2nd gear start pins

[Crazy K]

ditto!

[Guest Anonymous]

I find it to be a useless option. I've turned it on and it didnt help any. All it does is start the car in second gear. So if you're smart enough to park the car on packed snow and ice, MAYBE, maybe you'll get .001% better results trying to get off. Its not like your getting LSD or anything spectacular.

[birdman]

still may be helpful and its kinda cool to have, and it costs what? 1.50 for a piece of wire and a switch.

[Guest Anonymous]

The other thing is that it doesnt help while driving, its stricktly for when you parked on snow/ice. It also sucks when its on and you accelerate on the road, becuase it leaves the car in 2nd gear.

[GP1138]

The other thing is that it doesnt help while driving, its stricktly for when you parked on snow/ice.

 

It's not strictly for that. I usually leave it on constantly if I'm in an unplowed neighbourhood. It helps a lot, less torque = easier to get moving.

[Guest Anonymous]

Personally, i think its useless and your wasting your time trying to rig it up, but if its what you want, go for it.

[Crazy K]

Well, I personally think it's useless to own/have a ______. it will invariably break down someday and be junk or outdated, why bother?

fill it in:

car, cd player, tape deck, 8 track player, power windows, manual windows, transmision, engine, alternator, girlfriend.......

 

92PettyEdition, the point you miss is that it would be cool to have. I could just install the GP switch in my car but making it functional would be awesome! It might not really be useful, but it could be.

 

(BTW some dolt in a 2door regal was just spinning his tires trying to navigate the parking lot. If it had 2nd gear start it might be ok in spite of the fact that he wants it to inch forward by hard revving it. When he wanted to move it further, he punched the gas harder. typical can't drive in snow person.)

btw about traction control? what cars actually had it?

[1990lumina]

The "winter mode" on my dad's Volvo works guite well. I believe it starts out in second, or third depending on slippage. If you put it into manumatic mode you can get off the line starting in third if you want to.

 

As for me, I just hammer the shifter down into 1st...gas it as needed to get going. In ice second gear start would be good I could see...in snow I just keep the revs high (3000 range) in 1st lock out so it doesn't shift and yeah, my car was the only one to make it out of the crescent last year one morning without getting suck.

[Crazy K]

unfortunatly this second gear start only aplies to 4t60-e trannies. I have two regular 4t60's in my fleet. no helping them. So any of you with a pre-93 wbody with a 3.1 are out of luck, like me. (but I still have the 95 and my bro's 94, and my parents 95 ciera, which also has an E tranny)

[birdman]

what would be the best way to actually get the wire into the connector without it being ghetto rigged? splice it mabey???

[Crazy K]

is there already a wire in that socket?

[birdman]

dont know, if not it would be easier tho.

[Crazy K]

just de-pin a j/y harness pin and plug in and wire if it's that easy. I suspect that it may have the wire aready but it probably terminates at the firewall connector.

[pwmin]

im not sure when it was started, but my 96 has some sort of primitive traction control, but it doesnt work like the 97+ gp's and you cant turn it off. i can still spin the tires off the line (well only at the track, lol) and in winter, but it will kick the abs in sometimes. its weird. mine also has the 2nd gear start. its not useless but its def not necessary, less necessary than abs imo.

 

if i remember and you dont have it by next weekend, i can check the diagrams on alldata.

[Crazy K]

im not sure when it was started, but my 96 has some sort of primitive traction control, but it doesnt work like the 97+ gp's and you cant turn it off. i can still spin the tires off the line (well only at the track, lol) and in winter, but it will kick the abs in sometimes. its weird. mine also has the 2nd gear start. its not useless but its def not necessary, less necessary than abs imo.

 

Do you mean it activates the brakes to stop a wheel that has lost traction?

I've heard that something like a 93 caddy with traction control cuts the line pressure (or something) in the transmission, momentarily rendering the vehicle to stop wheel spin.

 

I've seen second gear start on 94's and 95's, btw (anyone know when they started and stopped?)

[Guest Anonymous]

second gear start was available on 91-96 Grand Prixs with the 4T60-E. in 91-3 It was only on 3.4 cars. I'm not sure if any other cars got it. Its always been optional equipment but standard with the 3.4

[pwmin]

i notice it mostly when im pulling in somewhere and go over a dip and the tires slip a little and it kicks in the abs and the lo trac light comes on. i forget exactly. i had to fix the wire that goes to the ps pump sensor cause the abs wasnt working and subsequently i couldnt read abs codes. also from looking at the wiring diagrams, it has some sort of traction control too. my riv would stop the tires from spinning off the line when it was turned on. ive never seen any 97+ with 2nd gear start. it was probably 94-96.

[chadz34]

2nd gear start is useless

 

 

if you can't get a fwd car going in snow without 2nd gear start, you're a dumbass

u truly are a fucktard

Sometimes it's hard to get going, especially on ice. Depends where you live and the conditions. Some people need to drive through country sides to get to town.

[Crazy K]

i notice it mostly when im pulling in somewhere and go over a dip and the tires slip a little and it kicks in the abs and the lo trac light comes on.

I think on these cars, the ABS is always aware, and will trigger if it detects tires moving at different speeds from each other while rolling over an obstical even if the brakes aren't applied. (I think, it happened to me once) Otherwise if the pedal has to be pressed, then doing so just slightly will have the same effect, as the ABS doesn't care if you're really slamming the brakes or just barely touching them to activate. Either way it just detects a sudden chage of tire speed by comparing the tires to each other.

 

I'm almost tempted to lift a car off the ground and experiment spinning the tires without and with the pedal pressed(lightly) to see the results.

[pwmin]

ill have to look at the schematics again, but i know its there and different from other abs cars ive had.

[digitaloutsider]

Totally and utterly wrong.

 

It has absolutely nothing to do with the ABS being "aware". It only affects 96+ cars, and it's in the OBD-II coding. It's torque management. It's there so you don't shread your differential apart. 97+ GTP guys know about this all too well.

[Guest Anonymous]

I was going to say, my 95 never had anything like that. It had ABS and 2nd Gear start.

[GP1138]

I was going to say, my 95 never had anything like that. It had ABS and 2nd Gear start.

 

Same here.

[pwmin]

Totally and utterly wrong.

 

It has absolutely nothing to do with the ABS being "aware". It only affects 96+ cars, and it's in the OBD-II coding. It's torque management. It's there so you don't shread your differential apart. 97+ GTP guys know about this all too well.

 

 

hah, i knew it was different! in the immortal words of cartman; suck on that!

[PeNZ]

2nd gear start rules, I use it all the time in the winter, helps out a lot. Its kinda weird having a green light lit up on the gauges tho.