3 Wheel Drive?

[cnics]

Here in the UK (some parts of it anyway) we've had rather alot of snow. It's all relative, but a good 2 feet of the stuff in my village which is not what we're used to.

After getting back yesterday feeling quite ill, i decided to just throw my car onto a pile of snow and deal with it today as i've been ill on and off for a few days now and really didn't have the energy to clear a path.

This morning i came to move my car and i thought i'd give it a go without a shovel first with limited sucess, However, i can't see where the drivers side rear wheel has spun, the other 3 yes, quite apparent where they've tried to move me forwards, but drivers side rear didn't appear to attempt to move. What i did notice is the noise. On first press of the "go pedal" in W 3 (2nd) it starts to spi the front, the traction control has a bit of a go and then one assumes the VC gets warm and spins the back (left hand only) wheel, but at this time a funny clicking noise appears. I can only describe it as a bit of plastic in the spoke of a bike sort of noise, but not THAT loud.

All a bit accademic, the spinning of the left hand read wheel got me down to slush and i used that to reverse out, just wondering if the 2 are related in any way.

Loving the XC in the snowy weather, nothing beat it yet though i am sensible with it.
Digging and using my Mercedes van might be another issue though....

[JRL]

I don't know but if you continue to use "W" mode... you WILL fry the transmission!
NEVER use that and NEVER use that to get out of a snow bank
that's not what it was designed for.
It's for ice traction, it puts a huge strain on the tranny starting in 3rd

[BEJinFBK]

JRL makes a good point.
The W mode is a last ditch traction aid for slick surfaces.
But all it really does is start you in a higher gear to reduce torque.
It won't make a whit of difference getting you unstuck.
For that, you'll need a shovel, winch or a tow.
So don't high center your wagon parking in deep snow
thinking you drive a tank. It's not...

The "spoke" noise its the ABS/TRACS system putting the brakes to a spinning wheel.
It's supposed to do that. Kinda primitive ABS based traction control,
but it does help a little on slick surfaces.

[cnics]

Thankyou for the advice. In fairness i'd not used teh W mode a deal, just for a bit of ice and when i tried then. Luckily i've not needed to use it since. It's good to know it's a "normal" noise.

However i appear to have run into another issue. A couple of times recently (before the snow) i've started the car up (cold) and selected a gear (reverse on i believe every ocassion) and there appears to be very little drive. Having to rev the engine quite a bit to get the vehicle to move, after a few sconds it appears to clear up and it drives fine. It appears to be when the car has been stood for a while.

Rob

[JRL]

Flush your tranny (or at least do a couple of drain and fills).
Also wait a couple of minutes in the cold before engaging a gear, let it warm up a bit

[cnics]

I did actually do this not so long back, it did end up only being 4 drain and refills with a few hundred miles between, i wonder if the level is ok, i've assumed it is having done this so recently. In fairness with this cold weather, 9 times out of 10 i have been letting it tickover for a while before selecting a gear anyway, whilst i scrape ice etc. I learnt some years ago to start the car up before you go to the trouble of scraping all the ice off of it, i learnt this the hard way.