AWD question

I am having an ABS issue and haven’t had time to properly troubleshoot it. In the meantime I unplugged a wheel speed sensor which alleviated the issue. In doing so the ABS, traction control, and DSC lights came on.

I was wondering if this affected the AWD, in that maybe AWD was on all of the time and I’m getting worse fuel economy.

So I reconnected the speed sensor and instead pulled the ABS fuse. Then the ABS, Traction Control, and dash Brake light came on although the DSC light is off.

So that made me wonder again if any of this affected AWD. I’d like to maximize fuel economy on longer drives.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

There's two reasons the lights came on.

1.) You disconnected a sensor so it set a DTC
2.) You pulled the fuse for the ABS module causing a break in the communication network.

If the AWD is part time (meaning unless there's wheel slip or turning) it shouldn't be locked and operational. You'd notice if it was when doing low speed maneuvers and the rear end would chatter since the solenoid is trying to activate the clutch pack.

If you're getting poor fuel economy it could be a variety of factors. Bad gas, worn plugs, excessive carbon on the valves, driving habits.

 

Don't quote me on this but I think the awd system has its own control module that works independent of the rest of the car

 

Ok thanks!

My concern was simply that if there isn’t the DSC and Traction Control that maybe the system wouldn’t think it was able to calculate when or how much AWD is needed so it’d just leave it on (the 4WD light isn’t on indicating a problem) and fuel economy would suffer. I know the system uses a FWD mode to save on fuel. I’ve been doing a lot of highway driving and wanted to get the most out of the car.

Curiously, since plugging back in the speed sensor I can no longer squeal my tires even with DSC off.