That "DIFF" button.

[Heat Seeking Missile]

With the onset of nasty looking weather upon us all, now seems like a good time to ask about all the in's and out's of this button and what and how it works.

Now, when I got stuck at the beginning of the year, I tried this out to see what it did, it apparently made all 4 wheels spin, instead of just one (I was very stuck) and once they had spun for a few seconds it switched itself off, and on one attempt, the ABS light came on and went off again, which I think makes sense as the ABS was detecting certain wheels spinning and others that were not.

My main questions about this are:

Does the above sound like mine is working properly?

How does it work?

What speed can it be "activated/deactivated" if any at all.

Can it be used for keeping the car in motion or is it just for getting you going?

Your replies will be much appreciated, as I have no idea whatsoever about it.

Mark (4WD-virgin)

[sam80quattro]

i thought that it was only for donut mode lol when you switch it on the abs light will come on and when you go past 15mph( i think) it switches itself off.... unless you cut the blue/white wire, then it will stay on. so YES it sounds like yours is working as it should

[merlin's S4]

The difflock switch locks the rear diff so that both wheels spin similtaneously. It's designed to help you get moving in extreme greasy or icey conditions. Normally most of the power will be sent to the wheel with the least resistance causing it to spin! IIRC the abs light comes on anyway when the difflock is activated and the difflock will automatically disengage above around 10mph.

[Greg_S]

Yeah that sounds about right Merlin, the manual prob gives a similar explanation but it disables ABS while it is in use and switches off at 15mph

[Heat Seeking Missile]

Ah right, tidy. Thanks for that everyone

Mark

[S2central.net]

The transmission section on s2central.net gives you more info on the subject, but the highlights seem to be well captured here.