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Emblems, Traction Control, ECS

16K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  wjjeepman34 
#1 ·
I just wanted to know exactly what was happening when I hold the traction control button down for like 10 seconds and it says ECS off?

Any ideas why my 08 LT2 4 cyl is sluggish off the line but a beast after 25?

I was tempted to remove the gold from the emblems today, but I need to know how to do it without screwing it up. Any suggestions? I haven't been able to find any replacement chrome emblems (i HATE gold). I don't want to use vinyl, and am willing to have it custom made if need be. I noticed on earlier threads some fella was giving a fabricator measurements. Anybody know what happened with that?

This is my first chevy. So far, decent. I've put on 28k miles though, and have only changed the oil. What else should I do to make this baby run better? Haven't found any aftermarket air or tuners available.
 
#2 ·
It'll get a little better off the line. I have a touch over 40k on mins and it's better than it was at 20k. You could make yourslef your own cold air intake if you're a do-it yourselfer. I made my own stage-3 that I can reduce to a short ram when the winter months are here. Polished aluminum, red silicon couplers, aluminum bung for your air flow sensor, and K&N cone.
 
#3 ·
well ECS is the stability control so you dont really wanna take that off, and turning off traction control really does nothing as the 2.4 doesn't have the same bite the LTZ has.
 
#19 ·
well ECS is the stability control so you dont really wanna take that off, and turning off traction control really does nothing as the 2.4 doesn't have the same bite the LTZ has.
I have a 2.4 LTZ. You mean the 3.6 V6.

Thanks, but you see I had to ask because it seemed that the system did not do as it should. My understanding is that it should have detected that the rear was sliding sideways to the left and should have actuated corrective braking at the left front along with possibly cutting power. Neither happened and no lights actuated. No TCS would make sense since I did not loose traction on the front and no ABS because I was not braking, but should not I have gotten an ESC light?
It would be nice to know exact parameters of how the package of three work and what to expect of them.
I'm not sure that I should be happy that I was able to react quicker than the system or not?
Did I find a weak spot in the system? Or possibly a failure? It sounds as if the system is reprogramable and wonder if a certain parameter needs to be calibrated to say specific tires. Tires are the number one suspect of why I got into that situation, but then the rear of the vehicle also has to be considered. Maybe not enough weight on tires for my maneuver or possibly alignment. The latter certainly could have had influence as I was just getting it back for complaint of EPS and they did an alignment. The change on the rear may have induce dog tracking to left, which it feels like it is, and that would have caused the vehicle to have excess lateral force in that direction. ~3000 miles later, alignment has shown itself to be improper because of extreme feathering of outer rib on left front tire. Without getting car in air it would be near impossible to check for other wear patterns. Still less than 5K miles.
It does take a decent amount of slide to get the ESC to activate. It will kick in WELL before anything gets seriously out of control, but as I've noticed throughout the winter months, you can get a little bit of a slide (front or rear) before the ESC overrides you.
 
#4 ·
Not recommend to turn off ECS. Not sure why you wanted it off. I had good experience with it one time: When I had a sharp left turn on a rainny day, my car rolled to the right lane. Before I could make any reactions, I felt my car was taken over by another force, and it got back on track in a matter of a second. I believe that was the ECS
 
#5 ·
Before I could make any reactions, I felt my car was taken over by another force, and it got back on track in a matter of a second. I believe that was the ECS
It was the force
 
#6 ·
Electronic stability control uses the ABS brake system to apply a single brake to correct vehicle yaw. There is a steering sensor that is connected to the steering shaft that tells the system where you are pointing the car. The EBCM uses readings from other sensors in the car to determine how well it is reacting to your steering input and then it applies the appropriate brake to make the car swing in the direction you want to go. If you are on a slippery road and turn left but the car tends to slide wide and not respond quickly to your steering input the ESC can apply the left rear brake to cause the front end to swing more to the left.

Bill
 
#7 ·
Are you absolutely sure of your description? It makes sense if you are saying the front lost traction.
What would happen if I was cornering right from a side street to the inside lane and the rear end broke loose? Or what should happen because I had to let off it and start a counter steer to stop the rear end from coming around.
 
#11 ·
Go to gminsidenews and ask there. There are actual gm engineers that visit the board and Im sure they can answer your "question" there.

However, the systems have certain perimeters that need to be exceeded for the systems to come on. It seems like the first and only time you have tested them that you didnt and there for they didnt activate anything.
 
#12 ·
Thanks for the tip. I reread the parts of the manual yesterday that pertain to questions, especially the ABS/TCS/ECS. I'm hoping that the vehicle needs to be moving for the ECS to test out before being enabled. I'll test today after some driving, but yesterday, trying to manual turn off ECS might show a problem. That is the momentary switch indicated the TCS was off by DIC message and the warning light on steady. Holding the switch longer to turn off ESC would not produce the DIC message, ESC off. Only the message TCS off with warning light on steady.
 
#13 ·
I tried again after driving, but no luck. Then I remembered a post that said it took 5 seconds or more. Not the way I read the manual. I thought I'd held the switch long enough but maybe not. Last night I just held the switch and after at least 5 seconds, it said ESC OFF. I will monitor.
 
#14 ·
Drove home in a snow storm tonight. All of the electronic nannies activated successfully. Traction control was activated on each accelleration from stop. ABS kicked in several times. Then at one point I hit some deeper stuff and the rear end started to break loose and it started to veer to the left. I felt and heard the brakes being applied on the right side of the car. It was cool. But now I wonder am I still supposed to steer into the skid or just hold the wheel straight and let the ECS do it? I steered into it out of instinct and the combination of the ECS and the steering correction brought it back under control with ease.
 
#15 ·
I steer into it, then watch out for overcorrection.
 
#16 ·
This is a cool feature. I'm not wanting anything bad to happen but when it does I want to see it work. Lol
 
#17 ·
When I first moved to Georgia a few years ago, we had horrible ice storms. Growing up in Florida, I had never encountered this. Luckily, I tend to buy things in bulk to avoid unnecessary trips. Welp, I literally ran out of cigarettes on xmas. Had to drive to the store. ECS saved my life, and made it look like nothing happened.

I approached a bridge nearby, at about 15 mph, and noticed all the cars were spinning out when they got on it. I slowed down, but couldn't turn around because it was technically a separated "highway". At 5 mph, and way past the point of no return, I went over the bridge and heard the ECS kick on, and multiple noticeable 'grinds' where the brakes were kicking it at various points. I rolled slowly past everyone, pulled off the road at the end of the bridge, and got out to help the other stranded motorists.

That night, ATL PD shut down the interstate and all roads, and told motorists to walk home. I don't recall the death toll, but there were a lot of injuries and wrecks.
 
#18 ·
glad your OK. thank god for ESC!!
 
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