Confused! TCS System

[99ws6wannabe]

So I am driving and the roads are a little wet so I am goofing of a little and spinning the tires of my 99 Bird 3800II when i make a corner and accelerate(or so I thought) when the motor does nothing. By nothing i mean it would not accelerate. It did not die just wouldnt go...no sputtering,spitting,coughing at all just no rev. It was if the gas pedal wasnt connected to the motor. The SES light and the Low Traction light came on. This low trac light struck me as wierd to be on at this moment so i flip the tcs switch to off and waaaallaaa the motor is back?!! Just to confirm that was the problem I turned the tcs back on and the problem was back so i drove home with tcs off and no problem. This morning i start the car and the SES light is still on and the TCS was on B/C it defaults to the on position upon restarting. To see what would happen i left it on and proceed to go to work. The car never showed the problem during a 15 minute ride to work even though the TCS was on?

[3800_Firebird]

I don't know how the TCS on 'Birds work but on the Grand Am I have, it works by cutting engine power via ignition cutting and/or applying the brakes. I can only imagine the Firebird is similar. As far as the SES light staying on, it should disable the TCS if it is the same method as my GA.

The TCS is computer controlled. As soon as the SES, or in the GA's case Check Engine, is signaled, the pre-programmed tables are used. TCS disabled.

Get the SES condition checked and report back, please.

[FTA1995]

Yes, on the powertrain end, the computer doesn't CUT the ignition, but retards the timing for a designated period of time during and slightly after a slip is picked up. Retarded timing from a low traction signal from a bad vss will cause some really annoying issues if the traction system is enabled.

[99ws6wannabe]

The SES is gone and the TCS doesnt malfunction at the moment. I think this will be one of those annoying intermittent problems

[99ws6wannabe]

SES back on gonna get it read today

[99ws6wannabe]

was gonna get the codes read but the light went off. Now this morning it shut down on me but as with the last time a flip of the switch TCS off and everything goes back to normal........somebody help me !? I am lost

[FTA1995]

Get the codes pulled anyways, they'll be stored in memory.

[99ws6wannabe]

Will do on my lunch hour today and post the results thanks

[99ws6wannabe]

no power to my diagnostic port,wont power the code reader?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Ignition switch in on position engine not running?

[99ws6wannabe]

The cigarette lighter fuse also sends power to the port.new fuse and codes read...p1404 egr code gonna take it off today and clean and inspect. Still confused about the tcs though i dont think the egr could have anything to do with traction control.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

It does in the sense of if something sets the ses light the computer goes into bare minimum mode to keep running so it turns off the traction control. It also turns on the fans.

Likely what is wrong is the EGR valve and the tube has enough carbon deposits that it is restricting the air flow enough that the computer sees it as a problem. Clean the valve. If you take off the valve and there is carbon in the tube, get some carbon remover spray and a circular wire brush you can hook up to a drill to clean out the tube.

[99ws6wannabe]

Will do jeff thanks for the help. I will let you know what i find. Hey on a different note are there any free tuning programs out there that i could put on my laptop?