Guys,
It rained today and I got on my pony a bit and the rear end broke loose which caused the traction control lights to light up. When it lit up the engine starting cutting out. Is this by design?

 

yep TCS uses throttle and brake to control the spin..... so throttle becomes erratic......

 

Actually.. I think the ABS kicks in too. This is normal. It does that so the tire doesn't keep spinning. Interestingly, mine seems to kick in late on slippery surfaces (allowing some spin) and early on dry surfaces:

..... in the rain the other day.. I had some fun and really got on it with the traction control turned off. The funny thing (and fun) is.. the back end kicked to the right going into each gear.. up to 4th. That is.. the tires spun enough to fishtail while going straight.

What annoys me.. and I don't know if this is normal.. when I leave it on and it's dry.. it goes off all the time going into 2nd gear.. I am usually accelerating.. but not that quickly.. and I doubt the tires are wanting to spin that badly.

 

So the engine is supposed to cut out?

 

Yeh. Theres a button that says TCS you can use to turn it off. I usually try to turn it off unless I am worried I might get on it too much (ie slippery conditions + traffic or a small road) If nothing is around its rather fun to fishtail

 

I know all to well about turning it off and 99% of the time I keep it off but wanted to see what happened when TC was on. I just didn't expect the engine to cut out.

 

The same exact thing happens in my Chevy Colorado. So I guess it's standard.. at least in "American" cars.

 

It was drizzling this weekend and I was fishtailing around a couple corners just fine then took another corner and lost it!!! Spunn all the way around and slammed into the center divider!!! My rim is smoked! I have a crack about 6 inches long and about a half inch wide... I'm lucky no one else was on the road or in the car for that matter... The funny thing is I had TCS on the whole time! I think it's a false sense of security...That and I think I need to practice that kind of driving.

 

Ford let a little slip get by.. since this is a performance car.
And... yes.. do practice..... just do it in a parking lot.

M.