|
Posted by Piper on May 3, 2007, 8:40 am
Please log in for more thread options
wrote:
>Tom:
> The Prius can be really terrible in snow and mud. You do not want to get
>the front wheels mired in. I had an unfortunate encounter in February with
>a terrible muddy, rutted road in New Hampshire with my 2006 Prius. I almost
>got really stuck, but I did finally manage to back the car out of the muddy
>area. The Prius reacts to being immersed in mud in an unusual and not
>desirable way. When the wheels were really mired deep in mud, the car simply
>refused to put out power going forward. Really, the ICE would not rev up at
>all. With the gas pedal floored, the ICE was barely at idle; it would not
>propel the car at all. It was not that the wheels were spinning and the car
>would not move, the problem was that the car would not put out enough power
>to even spin the wheels. However, going backward, which is done solely on
>electric power, the car would put out enough power to spin the wheels, and I
>could modulate power off and on so as to rock the car and get it moving. I
>was able to back the car through muddy areas that the car would not go
>through in the forward direction. I got out of this awful mess by backing up
>for about 1/4 mile.
>
>This was one trip that I wish I had taken in my Camry instead of my Prius.
>
>Two possibilities.
> Possibility One: if you need really maximum torque from the ICE delivered
>to the PSD Planet-Carrier, then MG-1 is overwhelmed, and cannot put out
>enough counter-torque through the Sun-Gear to allow this high torque to be
>delivered to the Planet-Carrier, and so the computer throttles back the ICE.
>
> Possibility Two: The Traction-Control algorithm senses that you are trying
>to spin the front wheels faster than the rear wheels and the computer says
>"No, you can't do that." and so it shuts down the ICE power.
>
>P.S - After I was out of this mess, everything worked perfectly normal.
>And - Wow, did the car ever need that wash of hot, pressure-spray of soapy
>water sprayed all over the undercarriage, wheels, engine and brakes.
>
>Dick
Wow! Thanks for posting this, Dick. Would have never thought about
it until, like you, got stuck.
-
Piper
Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap