2004 AWD Safari

[ken k]

well snow has fallen, had some issues with my AWD, replaced the encoder motor, never went further than there, so it snowed today I put the ATC fuse back in and went for a drive the AWD works, but what I notice is when I let off the gas, the rear wants to swing to the right, causing the front end to pull to the left, any ideas, was only doing 25mph

[Captn. Crunch]

First question to ask is what was wrong with your tc that you were running with the fuse pulled. These cases have clutches and fluid as an active part of their performance. If you are having an issue it will surely compound itself on a snowcovered road
You might also take a look at your RPO sticker and look for G80 which would give you some form of posi/locker rear end. Those have a different feel to them in the snow if you aren't used to them

[ken k]

Short story, noticed the atc fuse was blown, replaced it, then awd kicked in and was affraid to leave the driveway, replaced the encoder motor, everything seemed fine, even went to the trans shop, with a high end scanner, and the awd was working, for some reason in my mind at the time, I pulled the fuse, so later I could do some more testing like looking for a short, cause it was binding on and off, tested all the sensors stopped there, now it's too cold


Yes it does have the G80, had many 4wd's in my lifetime, but not the awd, I kinda thought that was the posi wanting to drag when I let off the gas, unless there's something wrong with the G80, it's not pulling me sideways, just that you can feel it pull or drag, so, I just need to earn how to drive this?

[Captn. Crunch]

I can speak from experience to the difference between open and posi/locker rears in these AWD vans. My 99 was open and I swapped in a Torsen type carrier. It will jump out when accelerating hard in the snow. Open diffs front and rear gave arrow straight tracking so yes there might be a learning curve with this combo.
Make sure that you have autotrac II fluid in your tc. Anything else will cause clutches to stick together, and may affect handling in low traction situations and crow hopping at low speeds cornering on dry pavement