today we went around the neighborhood doing brake tests as per tsm. we likely have to replace the pads and it is possible that the rear ones may not be fully functional. however, that wasn't the highlight of the day.
we have a fairly steep and long driveway which leads up to a flat area. whenever we go up that driveway, the engine revs and we go up very slowly almost as though there isn't much power. because we tried the clutch test earlier (going up starting in 3rd gear) which shut the engine off like it is supposed to, we figured there was no clutch slippage. today, though as we tried to go up the driveway, the engine seemed to be noisier than usual.
i decided we'd give it another try to see if we could get some idea of what the problem might be. i backed down the driveway and tried to go up again, but there was no motion - the engine just revved in midair. i tried 1st, 2nd and even 3rd gear, but there was nothing - the engine didn't even die! oh dear, this is feeling like clutch slippage.
we were forced to back out on to the very slightly sloping road, but i couldn't even move up that road in reverse - i was hoping that if we could get to the top of the slope, we might be able to pick up enough momentum to get back onto our property at least.
kyron bravely headed under the car on soaked ground to examine the clutch, but it was all fine. we were wondering if the throwout lever wasn't returning sufficiently, but that didn't make any sense since it had been working just fine for the past couple of days. however, we couldn't move up the hill and could just move down it thanks to gravity.
so i told kyron to tell ranjana to call the bcaa to tow us back up the driveway.
while waiting, i thought i'd try the 4wd setting. i know it didn't make the slightest sense, but when you have no logical options left, you figure on trying one that isn't so logical ... like may be if the clutch gets 4 wheels to work on we can move a bit more than when there are only 2 going.
i put it into 4wd and expected nothing different, but i sure got something different! the car move strongly and with some creaking (probably due to the front wheels not receiving power for so long). i backed up the hill and then went into first gear and drove right up our driveway like we'd never done before - no engine revving in midair and with total power!
i rushed in to tell them to cancel bcaa and then went up a small incline in 2wd, then back down the driveway again just to make sure i hadn't been dreaming all this.
no problems at all!
the only explanation we can come up with, not having studied the transfer case for 2wd/4wd in detail, is that we were somehow hanging in limbo and that things weren't fully engaged. this may be why we could move while on the road, but the engine revved when going up a steep incline.
is it possible not be fully engaged in 2wd (or 4wd), but only partially so?
Topic: the flight of kiyreagle (Read 53084 times)