AWD emails

These are good notes from my exchanges with other 323GTX owners.

from Greg D:

when you press the center diff switch it should beep and the small light in the switch between the 4 wheel diagram should light up. If it only blinks and does not beep and go solid on, its not locked. If it does beep and the light goes on you are locked. To unlock it press the lock sw again and it should beep and the light goes out.

If you do not see a blinking/solid light then its burnt out. To know if its locked w/o a good light, it should beep and then if you try to turn a sharp coner the drivetrain will bind and the GTX does not like that. Its like an old school 4x4 when its locked. Lots of binding. Thats why the GTX has the planetary ctr diff so it can carve corners with a 50-50% power split. But, get one wheel in the air and you are dead in the H20. Thats where the ctr diff lock comes to the rescue. READ the owners manual if ya have one.

Be aware...locking the center diff in slippery conditions is not advised. Because it locks the center diff the front/rear axles are now connected together. You lock up the front or rear brakes for any reason and all the axles lock up and the engine can die. Makes for one scary moment if you are not ready. Spin city!

the way the AWD system works is its all open diffs with the fancy center diff. Get one wheel in the air like in a snow bank and all the power goes to that one wheel. That's where the ctr diff lock comes into use.

From Bob M

To answer your question, the SW burron SHOULD lock the center differential. There is a light in the drivetrain diabram on the switch that will be dark when the diff is unlocked and will flash when the switch is pushed. There is a sensor that tells the switch when the diff has been locked and the indicator on the diagram on the switch should stop flashing and stay on solid. This assumes two things: that your diff lock motor is working properly and that the switch is functioning properly. To test if the diff is, indeed locked, just try to make a very tight slow turn. If the car bucks like a bronco, your center diff is locked. You can remove the center diff lock motor and clean it up and bench test it. You can pull out on the diff lock shaft and manually lock the diff to test it. Push the shaft back in then bench run the diff lock motor until it bottoms out turning inwards. Now, reassemble and test.

These should get me pointed in the right direction. I'm going to thumb through the shop manual.