Strange thing happened on the way to work this morning.
It was about 5:45 am and I was coming down the Gateway and the rain was extremely heavy, i.e. my wipers were on max and I was getting slight loss of traction occassionally at 100kph.
The engine started to make a slight "growly" sound and wouldn't accelerate so I dropped speed to 80 where it was OK. A little further on in very heavy rain again it did the same thing.
After I turned off to Bris Airport it was fine and in the work carpark it was normal and idling fine.

I'm just wondering whether -
1. TCL was operating due to loss of traction in the conditions; there was a hell of a lot of water on the road. I have 245/45 tyres so that would exacerbate traction/aquaplaning problems, or

2. I've cut away the intake rubber under the bonnet so maybe the intake was getting a lot of water and interfering with the 02 sensor and mixture?

I might pull the intake box apart when I get home this afternoon and check it out.

when it flooded the princess hwy late last year i had to ford 40cm of water and the traction control kept kicking in, but when it does the orange light flashes on the dash. so if it was the traction control the light would flash.

Strange thing happened on the way to work this morning.
It was about 5:45 am and I was coming down the Gateway and the rain was extremely heavy, i.e. my wipers were on max and I was getting slight loss of traction occassionally at 100kph.

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the 2 bold bits put together = stupidity

the 2 bold bits put together = stupidity
Thats depends on weather you were late for work or not... :D

Anyway, I reckon that was just the T/C having the occasional chuff as they do in 380's... Nothing to worry about. I take it the light was flickering big time?

Strange thing happened on the way to work this morning.
It was about 5:45 am and I was coming down the Gateway and the rain was extremely heavy, i.e. my wipers were on max and I was getting slight loss of traction occassionally at 100kph.
The engine started to make a slight "growly" sound and wouldn't accelerate so I dropped speed to 80 where it was OK. A little further on in very heavy rain again it did the same thing.
After I turned off to Bris Airport it was fine and in the work carpark it was normal and idling fine.

I'm just wondering whether -
1. TCL was operating due to loss of traction in the conditions; there was a hell of a lot of water on the road. I have 245/45 tyres so that would exacerbate traction/aquaplaning problems, or

2. I've cut away the intake rubber under the bonnet so maybe the intake was getting a lot of water and interfering with the 02 sensor and mixture?

I might pull the intake box apart when I get home this afternoon and check it out.

02 sensor wont be affected cause it's sealed and the water would be burnt anyway.

Turn the TCL off next time

02 sensor wont be affected cause it's sealed and the water would be burnt anyway.

Yeah, your right. The K&N filter should keep the water out unless the water was blocking a lot of air getting in.


Turn the TCL off next time

I think it probably saved me from aquaplaning off the road - although I don't remember the TCL light coming on as TJ Sports suggested. That might be because I was staring pretty hard ahead.


the 2 bold bits put together = stupidity

So you were there, were you, in the car behind?
I did actually slow down to 80 and then 60. I've also had my licence for 29 years but had only 1 significant accident in 1984.
The conditions were intermittent heavy rain so that means the rain came in waves; easily catching out anyone who slows down then speeds up when conditions improve :roll:

when it flooded the princess hwy late last year i had to ford 40cm of water and the traction control kept kicking in, but when it does the orange light flashes on the dash. so if it was the traction control the light would flash.

i would have thought that more of a fault. When traction is off the orange light is on. When traction control is on there is no light but when active the green light flashes on actuating. not as easy to see when you have a wall of water your concentrating on. I would think it was that.( or did they change the colour of lights around on the 380?)

the 2 bold bits put together = stupidity
cos being in bed like 2000km's away gives you a great idea of the situation at hand, good call dude, its been pretty crazy heavy storms in bis lately tho, drove through one yesterday arvo

i would have thought that more of a fault. When traction is off the orange light is on. When traction control is on there is no light but when active the green light flashes on actuating. not as easy to see when you have a wall of water your concentrating on. I would think it was that.( or did they change the colour of lights around on the 380?)

have u even driven a 380? theres 2 lights on the 380 a pic of a car and skids and a TCL off light and both are orange and both lite up and stay lit if theres a fault but the car with skids blinks if its activated but the TCL off light stays on when TCL is off.

Just to finish up this thread before I get flamed for any more irresponsible driving :P , I got home this arvo and the car was fine, even under heavy throttle.
EDIT: Checked the airbox and no sign of water ingestion.

But just wanted to make the point that I believe the TCL assisted quite a bit in the conditions. Normally I don't feel it intervene so I spose it was a surprise. It certainly made sure I didn't go any faster than the grip available.

Just to finish up this thread before I get flamed for any more irresponsible driving :P , I got home this arvo and the car was fine, even under heavy throttle.

But just wanted to make the point that I believe the TCL assisted quite a bit in the conditions. Normally I don't feel it intervene so I spose it was a surprise. It certainly made sure I didn't go any faster than the grip available.
Good to hear all is now well. I was a little concerned as I too have removed the rubber seal in front of the intake and was starting to think perhaps it should go back....as it would appear it was the traction control doing its thing, I'll leave things as is.

Iam little late on this post but something similar has happend to me on my way back from north queensland 2nd week in jan. As i left airlie beach it started to bucket down and i had a really heavy car, 2 adults,full boot, rear seat full and towing my jetski. My traction control was kicking in at 100 as well so i slowed down to 80 it was working overtime! guess the 245/35 tyres and heavy rain dont mix. didnt have any idle problems though?

Hmmm, this must be a traction control thing - cos mine doesn't have it. And I have driven in HEAVY HEAVY rain a few times (the day I got muffler fitted, I drove with wipers on full speed and they were doing nothing!) and I have not experienced this sound/sympton.

Mmm .. that's very interesting. The stock tyres ain't too flash so there are times that I find them losing traction in the rain. I've even aquaplaned a few times, and they weren't happy experiences.

Those experiences have caused me to question if my traction control even work at all as I've felt no difference to the car engine and seen no such flashing lights. Unlike the ford falcon/territory, when I skid I can feel the shudder of the wheels attempting to regain traction and see the flashing lights come on.

Definitely something to note for my next service.

Mmm .. that's very interesting. The stock tyres ain't too flash so there are times that I find them losing traction in the rain. I've even aquaplaned a few times, and they weren't happy experiences.

Those experiences have caused me to question if my traction control even work at all as I've felt no difference to the car engine and seen no such flashing lights. Unlike the ford falcon/territory, when I skid I can feel the shudder of the wheels attempting to regain traction and see the flashing lights come on.

Definitely something to note for my next service.


Did the fords have stability control (ESP)? Different systems, they will try and correct a slide while traction control can only stop wheel spin.

Did the fords have stability control (ESP)? Different systems, they will try and correct a slide while traction control can only stop wheel spin.
dunno bout fords but i know a vz acclaim does

Definitely wasn't esp. I tried taking off quickly on a gravel driveway to induce the traction control and same thing happened. Got the shuddering effect. No sideways action there, so no esp. And I'm fairly certain the territory doesn't have esp anyway.

I got this again yesterday morning.

It was again very heavy rain and happened as water splashed up under the car. The TCL light didn't come on and the engine lost power and souded like it was misfiring:(
It lasted for approx 10 secs and then cleared itself. It took me another 40 mins to get home and no other instance of it occurred.

When I got it home I checked the engine bay and found no water around the coil packs or injectors and no water on the intake plenum :doubt:

It was definitely being affected by water, just not sure how. My engine cover is removed and not sure whether this has contributed.