Won't move

[trev260764]

Got a problem. I took (or tried) to go somewhere in the S2 yesterday - the first time in the ice and snow - and I have a problem. The car starts OK, all the gears seem OK (including reverse), the wheels spin round (just the back ones), but the car does not move. Anywhere.

Anyone else experienced such problems?

 

[Mark_Bennett]

That's a strange one - the front wheels don't move?

How about tying a piece of string around one spoke on each back wheel, and the other end around the corresponding spoke on the front wheel... That should get the front ones moving []

 

[dereksharpuk]

I know someone who has a few reindeer for hire after Dec 25th. They could pull your 944! []

 

[pauljmcnulty]

the wheels spin round (just the back ones), but the car does not move. Anywhere.

If you turn the steering and then try you might make some progress, albeit in circles. Only try this if there is enough space for it to go wrong.

I took the Subaru. No problems at all. []

 

[trev260764]

I had 4 Impreza's. I knew I shouldn't have sold em!

 

[944 man]

I had this problem in February. I solved it by removing the 9" rear wheels and replacing them with 6" wheels with narrow tyres... I then added three large bags of sand to the rear load area.

 

[steves944]

What you need is a strong cup of tea, wrap up well, start the car and engage reverse gear .

Then slowly release the clutch - whilst getting the missus to push heavily on the bonnet in a rearward direction but at all times making sure she does no damage to the paintwork or surrounding body panels - works for me!

 

[Gavin944s2]

leave it , with its low projectile tyres ...& get in a 4x4 deisel, more MPG , better for climiate schi7..& lets face it..it just aint porsche weather , is it !! []

 

[TheFiend]

Went into work this morning and it put about 2" of snow down after 7......

When it was break time went out and had some good RWD fun in the snow on the empty car park..... []

Unfortunately by the end of shift the roads had been gritted and were clear []

 

[zcacogp]

This won't be the first time you have experienced this, is it Trev? I find the power of the mighty S2 causes this to happen a lot, and huge delicacy with the right foot is required.

(Turbo owners often talk about traction problems in first and second but that's just not the same. Like Pepsi. Us S2 owners know the real thing! [] )


Oli.

 

[944Turbo]

With some experimentation in a snow filled layby I have discovered the Audi traction control gives up at about 3,000 rpm and it spins all 4 wheels merrily (you can turn it fully off anyway) I also discovered it goes quite controllably sideways on the ABS with traction and stability engaged
Tony

 

[nicholaswgmay]

I would reccomend perseverance get it to an empty car park for some ice doughnuts!!! The only thing to do in this weather.

 

[mik_ok]

I've been having some great fun with the scoob today [8D]

Needs a healthy prod of the right pedal to get the rear diff locked up and avoid terminal understeer, but once you've done so it's possible to do some lovely drifts. Gritters have been a bit lax today so I've been leaving every possible roundabout with a tail-out-15to20degrees 4-wheel drift. Shmashin.[]

 

[appletonn]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

This won't be the first time you have experienced this, is it Trev? I find the power of the mighty S2 causes this to happen a lot, and huge delicacy with the right foot is required.

(Turbo owners often talk about traction problems in first and second but that's just not the same. Like Pepsi. Us S2 owners know the real thing! [] )


Oli.

Gee, those omnipotent S2s must be undriveable in these conditions, and uncatchable in the dry...?!


...perhaps in a parallel universe, eh Oli?!!

 

[ukmastiff]

I hate to be remotely serious here [].. and will try to avoid it until next year... but exactly the same thing happened to me and at least one other 944 owner I know who uses the forum. I was very suprised that the 944 has quite such bad traction in the snow and indeed it does. I have a Volvo S60 and a V70 estate and both can come and go from my drive allbe it track, at the mo. However the 944 will not budge, no matter how carefully you press the throttle. It's a good job I'm quite happy to keep her in the garage for a few weeks. Must run that engine/battery up frequently though.

Clearly the combination of engine at the front driving wheels at the back may be great for ' balanced handling ' but it has its disadvantage and a few of us have just found it [8|]

Cheers Mas

 

[Eiger]

I also found it impossible to climb the small incline outside my place yesterday - the car actually slid back down the hill and I had to park it on the pavement and then clear a double-track in the ice back to my driveway with a pitchfork! It wasn't till 2 neighbours hung off the back that I got any traction. My 911 Carrera owning neighbour didn't even venture out after seeing me with the pitchfork in the street. Made for some nice burnouts tho...

 

[zcacogp]

Being serious for a while (yes Nick, it happens very occasionally!), I did about 140 miles in the thick snow we had here about 10 months ago, in my S2. That was one of the worst downfalls I have seen for a long while, and I got from East to North London, up to Milton Keynes, and back home without incident. I was surprised how well the car coped, particularly as the roads were not cleared and I was driving on compacted snow for a lot of that (motorways excepted.) I guess I was expecting it to be hard work (harder than a similar journey in the VW Golfs I was used to), and it was, but it was quite possible.

It had some nearly-new tyres on, all 'round, which almost certainly helped. Delicacy with the throttle was key, along with tricks such as starting off in second gear and being very gentle with the clutch and brakes.


Oli.

 

[appletonn]

I think the ideal would be some Winter tyres, like our European cousins insist on.

We only had a little snow, albeit over frozen wet roads yesterday and my boring daily car (58 plate Audi A4 TDI & fwd) was absolutely useless in gaining traction, despite the ship anchor under the bonnet....[8|]

Every year I think about investing in some winter tyres and every year I slither and slide instead[8|][]

 

[zcacogp]

Winter tyres are very, very impressive things in snow. Particularly when you are only used to summer ones. I hired a Corsa in Reykjavik once, in the middle of winter, and I cursed the car hire people for keeping me waiting for over an hour while they fitted some new tyres to the thing. I wasn't impressed.

Until I drove the thing. I understand that snow tyres are a much softer compound, with better designed tread and steel studs in them. As usual, when driving a strange car in strange conditions, you push it at first to find out what the safe boundaries are for grip, and I had to push it a lot, lot further than I would have thought possible before it broke traction. The grip available was truly amazing.

Interestingly, the brilliance on snow and ice was matched by a worrying lack of traction on cleared roads. The steel spikes clattered very noisily on a metalled surface and offered very little grip. Quite possibly no more than they did on compacted snow. I guess that's the downside of anything specialised - get it outside it's specialist area and it looks a lot less good.


Oli.

 

[craig2105]

Have your front brakes locked on? Many years ago I had this problem with a Mk3 Cortina. Liberal use of hot water on the wheels eventually thawed it all out - it seemed the fun we had previously been having in an empty snow-covered car park allowed lots of snow and ice to build up on the calipers and froze the lot solid.

Unfortuately I've had no fun in the S2 recently as the engine is sick. Still, the pickup was just as good but has a tendancy to lock up the rears when you lift off the throttle!