stop then hammer it fishtailing all the way with no loss of power as long as I have shut off both levels of the TC and even after traveling much faster than 25mph.


I had serious doubts about this system before I actually used it. Serious doubts. It is winning me over though. Last night I backed down a steep hill at a friends place. Six inches of snow on top of frozen grass and I've still got the mild Michelin AT's. Crawled right up that hill no sweat. Never would be able to do that with a straight up open diff.

 

Hold down the button until it flashes. Comes back though. You might get a decent drift lol