How does the 2004 Vue V6 AWD work?

I assume that the Honda V6 that is in the 2004 is also mated to a Hondo 5
speed transmission. If so does the AWD work the same as in the Honda Pilot.
The advertising for the Honda Pilot AWD system is very informative but with
the 2004 Vue with the V6 they hardly mention any of the technical aspects of
the AWD system.

I did an experiment with my 2004 Saturn Vue with the V6. I drove and
stopped the car off the road so that the left front and rear tires were on
the pavement and the right were on the sand on the shoulder of the road. I
then did a hard acceleration from a stop and what happened surprised me. I
was expecting the right front tire that was in the sand to spin and then
hear a clunk as the rear differential kicked in but instead I herd the left
front tire that was on the pavement burn a small patch of rubber and then
herd a clunk as the rear differential kicked in. This almost sound like the
front differential is what the call in the off road Four wheel drive systems
a 'Locker differential. Does anybody know how the system works? Just
curious.

--
Rusty Shackleford

'What ever happens, happens necessarily'



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This is where a lot of people get it wrong. There are no lockers for
any cars/suv's for the front wheels. If there were the wheel would get
jerked from your hands everytime you tried to make a turn and the locker
would eventually break. The front wheels need to turn at different
rates. I doubt their is even a locker for the rear diff. The entire
system uses "traction control". It uses the abs control module to apply
brakes to the slipping wheels causing the power to shift to the other
wheel. GM has been using this system for years. The Bravada had
intelligent awd traction control longer than most anything if not
everything out there.

 

Well that very interesting. Now I can understand why it acted the way it
did when I started with the right wheels in sand. They do have lockers as I
had one installed in my rear differential in my 1984 CJ7 jeep. The locker
system only has a ring and pinion gear and then it uses roller bearings that
ride inside two separate (for each shaft) barrels. The way it works is that
when power is applied the roller bearings lock up into the barrel shaft and
then only the wheel turning the slowest gets the power. In sand both wheels
will lock up in that situation but when turning the wheel spinning the
fastest will spin free. It works exactly opposite the way a normal
differential works except it does have the ability to lock both wheels up in
certain situations. The only drawback I noticed was that when you were
making sharp slow turns the engine had to work harder.

I live in the desert and the shoulder of the road in some places have deep
sand. I wonder how the AWD Vue would handle that with all four wheels in
the sand with its system. My CJ7 would pull out of it with no problem but I
am not going to put the VUE to the test as I think there is a possibility I
would get stuck.

--
Rusty Shackleford

'What ever happens, happens necessarily'



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Not very well in the sand I bet. I'm trying to confirm it but it suppose to
have 90-10 to back. No locker on back like there was in my 2001 Outback.
Not finding much on the details of the AWD. I'm wondering what they did to
the AWD to get the new Honda trans/diff into the old AWD. I'm guessing just
different housing mount but that usually means more and different parts
inside the AWD system.
The Ford Excape has a similar system BUT a button that you can choose normal
and AWD when in snow and rain.