TheQuietRioter

I own a 2002 GT (automatic) Rag Top. I believe something may be wrong with the traction crontrol function.
When I punch the gas I always hear a high pitch squeal in the rear when the T/C is on. This sound only occurs when it shifts into second. When the T/C is off everything sounds fine.

I was curious to know if this was a common occurance? I have only owned one other Mustang and it was a '92 5.0 manual, so I am not used to all this new "safety stuff" on the Stang's now.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what it may be, and if so is this something that can be fixed in the comfort of my own driveway vs. taking it to the dealership and paying through the nose...? I do have a warranty on the car, but I need to double check the fine print before I take it in. I have not modified my car yet so everything is still original with only 22,000 miles.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

rbstang

well the way traction control works is. It uses speed sensors to measure each wheel and if one is different then the other the brakes are applied to slow down that wheel so both wheels are the spinning at the same rate. It could be your rear brakes squealing. When traction control is off it bypasses those sensors allowning you to burn out and squeal your tires going around turns at high speeds and crap like that. I would look at your rear brakes maybe the pads are rubbing. if not then there probably something wrong in your diff.

TheQuietRioter

I had a friend of mine look at the breaks and he said, "They are fine."

ShadowDrake

Misinformation [:@]

The traction control uses the rear ABS sensors to detect wheelspin (the rear ABS sensors are essentially a magnet right next to a gear which is also magnetized... it produces an electrical current and, if everything is normal, it should be a perfect sine wave that scales with speed... when the wave is interrupted, there must be wheelspin, or the wheel must have locked up! Now you know how it works ). When minor spin is detected, it'll apply the rear brakes the same way the ABS does to help stop the spin... if this doesn't help, or it decides the spin is really bad it will also pull back the engine timing to reduce torque and use a little bit more aggressive braking... that's as far as it goes. Once the spin has stopped, if the timing was pulled back, it will return to normal after about two seconds.

Turning it off does NOT make it turn off the rear ABS sensors... that would be dangerous. It just stops the ECU from running through the steps to stop wheelspin.

I can't be sure on the sound, but brakes is a VERY good guess because that's the only difference from when the TC is on and you spin, compared to when it is off. Check to see if your pads still have plenty of life, they may be worn down (brake stands, anyone?).