Traction Control system

[Jules59]

Does a 2000 4wd Bongo have any electronic traction control system as standard ?

I believe it has a mechanical viscous coupling which should limit loss of traction when one wheel losses grip by controlling torque to the axles, but not to individual wheels .
Traction control system using the individual wheel brakes was pioneered by the Freelander and now used in many vehicles with several variants. Do Bongos have this ?
Or is it a simply a 4wd drive transmission with viscous centre differential and no diff lock.

Some Bongos have a LSD (I presume on the rear axle). How can you tell visually if it has one of these?

[Muzorewa]

Your viscous coupling is just a means of allowing a small amount of slip between the two axles as is necessary for normal driving. You may have LSDs, if you punch your VIN into the second line of this site, SGL5 (or SGL3) in the first box, the rest of your VIN in the second box.....

http://www.ruzip.ru/eumz/eumzcat.aspx

.....it will give you the production date, original engine type, manual or auto, whether 2WD or 4WD and whether it had LSDs.

[Jules59]

Your viscous coupling is just a means of allowing a small amount of slip between the two axles as is necessary for normal driving. You may have LSDs, if you punch your VIN into the second line of this site, SGL5 (or SGL3) in the first box, the rest of your VIN in the second box.....

http://www.ruzip.ru/eumz/eumzcat.aspx

.....it will give you the production date, original engine type, manual or auto, whether 2WD or 4WD and whether it had LSDs.

Thanks very much - it says Ive got a "L.S.Diff" - very interesting.

Back to the viscous coupling though - please correct me if Im wrong but I thought that these sorts of coupling only permit a small amount of slippage between font and rear axles (unlike a normal diff) as a result of the coupling's physical properties, and thus if a wheel looses grip and spins , some torque is still sent to the other axle, instead of it all being lost through the spinning wheel.
That plus a LSD on the rear axle should make my bongo rather good in slippy conditions - bring on the snow. I'll take the Landy as well just in case Im proved wrong

On a separate note, we were out with the dogs yesterday, walking down our single track lane - very light covering of snow on top of ice so quite slippy - when two youths came past in their cars not particularly fast but playing at spinning their rear wheels and letting the backends slide out on the road's camber. One was a black BMW 5 series with some chubby chavvy girls smoking in the back seat. The lads were obviously trying to impress. They disappeared round the bend ahead and onto a straight bit which then slopes downhill. As we rounded the bend 20 mins later after taking a detour you could see the wavy path the cars had taken. Half way down the hill the BMW's backend had obviously swung out to the left and the driver had been unable to correct the skid and thus stuffed the nose into the frozen earth bank. A considerable amount of mock carbon fibre kit (air dam and splitter) lay all around in bits - I just hate fly-tippers
But my point is that all the best gizmos that BMW can devise cant stop idiots being idiots and the best aid one can have in slippery conditions is ones own sense of self preservation.

[Muzorewa]

Going with the Land-Rover systems, the early ones (Series I, II and III) had part-time 4WD with a solid drive between the two axles when engaged. The later ones had full-time 4WD with a proper diff between the two axles, and a diff-lock on that diff to enable drive to both axles in slippery conditions otherwise you would lose all traction through one slipping wheel. Later still models had a viscous coupling instead of the centre diff, which provided almost solid drive between the two axles but did allow a bit of slip.

With all these systems, the 4WD system was only in reality 2WD when the going got tough, one slipping wheel on each axle would be enough to get you stuck.

Bongos are as the later system above but some with the advantage of an LSD on the rear axle, so you then need to lose traction on three wheels to be stuck.

Later Range-Rovers etc had a traction control system built within the ABS mechanism to apply the brake to a slipping wheel, thus preventing all the drive being lost to that wheel.

I have to say I've been impressed with the Bongo. It's no off-roader, the ground clearance isn't good, but I've got plenty of Land-Rovers stuck in my time

[mikexgough]

But my point is that all the best gizmos that BMW can devise cant stop idiots being idiots and the best aid one can have in slippery conditions is ones own sense of self preservation.

there are 2 main problems with BMW and poor weather....either rain,snow or ice..... One is the traction system being rear wheel drive connected to a reasonably powerful engine, that combination along with poor driving style and tyres usually equals going nowhere or planted in a ditch/dyke( very common in these parts)...... the second is that BMW now have been adopted by local chavs as their car of choice..... the badge obviously helps with being an addition to the collection they flaunt around the shops and take aways.....needless to say, as in your story showing off and poor skills also mean off roading for many BMW
One other consideration as a general observation, most people these days just pass their driving test (note I don't say learn to drive - although there are exceptions where some youngish drivers are very skillful but they are few and far between) in small front wheel drive cars.....then get on the road with little experience of weather conditions/road conditions..... then some buy rear wheel drive cars or more powerful front wheel drive cars and...... the result is an accident and all it's consequences..... many of them don't learn from their mistakes

[helen&tony]

Hi...Mike
It's the same over here...German cars are all Chavmobiles...and the Gypsies cars of choice......but the difference here is that a large proportion BUY their car "tests"....the going rate being 250 euros...if you're interested in an HGV licence, I'll make enquiries...hop on a plane, a quick "test"....and home for tea
Cheers
Helen