Question about FWD fuse on '95 Legacy

[edrach]

I'm posting this for someone who's had trouble registering and can't post this for himself:

 

You know the FWD switch up front near the

ABS, the one where you put a fuse into the block and it shuts off the AWD?

 

I was asking XXXXX* about this too, and we are both wondering: would it do any damage to use that block to run the car in FWD most of the year, and then switch it to AWD in bad weather? We are guessing that doing so would save gas. How much, we don't know. But what we also don't know is whether using the bypass circuit in the AWD clutch would do any damage. Or, if there would be any other unanticipated effects, such as tire wear.

 

If this would work, it might save (I would guess) perhaps as much as 10% fuel. Can you help me research this on the website? Surely someone has played with this before, and I would sure like to know the effects before ever trying it.

 

Interesting question.

 

*Name X'd out to protect the innocent.

[nipper]

Ok iI would say do a search here (fuel mileage), but its covered so many times, we are running out of .

 

for the umpteenth time IT DOES NOT SAVE GAS! you want gas saving buy a civic.

 

You still have to rotate the rear axles, the rear differential, the drive shaft, and the carrier bearing. Unless your ready to gut the car, it will not save you any gas. That is a lot of mass to rotate.

 

Also why even bother owning a awd car? The AWD works in ALL weather. If you want to find out how well it works, put the fuse in and nail the gas. you will spin the front tires. take the fuse out and you wont spin the tires (thats on dry ground). AWD also stops wheel slip on hard left or right turns.

 

The way that circuit works is that fuse sends a signal to the TCU. The tcu then energizes the Duty C solenoid all the time. The solenoid is designed to cycle on off very fast to vary the AWD as needed. It is possible by keeping it energized all the time you can burn it out. Thats a 200.00 plus repair for a shop to replace.

 

 

Best thing for gas mileage, tires properly inflated, car well maintained, and all the junk out of the trunk of the car. And the biggest advantage is your right foot.

 

nipper

[Manarius]

+1 to what nipper said. We should really sticky something about the FWD fuse.

[edrach]

Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry, since this was for someone else I didn't think to SEARCH for it. My bad. Information is passed on; no point in beating up on this any more.

[idosubaru]

i'll add to this since i have experience. i've done it as emergency repair measures before - bad driveshaft, bad diff...etc. no difference at all.