Snow and Ice Performance/VSC Disable (3 Viewers)

[Augie]

Disabling the ABS/VSC/TRAC is quite easy. It's the ability to enable and disable at any time without restarting the engine is the one I am aiming for.

If you don't mind restarting you could do this by unplugging brake fluid level sensor and plug it back. In. You do not even need to keep it unplugged. So when you need to re-enable just restart the engine.

 

[joabmc]

I’m in the same boat. Want a switch/button that I can control VSC as well as a separate for the ATRAC.
Was doing a side by comparison on electrical diagrams today of the GX and FJC. Need to see if the GX has an unused connector that can be utilized for ATRAC though.
FJC

GX

 

[DRANGED]

If you lock the transfer case, the VSC Off light comes on. Not sure if that turns it completely off, but that's what I've done the couple times we've had heavy snow in western PA this winter. Haven't had any issues on my stock all-season tires.

I was disappointed that there's no dedicated VCS Off button like I had in my Tacoma (turned off all the nannies if you held it in for ~5 seconds). Makes it harder to have fun in the snow.

Ditto.

I'd prefer to drive AWD over 4WD in snow but I'm not quite ready to hack into native wiring splices just yet...

 

[CO_Hunter]

Back to GX wiring. I found the 18 pin Blue IB2 connetor right on the kick panel. Its slighty lower than the one shown in FJ video above.

I need to try grounding Pin 7 to ground. This at least would disable VSC the same as locking the center diff without actualy locking the center diff. Pin 1 also goes to the instrument panel and might need to be cut to prevent confusing the center diff locked indicator.

All is untested to no guarantee it would work or not. Use at you own risk.

I was wondering if you or anyone else has tried the Pin 7 grounding test?

 

[CO_Hunter]

Got it, I think. Thanks to @Bluetribal for sending the wiring diagram.




The VSC light comes by grounding pin 7 described above. The CDL light comes on and locks with pin 7 grounded. However, to disengage CDL, you need need to remove the ground.

This was just a preliminary test by inserting a probe into the connector and grounding. I wonder if removing pin 7 and grounding the ecu would solve the disengage issue? I ran out of time testing.

I still need to verify the VSC is indeed off. It may be a week before I can’t go up the canyon and get off in some steep enough dirt roads to generated some tire slip.

Seems promising.

 

[CO_Hunter]

 

[subspd]

Do tell more @CO_Hunter

 

[NMBruce]

Got it, I think. Thanks to @Bluetribal for sending the wiring diagram.




The VSC light comes by grounding pin 7 described above. The CDL light comes on and locks with pin 7 grounded. However, to disengage CDL, you need need to remove the ground.

This was just a preliminary test by inserting a probe into the connector and grounding. I wonder if removing pin 7 and grounding the ecu would solve the disengage issue? I ran out of time testing.

I still need to verify the VSC is indeed off. It may be a week before I can’t go up the canyon and get off in some steep enough dirt roads to generated some tire slip.

Seems promising.

I would like to do this just for driving in the mountains and slowing my rear brakes pads from wearing so fast

 

[CO_Hunter]

I have been traveling for work a lot the past 2 weeks so progress has been slow.

It was a real pain for me to get the pin out of the connector but finally got it. Once you get the trick it is quite easy, but back to results.

Disconnecting pin 7 causes the VSC TRAC, VSC OFF, and Slip indicator lights to all come on and stay on. Returning continuity does not make the lights go out, you must cycle on/off for all those light to go out. The VSC TRAC light being on constant indicates potential problems somewhere in the following systems:

VSC
Active Traction control
Daownhill assist
Hill-start assist

I think what I found was that by pulling pin 7, it may disable all the nannies. Need to confirm with dirt testing, but if so, a 3 position switch could be the ticket here.

 

[CO_Hunter]

It all works. It took me a bit of time due to getting rain and firming up some dirt roads in the area followed by road grading that removed some washboards. Only time I ever missed them!

Disconnecting pin 7 does disable ATRAC, evidence by when disconnected the tire spin threw dirt into the passenger window You do need one key cycle to reset the error codes and turnoff the dash lights. Not a big deal in my opinion.

Grounding the ECU side of pin 7 turns off VSC. Reconnecting to normal turns off VSC light. This configuration was the hardest one to test without snow. Tested it on the gravel Antero access road. Good excuse to get in some great fishing. Got consistent VSC kicking in on a repeated test section. Then disabled it and got some really good fishtailing action on the same test sections

A simple 3 way switch/single pole double throw will work. You could get get fancy and use two switches and relay scheme or even a solid state device but I will keep it simple for now. I did toy with making a kit but think the market would be small and it really is pretty straight forward.

 

[NMBruce]

Nice. I will need to look into doing this come this fall or winter

 

[Bluetribal]

@CO_Hunter isn’t that ABS on gravel just driving you nuts now? I think you should work on that one next.

 

[Don65GX]

Amazing hack. Thank you for the research.

 

[Arailt]

It all works. It took me a bit of time due to getting rain and firming up some dirt roads in the area followed by road grading that removed some washboards. Only time I ever missed them!

Disconnecting pin 7 does disable ATRAC, evidence by when disconnected the tire spin threw dirt into the passenger window You do need one key cycle to reset the error codes and turnoff the dash lights. Not a big deal in my opinion.

Grounding the ECU side of pin 7 turns off VSC. Reconnecting to normal turns off VSC light. This configuration was the hardest one to test without snow. Tested it on the gravel Antero access road. Good excuse to get in some great fishing. Got consistent VSC kicking in on a repeated test section. Then disabled it and got some really good fishtailing action on the same test sections

A simple 3 way switch/single pole double throw will work. You could get get fancy and use two switches and relay scheme or even a solid state device but I will keep it simple for now. I did toy with making a kit but think the market would be small and it really is pretty straight forward.

This is awesome news! Do you happen to have any pictures or a write up for the less electrically enclined like me?

 

[Jstawgn]

This is awesome. I been tie up with other project and haven't got time to work on this.

Now we need figure out KDSS disable switch also.

 

[CO_Hunter]

First of all, I want to thank Cringe, Augie and others in this thread for the preliminary work. The connector is located behind the drivers kick panel and is shown below.

This picture below shows the connector taken apart and the location of pin 7 partially removed. Note that there are 2 green with white stripe wires, the other is pin 1 and goes to the instrument cluster. I removed the pin for testing purposes. You can either cut it or use clips to make the necessary connections for this mod. For the remainder of the description I will refer to the part of the terminal that remains in place as the ECU side. The part in your hand is the CDL side.

I used a single pole double throw switch (SPDT). Search and you will find a bunch of them everywhere. They may be described as a ON-OFF-ON switch. If you see it described like this (ON) it likely means it is a momentary switch and you do not want that. The one I got just happened to be one of the first that came up on a Google search. You can find it on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TQMU5C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


The center switch position is OFF, meaning there will be an open circuit and all Nannies will be off and an error code will be given to the computer. It will require moving the switch to one of the ON positions and one key cycle to clear the code. Both the ON switch positions will either be up or down relative to the center position. Depending on how you wire it one ON position will be what I will call “Normal” mode and the other ON position will be VSC off. The pin 7 wire that goes to the ECU will be the one you attach to the center lug on the back of the switch, this is the connection that matters the most. Connect a good ground to one of the end lugs and connect the CDL side of pin 7 wire to the other end lug. What this does is when you switch to one of the ON positions it closes a circuit to either the CDL side for “Normal” mode or to the Ground and turns off the VSC by sending that ground to the ECU.

The video shows the switch function with key “on” and the engine is not running so that is why the CEL and other lights are on.



Edit:
In summary and to answer a couple of questions-

This is a three position switch. On my application, push the switch in on the top (single dash) closes the circuit from CDL to the ECU for normal mode. Push the switch in on the bottom (double dash) closes the circuit from ground to the ECU for VSC off mode. Center position is an open circuit causing an error for all Nanny off. To go from normal to VSC off do not pause in the middle, go straight through if that makes sense. You have about 1 second for an open condition before the error codes will get thrown and you will be in all Nanny off mode. It sounds like a short time period but it is actually well within how one would normally flip a switch.

My mod was performed on a 2006. Please use a multi-meter to test your switch function before installing. Just as with any mod here on MUD, use at your own risk.

 

[CO_Hunter]

@CO_Hunter isn’t that ABS on gravel just driving you nuts now? I think you should work on that one next.

This is awesome. I been tie up with other project and haven't got time to work on this.

Now we need figure out KDSS disable switch also.

I’ll leave the ABS and KDSS hacks to others, why should I have all the fun...

Actually, I have no KDSS, so its simple for me

 

[joabmc]

Nice work and thanks for documenting!

 

[Bluetribal]

I’ll leave the ABS and KDSS hacks to others, why should I have all the fun...

Actually, I have no KDSS, so its simple for me

It was worth a try

 

[Arailt]

Thank you @CO_Hunter!