Stuck in snow - with a Ford 4WD!?

[Skogsgurra]

My Ford Kuga, a mini SUV, has served well for a couple of years. And it served well when I left home today. It served well when going back home, also.

But, there is a small hill and a right turn just before I can park before the front door. It had been snowing and weather was "wet", so quite slippery. No probs, I thought and turned the wheel to get through the gate, which - of course - was open.

I got stuck. Pressed pedal a little more. With four wheels, you don't get stuck in a situation like this. All that happened was the the front wheels digged little holes and there I was. Stuck. The back wheels hadn't turned at all.

My garage has closed. I have no idea what has happened. My guess is that the logic telling the AWD to activate doesn't work. Or something.. Probably some electronic thing hat I Primo: Don't trust and Secundo: Don't understand.

Does any one in Automotive know what is going on? And if there is an easy late Friday afternoon fix?


Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.

 

[patprimmer]

It would oxidise the rubber. Maybe oxidised rubber is stickier. I know it is also a trick to get a particularly smoky burn out.

Regards
Pat
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[Skogsgurra]

Bleach - something of an old superstition. Couldn't find any. So I tried some squeezed corn - easy to find in these parts of the World - and it helped!

http://gke.org/pub/files/Kuga_on_the_road.jpg

Thanks for all tips. It will be interesting to show this to the garage guy.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.

 

[Artisi]

I was going to suggest - trade it for a Land Rover.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

 

[patprimmer]

Or a Land Cruiser, or a Pajero or a Nissan Patrol or any other with decent off road levels of ground clearance and wheel travel and low roll resistance and mechanical firmly locking diffs and hubs.

Regards
Pat
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[VEBill]

Or he could just get the Kuga repaired. ;-)

 

[patprimmer]

Well that might work again for a little while so long as he does not ask to much of it.

Regards
Pat
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[Skogsgurra]

It seems to have repaired itself!

Tested in rain, sleet, snow and on ice. This Sunday was my Holiday on ice!

I'm not taking it to the doctor. Last time I did that, he sold me this car.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.

 

[patprimmer]

I am not familiar with the systems on this car. Does it have visco couplers and if so do they fail to work if to cold as they depend on shear heat in the silicon oil to work.

Regards
Pat
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[SomptingGuy]

It seems to have repaired itself!

If there's one thing I know about Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, it's that mechanical issues don't tend to heal. If anything, they get worse with time.



- Steve

 

[pmover]

Skogsgurra,

"repaired itself" reminds me of what happened to my truck.

occasionally, the overdrive in my truck auto tranny would continuously shift in/out of gear at about 45-mph. i thought this was a serious problem. i spoke with the trusty mechanic and he told me "you won't believe me as to the problem". he told me the problem was the alternator voltage (not at spec). he found this problem before in another like vehicle. like he said, i was skeptical of what he told me. he even tested the alternator and found nothing wrong - operated per specs. not 2-weeks later, i was driving the truck and the instrument light (check engine) illuminated. O'crap! i stopped the truck and inspected components. i started the truck again and continued my travels without further problems. i thought more and more about what the mechanic told me about the alternator voltage problem. so, i replaced the alternator and i have not had a problem since. i'm convinced of what he said is true. how could something not seem related to the tranny have an impact on its operation.

a year earlier when the problem first started, another mechanic told me about installing a diode and the problem disappeared in vehicle he has repaired. i asked him if this was something the dealer recommended with a no response.

so, in reading your update makes me wonder if some moisture got somewhere where it should not have been.

try not to loose a few hairs over the vehicle problem . . . but it may nag you or re-occur again.

regardless, good luck and happy travels!!
-pmover

 

[Skogsgurra]

I should be more careful with my words. It didn't "repair" itself - it just started working normally again. If weather or vibratio, bad contact - I don't know. It simply started to do its thing again.

These cars depend a lot on microprocessors. One of the activities I do for a living is to analyze such systems in industrial applications and there are many peculiar things that can happen to such systems. Especially when the battery or the alternator delivers low voltage without going to zero completely. This situation is known as a "brown out" as opposed to "black out" and that means that the reset circuitry for the microprocessors doesn't do its job and may leave the processors in an indeterminate state.

That has happened once before in this car. On that occasion, the car wouldn't start at all. Didn't "feel" the Power button (no key in this car). It was under guarantee then and I got help from a garage in Perpignan. They told me the battery was bad, but I knew it was OK.

First they tested jump start, it didn't work (Hey, I told you - didn't I?). We then disconnected battery. Waited a few minutes and connected again. This time, the car started normally, without external battery. I think (quite sure, in fact) that this was because of either external interference or a brown out.

This time, I didn't get that far. Had forgotten about it. And the next morning, the car behaved normally. Will talk to the garage today. They will probably not understand anything. But they should be able to tell me how to force AWD and FWD and such things.

I wrote about the black out incident in a trade paper:

http://www.gke.org/pub/files/Saa_det_kan_bli.pdf

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.

 

[SomptingGuy]

... reminds me of a brilliant letter in a bike mag several years ago.

"I tried the usual things: swearing, letting it heal. Is my chain supposed to be orange?"


- Steve

 

[waross]

Ah resets. Needed to cope with one of the three states of digital devices.
When I was teaching digital logic and Boolean based on the GE 245 series of solid state logic I used the following analogy to illustrate the three possible states of a digital device.
A coin may be heads, tails, or in your pocket.
A digital gate may be 0, 1 or un-powered.
When the object is removed from the third state, its state is often unknown. Hence the reset to force the device to a known state.
One of your digital gates may have made an unexpected excursion into the third state. Grin

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[Skogsgurra]

Right, Bill!

I talked to the garage today. They told me to drive to their place next time it happened

I asked them how. No answer.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

--------------------------------------
Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.

 

[TheBlacksmith]

Isn't that like the contact the IT Dept online to address your computer problem?

I've often used the touch of handbrake on a RWD vehicle to provide a little preload and force the differential to aportion torque better. Works about 3 out of 4 times. I also subscribe to the brownout theory. Start seeing weirdness in a computer controlled car, check battery voltage and all connections.

 

[ScottyUK]

Try doing that with one of the newfangled electrically-actuated handbrakes. It's the one thing I don't like hate about my new car. It has no feel, the control isn't where it instinctively should be, and I don't bloody like it. Grrr...


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[KENAT]

Well Skogs, a bit late but here goes:

1. Get Mrs Skogs to come and give you a push while you are in the nice warm interior of the vehicle operating the pedel - has to be you because you know the feel of the car etc.

2. Get a tow from a reindeer.

3. Use a tin can, candle, some chewing gum and a bag of kitty litter or saw dust to get you out of your spot.

There you go, help given.

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[ewh]

I see you had a strap... how about a "come-along"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Comealong.jpg

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[Skogsgurra]

Scotty and KENAT. Those are all good and valid observations and there are also a few tips worth considering.

Status: Car works OK on snow and on ice. Haven't been able to test wet ice. Will be back when weather conditions allow such a test.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

--------------------------------------
Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.

 

[patprimmer]

If you get Mrs Skogs to push, it is entirely up to you to decide if you would have her push from directly in line with a wheel and how much you might allow the car to wheel spin as you drive off. The pain to pleasure ratio might be quite an interesting study as might the comparison between you and her senses of humour.

Regards
Pat
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